The Turks And Jerusalem

Contemporary Review, Oct, 2001 by Bulent Aras

Editor's Note: DrAras's article was ready for printing when news arrived of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. He has kindly contributed an After-word about the Turkish response to this crisis.

FORGETTING the Ottoman past has never been an issue outside Turkey, and issues such as the Armenian genocide have created acute problems for Turkish foreign policy makers throughout the Republic's history. Since the end of the Cold War a number of crises have emerged in former Ottoman territories, and, due to the intensity of these conflicts, a romantic yearning for the security of the past in the form of the Ottoman government, with a particular reference to its multi-ethnic and diverse religious nature, has surfaced in former Ottoman territories. For example, the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas argued that: 'We expect much from Turkey with its political and military leverage and Islamic potential. Turkey has an historical responsibility for the region and us. No Palestinian and Muslim can forget Sultan Abdulhamit's resistance to the Zionists'.

It would not be an exaggeration to argue that the Palestinian question, most specifically the status of Jerusalem, is the number one problem in the Middle East in terms of Turkish public opinion. In a recent poll, 63 per cent of 1573 people in seven big cities of Turkey have expressed that they regard Jerusalem and its AlAqsa mosque important for themselves. The Ottoman history of governing the holy city in peace, in a tolerant atmosphere, and for more than four hundred years, has become a source of national dignity and a sense of pride for the Islamic world. Turkish public opinion has manifested a self-centred pragmatism that has helped to motivate foreign policy makers to offer alternative formulas for solving the problem of the future of Jerusalem -- based on the Ottoman experience. Ankara has even been continuously reminded by other nations who are players in the region that Turks were once in charge of governing these areas and should not keep themselves isolated from the events related to the Palestini ans and Jerusalem.

Jerusalem became Ottoman territory after Selim the First conquered Syria, Palestine, and the surrounding vicinities in 1517. The Ottoman Empire grasped the importance of the city from the beginning and tried to maintain and honour sacred places, governing the residents through a pluralist, free and just administration. They even set up religious endowments to meet the needs of the residents of Jerusalem, in the same way that had been done by the Islamic societies that had preceded them. The richest of such foundations was the Haseki Foundation, set up by Suleyman the Magnificent on behalf of his wife Roxelena, who had converted to Islam. Suleyman also restored the damaged city walls. Following the death of Roxelena, the Foundation was expanded to perform extensive services throughout the region.

Jerusalem is especially important to Muslims as a result of the nocturnal journey of the Prophet Mohammed, the place where he rose to the Gate between this world and the hereafter, as is recorded in the Quran. Thereafter, Jerusalem became the Muslims' kiblah and Islam declared itself to be the legitimate heir of the other monotheist religious traditions of the West, Judaism and Christianity. The large rock from which Mohammed rose to heaven is believed by Muslims to have been the site where Abraham offered up his son to God as a sacrifice. Abraham is of special importance because he is the historical foundation upon which all three monotheistic religions are based.

A strong tradition of tolerance emerged under Ottoman rule in Jerusalem. The Ottoman legal system provided both Christians and Jews with the status of 'dhimmi', and de facto recognition of citizenship that helped establish and maintain a just and pluralist order. Jews and Christians could sell and buy property in the Muslim region of Jerusalem and were granted equal status with Muslims in the city's trade guilds. Ottoman rulers provided a safe haven in Jerusalem, especially for Jews, who often preferred to settle their disputes in Ottoman courts and submitted to the verdicts awarded by Ottoman kadis (jurists). Jewish and Muslim religious leaders worked in harmony, neither trying to impinge on the authority of the other. As one historian has elaborated on this unique atmosphere of religious tolerance:

Jews had found refuge in the Ottoman dominions for many decades before the expulsion from Spain. During the fifteenth-century persecutions in Germany, thousands had fled eastward and had been well received in the Turkish provinces. Life was secure and the morrow could be greeted without terror. There were no degrading badges and no oppressive residential or trade restrictions. The Jews were liable only to a negligible poll-tax, which all non-Moslems paid. The hospitality of the Turkish rulers was a godsend to the victims of Spanish and Portuguese bigotry.

(A. L. Sachar, History of The Jews, 1967)