Assistance for the empty treasury of the Jewish Community of Constantinople was asked of the Turkish Government by a delegation consisting of Grand Rabbi, Bejranu Effendi, and two members of the Kehillah Council when it appeared today before Redjib Bey, Minister of the Interior, who arrived here from Angora in connection with the question of the Armeniahs and Greeks in Turkey. The delegation submitted to the Minister of Interior adetailed statement of the difficult situation in which the Jewish Kehillah of Constantinople finds itself and asked the Government’s assistance.
In connection with this request the Turkish daily, Ikdam, published an editorial in which it sharply attacked the Jewish Community of Constantinople.
“The demand of the Rabbinate for assistance,” the paper writes, “is astonishing. If there was any element in Turkey who profited since the war, it was the Jewish. Before the war there were many wealthy Jewish people in Constantinople. Now, however, their number has considerably increased. There are a great number of Jewish millionaires and there is no commercial enterprise with which Jews are not connected. They dominate every market and every source of revenue in the country is open to them. We must state,” the paper continues, “that the country does not benefit by the collaboration of the Jews in proportion to their fortune. During the recent public subscription, the Jewish millionaires contributed only a few thousand Turkish lires, a sum which one individual could have subscribed. The Jews should prove their loyalty to the country, not by words, but by act!” the paper exclaims.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
