1934 Thrace Pogroms
Encyclopedia
1934 Thrace Pogroms refers to a series of violent events that took place in June and July 1934 which involved Turks and Jewish residents of Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 region of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

History

The events took place in the Turkish cities of Tekirdağ
Tekirdag
Tekirdağ , the ancient Bisanthi , is a city in Eastern Thrace, in the European part of Turkey. Tekirdağ is the capital of Tekirdağ Province, felt by the local people to be a quieter and more pleasant town than the industrial centre of Çorlu, which it administers. The city population as of 2009 was...

, Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...

, Kırklareli
Kirklareli
Kırklareli is the capital of Kırklareli Province in Eastern Thrace, on the European part of Turkey. The province has a coastline on the Black Sea. There is a Jewish community.-Name:It is not clearly known when the city was founded, nor under what name...

, and Çanakkale
Çanakkale
Çanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116 . The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan ....

 and were motivated by anti-Semitism. Some argue that the act was initiated by the articles produced by the Pan-Turkic
Pan-Turkism
Pan-Turkism is a nationalist movement that emerged in 1880s among the Turkic intellectuals of the Russian Empire, with the aim of cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples.-Name:...

 leader Cevat Rıfat Atilhan in Millî inkılâp, (National Revolution) magazine and Nihal Atsız in Orhun magazine. Nihal Atsız was known to be a sympathiser of the Nazi racist doctrine. It is argued that their articles stirred up the Muslim population of Thrace which led them to boycott Jews' products, but the actual perpetrators were members of the local branch of Atatürk's Republican People's Party
Republican People's Party (Turkey)
The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...

 It was followed by vandalizing of Jewish houses and shops. The tensions started on June 5, 1934 and spread to few other villages in Eastern Thrace region and to some small cities in Western Aegean region. At the height of violent events, it was rumoured that one Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

was stripped down naked and was dragged on the streets shamefully while his daughter was raped. Over 15,000 Jews had to flee from the region. Other racist incidents had already taken place in Turkey before, and still happened afterwards, but this was apparently the first pogrom during the Republican period.
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