Galata is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most notably the Galata Bridge. The medieval citadel of Galata was a colony of the Republic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famous Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel. Galata is now a quarter within the district of Beyoğlu in Istanbul.
The history of the Jews in Turkey covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey.
The Sardis Synagogue is a synagogue located in Manisa Province, Turkey, the biggest one known from antiquity. Sardis was under numerous foreign rulers until its incorporation into the Roman Republic in 133 BCE. The city served then as the administrative center of the Roman province of Lydia. Sardis was reconstructed after the catastrophic 17 CE earthquake, and it enjoyed a long period of prosperity under Roman rule.
Karataş is a neighborhood of İzmir, Turkey, within the boundaries of the city's central metropolitan district of Konak. The neighborhood no longer has an official delimitation or status and exists as a notional zone (semt) that is admitted to stretch along the small cove of the same name in the Gulf of İzmir. Its area roughly corresponds to the officially delimited quarter (mahalle) named Turgut Reis. The inhabitants, among whom neighborhood pride is quite developed, also usually declare living in Karataş.
Balat is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Fatih, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 11,656 (2022). It is in the old city on the European side of Istanbul, on the western shore of the Golden Horn, sandwiched between Fener and Ayvansaray. Historically, it was the centre of the Jewish community in Istanbul.
Karaköy, the modern name for the old Galata, is a commercial quarter in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus.
Jewish Museum of Turkey is a cultural center established by the Quincentennial Foundation to inform the society of the traditions and history of Turkish Jewry. It was inaugurated on November 25, 2001. The Quincentennial Foundation was established in 1989 by 113 Turkish citizens, Jews and Muslims alike, to celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Sephardim to the Ottoman Empire. The idea of a museum was proposed by Naim Güleryüz who is now its curator and the foundation was financed by the prominent Jewish Kamhi family.
The Italian Synagogue, also known as Kal de los Frankos, is a synagogue located north of the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. The synagogue was established by the Italian Jewish community of Istanbul,, in the 19th century. In 1931 the original building was demolished and a new synagogue was built in its place.
The Bet Israel Synagogue is located in Şişli, Istanbul, Turkey. Like the Neve Shalom Synagogue, Bet Israel is supported and governed by the Neve Shalom Foundation. The synagogue was initially built in the 1920s and enlarged into its present size in the early 1950s due to the majority of the Jewish population moving to that area and the immigration from Nazi occupied territories. It is currently the most populated synagogue in Turkey. The Bet Israel Synagogue can be visited by appointment with the Neve Shalom Foundation. There is also another synagogue in İzmir with the same name.
Ahrida (Ohrid) Synagogue is one of the oldest synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey. It is located in Balat, once a thriving Jewish quarter in the city.
Maalem Synagogue is a synagogue located on the slopes overlooking the Golden Horn near the Jewish old age home in the Hasköy district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is the only remaining open synagogue in an area that once had many Jewish residents. The synagogue is open for visits only during weekdays. Shabbat services are held regularly.
Yeniköy Synagogue is a synagogue located along the northern part of the Bosphorus in the Yeniköy neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey. The synagogue, said to have been built by Abraham Salomon Camondo in the late 19th century, has been rejuvenated recently by the renewed presence of Jews who have moved into the area. Only Shabbat prayers are held there.
Bakırköy Synagogue is a synagogue in Bakırköy, Istanbul, Turkey active since the late 19th century for the Jews of the area. Because of a decrease in the Jewish population in the area it is now only open for Shabbat services.
Bet Nissim Synagogue is a synagogue built in 1840s in Kuzguncuk, Istanbul, Turkey. With its Ehal-ha-Kodesh dating from the end of 18th century, it was restored and reopened to the public. Visits are possible through appointment from the Chief Rabbinate.
Religion in Istanbul covers the issue of religion in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. More than 90% of Istanbul's population are Sunni Muslims and Alevism forms the second biggest religious group. A 2019 survey study by KONDA that examined the religiosity of the voting-age adults in Istanbul showed that 47% of the surveyed had a religion and were trying to practise its requirements. This was followed by nonobservant people with 34% who identified with a religion but generally did not practise its requirements. 11% stated they were fully devoted to their religion, meanwhile 4% were non-believers who did not believe the rules and requirements of a religion and 4% were atheists who did not believe in religion at all. 24% of the surveyed also identified themselves as "religious conservatives".
The Antakya Synagogue is located in Antakya, Turkey near the border with Syria. It served the few remaining members of the once thriving, 2,300-year-old Jewish community of ancient Antioch, and which was one of the world's oldest Jewish communities, that by 2014, had shrunk to fewer than 20 members.
The Karaite Synagogue is a Kenesa in the Hasköy district of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey. The building's date of construction is unclear; it may date to Byzantine times. The building was in ruins in the sixteenth century; it was repaired in 1536, burned in 1729, rebuilt, burned again in 1774, rebuilt between 1776 and 1780, restored in 1842, and burned again in 1918. The Karaite congregation of the town also has their own cemetery. The trust behind these Institutions is called Hasköy Türk Karaim Musevi Sinagogu Vakfı. Today the Kenesa functions only at the Karaite Pesach. Contact to the congregation can be built via the Turkish Chief Rabbinate or the Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews.
Hasköy is a trading and residential district on the northern bank of the Golden Horn in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey. It includes the neighbourhoods of Keçeci Piri, Piri Paşa, and Halıcıoğlu, and parts of Camiikebir and Sütlüce. Immediately to the south lies Kasımpaşa.
Antisemitism in Turkey refers to acts of hostility against Jews in the Republic of Turkey, as well as the promotion of antisemitic views and beliefs in that country.
By the time the Ottoman Empire rose to power in the 14th and 15th centuries, there had been Jewish communities established throughout the region. The Ottoman Empire lasted from the early 14th century until the end of World War I and covered parts of Southeastern Europe, Anatolia, and much of the Middle East. The experience of Jews in the Ottoman Empire is particularly significant because the region "provided a principal place of refuge for Jews driven out of Western Europe by massacres and persecution."
