Turkey's Jews publicly celebrate Hanukkah for the first time in modern history
Public Diplomacy Network
Turkey’s Jews publicly celebrate Hanukkah for the first time in modern history
Turkey's Jewish community celebrated Hanukkah on Sunday, which marked a
milestone in the history of the 92-year-old republic. For the first time in
contemporary history, Turkey's Jewry openly celebrated the holiday in Istanbul's
Ortaköy square which is located near the Bosphorus and accommodates the famous
Büyük Mecidiye (Ortaköy) Mosque.
The celebration was organized by the
Beşiktaş Municipality. Before lighting the Hanukkah candles with the Chief Rabbi
İzak Haleva, Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Hazinedar gave a speech to the attendees and
members of the Jewish community and wished that "the Hanukkah candles enlighten
the whole world."
Photo collage by Ivo Molinas, the editor-in-chief of Şalom
weekly
In his speech during the celebration, the head of Turkey's
Jewish Community Ishak Ibrahimzadeh gave a speech in which he emphasized the
importance of unity as a nation and offered "heartfelt thanks" to the Turkish
state, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials, citizens and "dear Turkey as
a whole."
