07 08 2007 - Doenmeh Jews of Turkey

http://aramanoogian.blogspot.com/2007/07/ataturks-turkey-overturned.html
Doenmeh Jews of Turkey -I find the following story interesting for a couple of reasons.

First I remember my grandfather talking about the Young Turks who were responsible for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and how many of them were Doenmeh Jews, including Talaat Pasha himself.

The other reason I find this article interesting is that Ataturk being a Doenmeh Jew now makes a little more sense as to what happened to his family following his death on November 10, 1938.

According to what I’ve heard, Ataturk had adopted five daughters. The one named Sabiha Gökçen is said to have been of Armenian decent. I’m not sure if she was the only Armenian of the daughters, but do know that one of them was married to an artist and ended up in Baghdad, Iraq, following his death.

This family lived in relative secrecy in terms of who they were related to, or at least from their Armenian neighbors (my uncle’s family). My cousin only discovered who they were in the late 1980’s, when a very depressed grandson of Ataturk invited in my cousin for tea as he needed someone to talk to.

When my cousin entered the house, he noticed a large picture of Ataturk hanging on the wall and knowing very well who he was, asked in a curious way to his neighbor who it was a picture of, to which the young man answered that it was his grandfather, his mother’s father.

The mother came into the room to serve them tea and apparently overheard the conversation and when she left, called her son to the other room to have him help her with something. When the grandson of Ataturk returned, he was very quiet and reserved.

So it seems that this family had arrived in Iraq right after the death of Ataturk. It may have just happened at that time, or it is also possible that they had to move due to fear or danger. I’m also not sure which adopted daughter this was or of what ethnicity she was. I understood from my cousin that husband of Ataturk's daughter as an artist was close with members of the Hashemite royal family, who ruled over Iraq until 1958 and had many drawings of the king.

ATATURK'S TURKEY OVERTURNED
By Hillel Halkin, a contributing editor of The New York Sun.
New York Sun, NY -
http://www.nysun.com/article/58997
July 24 2007

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