Turkey’s Jewish Community is 24,000 people strong, making it one of the biggest minority groups in Turkey. The Jews in Turkey are descendants of Sephardic Jews who settled there to escape the Spanish Inquisition. The community is some 500 years old. In recent years, numerous acts of anti-semitism such as the November 2003 truck bombs that exploded outside two synagogues and the increasingly anti-semitic rhetoric of the ruling party in Turkey have made this established community increasingly afraid. Anti-Semitism has been encouraged by Turkey’s Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon requested the Turkish Ambassador’s presence in the Knesset in order to protest a new Turkish television show that depicted Mossad agents as baby snatchers, which clearly is a vile piece of propaganda. After the diplomatic incident earlier today, Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon sent an apology letter to the Turkish Ambassador on Wednesday January 13, 2009.
