The deputy CEO of the World Jewish Congress, Maram Stern, was in Turkey this week to take part in the re-opening ceremony of the Great Synagogue of Edirne, which was restored for $2.5 million and is the first synagogue to open in Turkey in two generations. Guest of honor at the ceremony was Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç.
Turkey’s Jewish community head, İshak İbrahimzadeh, attended the morning service conducted by Davud Azuz, who had led the last service at the synagogue 46 years ago. An estimated 250 people attended the service in the temple, which has a capacity of 1,200. "I would like to thank those who contributed," Azuz said, referring to the community effort to re-open the Great Synagogue.
There is no Jewish presence in Edirne any longer, save for one family, although previously some 20,000 Jews lived there in the early 20th century. Most emigrated to Istanbul, other cities or abroad either for economic reasons or live in Israel after its creation. In 1934, a nationalist mob launched attacks on the Jewish quarters of Edirne, looting stores and beating up Jews. Similar incidents were reported in nearby towns where Jews lived, which led to a larger exodus of Jews from the northwestern Turkey.
The Great Edirne Synagogue was built in 1905 by the order of Sultan Abdülhamid II to replace 13 separate synagogues destroyed by a huge fire that devastated the city. The building was designed by French architect France Depré.
The synagogue opened in 1907 and served as a house of worship until 1983 by which time the city's Jewish community had dwindled to almost nothing. The building was later transferred to Edirne's Trakya University for cultural use, but due to criticism, was handed over to the General Directorate of Foundations in 1995. The synagogue's roof collapsed two years later.
The synagogue was the subject of an outcry last year after Edirne Governor Dursun Şahin vowed to turn it into a museum rather than an active house of worship, which opened after four years of restoration work.
The ceremony was seen as part of a relaxation of restrictions on religious minorities ushered in during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 12 years in power. Yet it coincides with a recent spike in anti-Semitism in Turkey and a number of Jews leaving the country. The increase, observers say, is linked to anti-Israel sentiment which reached a crescendo during Israel's Gaza offensive in July.
Although Erdoğan drew distinctions between Israel and Turkish Jews his words caused an oucry , and local Jews were threatened by public figures and pro-government newspapers.
Turkey's Jewish institutions such as schools and synagogues are behind security tunnels, shielded by steel blast protection.
"They have lived in a state of fear for a long time after terror attacks and the feeling that they are not treated as Turkish citizens. There is worry for the younger generation," said Ohad Kaynar, Israel's deputy consul general, told 'Reuters'.
For centuries, Ottoman lands were a haven for Jews, welcoming Sephardim expelled in 1492 by Spain. Once here, they adopted new rituals, such as the melody of the azan in their prayers, while maintaining their traditions, most prominently the Judeo-Spanish dialect called Ladino.
Census data shows Ladino was the mother tongue for 84 percent of Turkish Jews in 1927 before nationalist campaigns stamped it out. Today only a few elderly speak the archaic form of Castilian Spanish, one of the world's endangered tongues.
A "wealth tax" in the 1940s, emigration to Israel after 1947 and decades of political instability conspired to decimate a population that was 150,000 before World War One.
Spain and Portugal are redressing historical wrongs by offering citizenship, bound to prompt some to pull up stakes.
"Jews have long left for economic reasons. What is different now is a factor for young people is the pressure they feel because they're Jewish," said Mois Gabay, 31, who writes for Salom. He cited figures showing one in four Jewish high-school graduates opted to study overseas in 2014, doubling in one year.
At Istanbul's main Neve Salom synagogue, vandals in November hung a fake demolition notice close to the anniversary of a string of 2003 car bombings claimed by al Qaeda that targeted Jewish temples and British interests, killing 57 people.
Even the opening of the Edirne synagogue was at risk. The governor said it would be a museum instead and that he felt "hatred" after Israeli police entered al Aqsa mosque in November. He later apologised, and restoration work continued.
"This is not only Jewish but a part of Turkish and world heritage. It is proof that we have lived together and still do," said Güleryüz, author of a book on Edirne's Jews. "If we occasionally celebrate a wedding, we can keep it alive."
The synagogue's bright yellow exterior is a burst of light among the dilapidated wooden houses and concrete apartment blocks in Edirne's former Jewish quarter. Inside, painters painstakingly decorated the ceiling with thousands of stars, as beams of sunlight passed through a colonnade of neat arches.
"It looks like its old self," said Mitrani, standing beside the polished marble of the ark bearing the Ten Commandments.
Once the Balkans' largest Jewish temple, the Great Synagogue opened on the sultan's decree in 1909 to serve some 20,000 Jews. It was modelled on a temple in Vienna, later destroyed by the Nazis.
Thousands of Jews left Edirne, situated near the Greek and Bulgarian borders, in 1934 when a racist mob attacked their property, but Mitrani's father, a grocer, rebuilt his shop.
Mitrani, who owns two supermarkets here, travels to Istanbul each week to join his wife and daughters for Shabbat.
He planted a pine tree next to his mother's grave in the old cemetery, part of which has been occupied by a housing complex that uprooted graves. Litter is strewn among hundreds of broken headstones, which include the odd Greek Orthodox inscription.
"I would have liked to have been buried in Edirne, next to my mother," Mitrani said. "Staying was always the easiest thing for me. I can't imagine the day I won't be here."
