Dönmeh

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The Dönmeh officially practiced and practice Islam. They are not regarded as Jews, whereas most Sabbateans during and after Sabbatai Zevi were Jews and practiced only Judaism.

Dönmeh refers to a group of Sabbatean Crypto-Jews of the Near East who are followers of the 17th century Ottoman Jewish messiah Sabbatai Zevi. They are also called Selânikli (person from Thessaloniki) or referred to as Dönmeh) or avdetî, a Turkish word for a religious convert. Although they consider themselves as some kind of Jews, they are not officially recognised by Jewish authorities.

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[edit] History

While outwardly Muslim, the Sabbateans secretly remained close to Jewish beliefs, and continued to practice Jewish rituals covertly. They recognized Sabbatai Zevi as the Jewish Messiah, observed certain rituals with similarities in Judaism and prayed in Hebrew and later in Ladino. They also observed rituals celebrating important events in Zevi's life. They interpreted Zevi's conversion in a Kabbalistic way.

There are several branches of Dönmehs. The first was the Ismirli formed in İzmir, Turkey (Smyrna). The second were the Jakubi, founded by Jacob Querido, a successor to Zevi who also made messianic claims. Also there were the Osman Baba led by Berechia. This group taught Jacob Frank, who led the Frankists in 18th century eastern Europe, and the fifth were the Lechli who are of Polish descent who lived in exile in Salonika (modern Thessaloniki, Greece) and Constantinople.

The Dönmeh played an enormous role on the Young Turk movement, a band of modernist revolutionaries who brought down the Ottoman Empire. At the time of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, some among the Salonika Dönmeh tried to be recognized as non-Muslims to avoid being forced to leave Salonika. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, the Dönmeh strongly supported the Republican, pro-Western reforms of Atatürk that tried to restrict the power of the religious establishment and to modernize the society. In particular, the Dönmeh were instrumental in establishing trade, industry and culture in the emerging Republic of Turkey, which is partially due to the prominence of Rumeli immigrants in general and of Salonica in particular in the early Republic years.

Although they married within their own community only, in theory, mixed-marriage and assimilation began at the end of 19th century. As of the end of 20th century the Dönmeh were fully integrated to the Turkish society, and the intermarriage restriction has been largely ignored since the 1960s except by the Karakashi branch of them.

Since the publication of the book Şebeke "Network" by the socialist writer Professor Dr. Yalçın Küçük in 2002, a new wave of conspiracy theories popular among the right-wing and left-wing nationalists emerged. According to these speculative postulates, the Dönmeh are related to each other through a network that consequently links them to "International Jewry" and they are the ones behind consecutive governments in Turkey.

An interesting case is the one of Ilgaz Zorlu, a Dönmeh publisher who founded Zvi Publishers in 2000 and sought recognition as a Jew, but a Beth Din refused to recognize his Jewishness without a full conversion. He claimed to have converted in Israel and then filed a lawsuit for changing his religion from Islam to Judaism in his registry records and ID. The court voted in his favor. His acts are seen controversial by many, particularly due to his cooperation with Muslims like Mehmed Şevket Eygi.

Işık University, which is part of the Feyziye Schools Foundation (Feyziye Mektepleri Vakfi - FMV), and Terakki schools were founded originally by the Dönmeh community in Salonica in the last quarter of the 19th century but ceased to be community schools after their move to Istanbul.

[edit] References

  • Tarih ve Toplum Dergisi, Iletisim Yayinlari, Istanbul, Temmuz 2002

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