Daily Archives: May 23, 2012

For one hundred years, it has been said that the evil Turks were responsible for the 1915 genocide of Armenians upon their ancient lands.  What is not told is thatin 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain issued an edict to expel from Spain all remaining Jews who did not convert to Christianity. When the news of expulsion reached the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan (Emperor) Beyazit II issued a decree to welcome the Jews. Since 1492, through five centuries, the Ottoman sultans and the modern day Turkish Republic welcomed the Jews and offered them a safe haven from persecution in the European countries. While many European nations expelled, persecuted or tried to convert the Jews under their dominion, the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire remained as an outstanding example of tolerance of different nationalities with different religions. (Reference:  “Turkish Jews – Brief History”)

This paragraph contradicts “tolerance of nationalities” by Turkey.  If this was true, why had the Greek (1914) and Armenian (1915) genocides taken place in Turkey?

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