The Turkish Government today denied a report in a New York newspaper that a pogrom in which “hundred of Jews were massacred” had taken place in Urfa, a Turkish town on the Syrian frontier.
“There is no truth whatsoever in the fabricated report alleging that a pogrom took place in Urfa, or that hundreds of Jews were murdered there,” an official statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency said.
Authoritative Turkish sources stated that on the night of Jan. 31, a Jewish family in Urfa which had become converted to the Moslem religion four months earlier was found murdered. “The police are still continuing their investigation to discover the murderers who will be placed on trial, but no other incident has taken place at Urfa,” the same sources told the JTA.
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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.