The Turkish Embassy here today denied a report that Jewish conscripts make up 80 percent of the Turkish Army unit serving with the United Nations forces in Korea and that Jewish casualties had been high. The Embassy press attache, who said that the troops in Korea were not volunteers but conscripts, estimated that there are “only ten or at most 15 Jews” among the several thousands of Turkish troops in the brigade.
The report, published in Al Hamishmar, Tel Aviv newspaper of the left-wing Socialist Mapam, stated that Jewish soldiers had been selected from various Turkish Army units for inclusion in the expeditionary force. The newspaper estimated that the Jews constituted 80 percent of the Turkish unit in Korea and that Jews had suffered many casualties.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.