Anti-Semitism in Turkey: Dozens of gravestones were smashed in a Jewish cemetery in Istanbul

by time news

Authorities in Turkey have announced that five children are suspected of damaging dozens of gravestones in an ancient Jewish cemetery in Istanbul on the night between Thursday and Friday. “We will not allow controversy to arise in our society,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman.

The Jewish community in Turkey reported on Friday that during the night, unknown individuals damaged 36 gravestones in the cemetery in the Haskui district of Istanbul.
“We expect those who committed this vandalism to be caught as early as possible,” the community’s Twitter account, which posted photos of the smashed tombstones, said. The Ashkenazi rabbi of Turkey, Rabbi Mandy Hitrik, told the Jerusalem Post that the Jewish community and the Turkish authorities “will handle this matter in the best way, and ensure that such cases do not happen again.”

The Haskyi Cemetery, which opened about 600 years ago, is one of the symbols of Jewish activity in the district of central Istanbul. The place was also hit by an antisemitic attack in 2011. The Istanbul governor’s office said that after checking the security cameras, it became clear that five children aged 11-13 are responsible for damaging the gravestones.

During their interrogation, the children claimed that they entered the cemetery to look for their ball after losing it in a game in a nearby park, and in the photos they were seen kicking gravestones before fleeing. “Those who try to disrupt our unity and solidarity with such provocative attacks will never succeed,” Interior Minister Suleiman Soilo noted.

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