Looking Back At How Türkiye Helped Thousands of Jew Escape the Holocaust

This past weekend marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp where more than 1 million people, the majority Jewish, were exterminated by Nazi Germany. By the end of the Second World War, six million Jews had been killed. During that period of mass murder, many survivors were able to escape with the help of diplomats and private citizens. One of those countries was Türkiye, which helped tens of thousands of Jewish professors, scholars and ordinary civilians. Turkish diplomats played an instrumental role in helping thousands flee the Holocaust by granting them Turkish passports and citizenship. And that support for Jews escaping oppression in Europe dates back hundreds of years. In the late 15th century, Sultan Bayezid the second, invited thousands of Iberian Jews who were fleeing the Spanish Inquisition to settle in Ottoman lands. Today, Türkiye's Jewish community numbers around 20,000. Guest: Vehbi Baysan Associate Professor at Ibn Haldun University