The Turkish Government has turned down a request by the Israeli Government for permission to station an official representative in Turkey to assist Jews emigrating from that country to Israel, a special Turkish language broadcast beamed to this country has revealed.
The Israeli broadcaster said that the Israeli authorities were surprised at the Turkish Government’s action, since the Israeli envoy was not to be assigned to a political mission. He also said that Israel hopes for a reversal of the Turkish decision. The bid was made through the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem, the announcer said.
The city of Izmir, which last year had a Jewish population of 14,000, now has a total of 8,000 Jews as a result of migration of Jews from that city to Israel, it was reported here today. These reports said that a contingent of 2,000 Izmir Jews will leave shortly for Israel.
During the past two weeks over 2,500 Jews from this city left for the Jewish state. An Israeli vessel is due here this week to embark an additional 1,000 Jewish immigrants, while smaller Turkish ships sailed recently for Israel with approximately 1,000 Jewish passengers.
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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.