Interview: Outgoing Israeli Consul General Mordehai Amihai

As the new Israeli consul general in Istanbul in 2005, Mordehai Amihai could have considered himself a lucky diplomat, as the country he was posted to enjoyed excellent relations with the country he was representing.

In the first month of his arrival, September 2005, Turkey hosted a surprise meeting between Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers, the first acknowledged high-level talks between the two countries. The fact that it took place in Istanbul with support from the Turkish government was just another example of the nature of the relationship between Turkey and Israel.

“There was a very rosy picture. Relations were developing rapidly. Trade was increasing each year by 25 or 30 percent,” Amihai told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview. There was an influx of visitors and the Turkish president and prime minister both traveled to Israel, he added, saying, “There was a great understanding between the two sides.”

But the excellent atmosphere was short-lived as far as Amihai’s tenure in Istanbul is concerned. First came the war in Lebanon, in the summer of 2006, when Israel was heavily criticized in Turkey. “It was a stormy summer for us,” the consul general said of those days. Once the war was over, things returned to normal for a few months and high-level visits resumed between the two countries. But this too was short lived, as the Israeli bombardment of Gaza also dealt a heavy blow to bilateral relations. That’s when Amihai, who has seen the best of times, witnessed the worst.

“By the account of friends, scholars, people who are familiar with Turkish-Israeli relations and members of the Jewish community, it was the worst situation in many decades,” said Amihai. “They said they had never seen anything like that in their lifetimes.”

It was not the 24-hour demonstrations that took place in front of the consulate that bothered the Israeli diplomat. “Demonstrations are OK. What was really disturbing was the hate mail we received, the curses on the telephone,” he said. “For some time, our secretaries did not answer the phones and used their own private mobile telephones [instead].”

Harsh statements from the top political leadership, billboards with anti-Jewish slogans and anti-Semitic comments in the press were all difficult to handle, said Amihai. So was the minute of silence held in schools under instructions by the Education Ministry. “The level of anti-Semitism was very worrisome,” the consul general said.

If relations can go from one extreme to the other in such a short time, then something must be wrong, a phenomenon that Amihai explains with the lack of knowledge on everything concerning the state of Israel and Judaism and the “sheer ignorance” being fed by anti-Semitic publications.

“Recently, I went to a supermarket in the upper-class neighborhood of Kuruçeşme. Among the few books that were being sold in one of the big chain stores in the neighborhood was Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf,’” he said. Amihai resents the fact that books like “Children of Moses,” which allegedly discloses Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife’s relations with Israel, are among the bestsellers in the prominent bookstores on Istanbul’s busy Istiklal Avenue. The fact that several books on Zionism, the content of which is “rubbish,” are being sold in airports and university bookstores seems to increase the Israeli diplomat’s frustration. “You have anti-Jewish publications in other countries, too. But you can only find them in small shops in side streets, not in centrally located areas,” he said.

Still, Amihai does not believe that the majority of Turkish people have such strong anti-Israeli feelings. He said the poor image of the United States has also played into the negative sentiments against Israel, which seen as Washington’s right hand.

He also said there is much emotion in a country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population that feels itself in solidarity with Muslim brothers who they consider oppressed. “There were emotional reactions to the human tragedy that took place in Lebanon and Gaza,” Amihai said. “We never denied that there were human tragedies. But you expect some understanding on the reality and the reasons behind the events. Israel was not there to slaughter civilians but as a legitimate act of self-defense.”

Despite it all, Amihai still believes in the strength of the countries’ relations. “What unites us is stronger that what divides us,” he said. “The foundation of the relations is strong. We are natural allies. We share the basic values.”

The tourism sector has been the most affected by the change in bilateral relations, but though trade has slowed down due to the global economic crisis, interaction continues between business interests. As for the political relations getting back on tract, Amihai believes it is only a matter of time. “This is a very strong alliance, and there is no alternative to it,” he said

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A diplomat’s story

Amihai’s family is from Ottoman lands, with some relatives hailing from Bulgaria and his grandfather coming from Edirne. The consul general has visited Edirne several times; on one trip, he took his mother to visit the city. “We saw what is left of the synagogue. It is in a very bad shape. Not much is left from the city’s glorious Jewish past,” he said. “Edirne hosted the biggest and most important Jewish community. It was a rabbinical center.” He said he was happy to learn that the local university plans to renovate the synagogue for the 100th anniversary of its construction.

The responsibility for maintaining years-old synagogues belongs to the Turkish state and not just to the small Jewish community in the country, Amihai said, adding: “There is a shrinking community in İzmir that is having a hard time maintaining the synagogues. But it is also a Turkish heritage. It is part and parcel of the past 500 years of history. I expect the Turkish officials to preserve this aspect of the mosaic that makes up Turkish culture.”

While he is encouraged that local authorities in İzmir told him they are concerned by the issue and understand the importance of preserving the synagogues, Amihai is waiting for these statements to be translated into action. Of the 10 or so synagogues in İzmir, “some are already lost, some are falling apart,” he said, underscoring that the restoration of synagogues can also serve to the tourism sector as they are beautiful places to visit.

But some synagogues are not open to outside visitors due to security concerns after a bomb attack in 2003 at Istanbul’s famous Neve Shalom synagogue left many dead.

“Obviously, there is a history of terrorist attacks on the Jewish community. But we are enjoying the full cooperation and the support of the relevant Turkish institutions,” said the Israeli diplomat. “We deeply appreciate the measures taken by Turkish authorities that are doing whatever it takes so that a similar tragedy does not repeat itself.”

As for the country’s small community of 20,000 Jews, Amihai said it is made up of proud Turks. “I learned to know and admire them,” he said, noting that the members of the community maintain in harmony their strong Turkish and Jewish identities, enjoying full-scale Jewish cultural life with their own schools, hospitals and newspapers.