The Turkish Cultural Center (TCC) Buffalo hosted a Turkish – Jewish Friendship Dinner on February 12th, 2012, Sunday between 5:00pm-7:00pm. This dinner has brought political, academic, religious, and other community leaders from the Jewish and Turkish communities in the Greater Buffalo Area together to promote peace, dialogue, and mutual understanding in our community.
The theme of the event was "500 Years of Friendship and Common Values". The event honored and celebrated the centuries-long friendship between the Turkish and Jewish people despite the recent tensions between the governments of the two countries.
The history of relations between the Turkish and Jewish people has a very rich and remarkable background. The Jews were always warmly welcomed during the Ottoman Turks period. When the Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal during the 16th century, the Ottoman sultans granted the refugees the permission to settle in the Ottoman Empire and become Ottoman citizens. Similarly, during World War II, Turkey served as a safe passage for many Jews fleeing the horrors of the Nazism. The Turkish ambassadors in Europe rescued many Jews condemned to a certain death by giving them Turkish Passports and helping them to flee to Turkey.
The recent tensions between the Turkish and Israeli governments seemed to overshadow this centuries-long friendship. The Turkish Cultural Center in Buffalo along with Temple Sinai and Temple Beth Am organized this dinner to demonstrate the friendship between two communities still continues with strongest ties. The event was held at Turkish Cultural Center Buffalo (1517 Kenmore Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14217).
The speakers at the program were:
- Mehmet Erdogdu, Director of Turkish Cultural Center Buffalo
- Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein, Temple Sinai
- Rabbi Irwin Tanenbaum,Temple Beth Am
- Rabbi Drorah Setel, Temple Beth El, Niagara Falls
- Rabbi Laurie Green, Temple Beth Zion
- Huseyin Ozen, Dept. of Political Science, University at Buffalo
- Ercan Tozan, Peace Islands Institute
- Cantor Sharon Colbert, Temple Beth Am
- Cantor Irwin Gelman, Congregation Beth Abraham
- Lana Benatovich, President of National Federation for Just Communities of WNY
There was also a short video presentation on the documentary “THE TURKISH PASSPORT” which resulted in emotional scenes among the attendees.
Many of the attendees expressed that they would like to visit Turkey and meet with the local Turkish people despite the political tension between the Turkish and ISraeli governments.
The Jewish community leaders attending the program also said they would like to organize a similar event at the Jewish Community Center soon and invite their Turkish friends to that program.
TCC Buffalo was founded in December 2005 by a group of Turkish-Americans in Buffalo to increase awareness of Turkish culture, music, literature, and arts in the society, and to help Turkish immigrants adapt to the life in Buffalo. As the only Muslim country with a strong secular democracy, Turkey has always been a land where diverse ethnic and religious communities lived together peacefully, just like in the U.S. Thus one of the aims of TCC Buffalo is to build strong bridges between Turkish and American peoples based on respect, understanding and tolerance. TCC Buffalo organizes friendship dinners, festivals, conferences, Turkish coffee nights, and book clubs to bring together people from different cultural backgrounds, and collaborates with local non-profit organizations, colleges, and universities.
