Turks have been instrumental in the Jewish survival since the early period of the Ottoman Empire; beginning with the firman issued by the second Ottoman Sultan Orhan the first in
1332 that allowed them to settle in the Ottoman territories. Similar
protection acts followed, including Sultan Beyazit the second’s evacuation of the Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492 and the young Turkish Republic’s embracement of the Jews expelled from Germany. (Please click here for an informative article by historian Stanford Shaw.)
1332 that allowed them to settle in the Ottoman territories. Similar
protection acts followed, including Sultan Beyazit the second’s evacuation of the Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492 and the young Turkish Republic’s embracement of the Jews expelled from Germany. (Please click here for an informative article by historian Stanford Shaw.)
To commemorate some of these late efforts, the Turkish General Directorate of Post and Telegraph Organization (PTT) has issued two new stamps to honor the Turkish diplomats Necdet Kent (1911-2002) and Selahattin Ülkümen (1914-2003), who risked their own lives in order to save those of hundreds of Jews during the WWII.