http://www.turkishdailynews.com/past_probe/07_28_02/Econp.HTM
28 July, 2002, Turkish Probe issue
496, Copyright © Turkish Daily News
The
Sabbatean myth revived at a political turning point Are you being watched? How
do you know you aren't? The fact that you are paranoid doesn't mean
somebody is not watching you. Conspiracies abound at times of
turmoil; some of them turn out to be facts, while some truths remain
in the dark, some are false and some forgotten. In any case it's an
intriguing timing to trigger a new debate on unconfirmed stories of
the Sabbateans in Turkey
By Elif Kelebek
Politics never takes the backseat in
Turkey. Because of its much-fragmented structure, the political scene
is always apt to give way to sensations, including at times when the
country least needs it, like the critical phase of an economic
program or a turning point for European Union affairs.
As the country now moves fast towards
an early election now, it is engulfed by speculations over the plans
of key political figures, scenarios on the possible consequences of
their actions, prophecy about the possible election outcome and
eventually the post-election government structure, but these debates
are not the center of concern here.
On the periphery of all this talk,
arguments that have faded out sometime ago are once more coming to
life. These arguments are of the kind that would fascinate the public
like a grand conspiracy theory and have most coincidentally reemerged
at a time when election campaigns are set to take off.
Ilgaz Zorlu, the author of the once
hype book "Yes, I Am a Salonikan," is the one who raised the
allegations in a recent interview with pro-Islamist magazine Gercek
Hayat (Real Life). Zorlu has asserted that people of a mystic Jewish
sect, already holding very key positions in the state, would come to
power in Turkey, naming Ismail Cem, Kemal Dervis, Rahsan Ecevit among
the members, none of whom publicly denied the allegations.
Zorlu, who managed to reclaim his
Jewish identity a few years back at the end of a toilsome struggle,
was a Sabbatean himself and revealed the secrets of this group in
Turkey in his book. The reason he wrote the book in the first place,
he says, was to win acceptance from the mainstream Jewish community
and from Israel both for himself and the Sabbateans in Turkey.
Sabbateans take their name from the
self-proclaimed messiah of the 17th century, Shabatai Zvi. Following
Zvi, who ultimately chose conversion over death, the Sabbateans
converted to Islam but continued to practice Judaism in secret.
Salonika has been a major center for the sect until the exchange in
1924 when Zorlu argues that most people (some 25,000) Turkey welcomed
as Muslim Turks expelled from Greece were in fact members of this
community.
Turkey's Sabbateans have remained
secretive as they were somewhat disliked by both Jews and Muslims,
but maintained their beliefs and traditions. Until 1950s they only
married among themselves and their children would find out about
their Sabbatean origin only after the age of 18. Therefore many
truths about the sect are still unknown and the veil of secrecy has
added to the legends surrounding the community.
Most people who Zorlu claimed in his
book to be Sabbateans denied this identity because of historic
concerns, mainly the mistreatment of Jews throughout history. The
closest example was his grandmother who refused to reveal her beliefs
and continued to do her prayers secretly because of, for example, a
wealth tax imposed on non-Muslims during the republican era in Turkey
and the tendency among the overwhelmingly Muslim populace to isolate
non-Muslims from the community.
Zorlu's claims were most interesting
because he named the most prominent families, politicians, diplomats,
journalists, businessmen among the members of the sect, only a few of
whom later on admitted to being Sabbateans. He filed documented
evidence at various court cases to prove his allegations and his
claims were backed by leading pro-Islamist writers like Mehmet Sevki
Eygi and Abdurrahman Dilipak.
Zorlu assets that Sabbateans in
Turkey, which he estimates around some 100,000 now, all wealthy and
well-educated, are socially, politically and economically supporting
each other and also enjoying support from the Jewish lobby in the
U.S. Both Zorlu and Eygi have suggested that the members of this sect
are very powerful and are holding influential positions in the state
and business world.
Despite their extremely different
backgrounds, these two sides strangely meet on a common ground when
it comes to criticizing the covert Sabbatean community in Turkey:
Islamists are worried about the power of and the strong bonds among
this group, probably regarding them as a threat to their own
existence, while Zorlu criticizes his community for exaggerating
secularism in Turkey, which Sabbateans are known to have contributed
significantly through organized action under the Union and Progress
Party in early 1900s.
Most recently in an interview to
Jerusalem Report Ilgaz Zorlu suggested that Tansu Ciller, leader of
the True Path Party (DYP) was a Sabbatean. He claims, on documented
evidence, Ismail Cem and Kemal Dervis, the two key figures of the new
political formation now called the "New Turkey" party, are also
Sabbateans, as well as Rahsan Ecevit, who he says have always had a
distance with Husamettin Ozkan, the third key figure of New Turkey,
because he wasn't of the same origin.
Zorlu suggests that if it wasn't for
his Sabbatean origins, Dervis could never become an independent
cabinet minister without political responsibility, a theory which
would delight those who have sought a conspiracy behind Dervis's
unusual appointment as economy minister from a World Bank post in the
U.S. last year. Dervis is now a figure seen as a vote booster for any
political party he may choose to join.
Ilgaz Zorlu further claims that
Rahsan Ecevit, who actually rules the Democratic Left Party although
she's not a deputy and doesn't hold an official post in the
government, will become president once Chief of Staff Huseyin
Kivrikoglu's term expires on August 30. He argues that there are
Sabbateans in senior military ranks to support this turnover, but
refuses to name them. Sukru Sina Gurel, who is viewed a potential
successor for Bulent Ecevit in the Democratic Left Party, is one of
the people Zorlu counts among Sabbateans. Can Paker, chairman of the
prominent non-governmental organization Turkish Economic and Social
Studies Foundation (TESEV), is another.
"Rahsan Ecevit is like Golda Meir.
Her attitude and ideology is the same. The way Golda Meir was a
totalitarian and disrespectful of democracy in defending the
elimination of the entire Arab world for the salvation of Israel, Ms.
Ecevit accommodates the same thinking for Islamists," Zorlu has told
Gercek Hayat.
"Don't underestimate Ms. Ecevit
because she's 81 years old. There are people who are younger than 70
and she chewed them like gum," he said, recalling what he described
as a famous statement of her after Ismet Inonu was toppled from the
Republican People's Party (CHP) leadership in 1972 and Bulent Ecevit
took over the post.
"'I took the revenge of the wealth
tax,' she said."
Ankara - Turkish Daily News
