SABBATAI ZWI AND IZMIR

Izmir as a Sabbataism Center

Sabbataism is a term which not so many people in the world know about. The word Sabbataism derives from Sabbatai Zvi, who was a rabbi in Izmir. He lived in the 17th century. He declared heimself messiah, which was not liked by the jewish orthodoxy and the Ottoman Palace. He was arrested by the palace and he was presented with two alternatives: to repent and convert to Islam or to die. He choose the first alternative and became muslim. His followers also converted to islam, but have maintained their jewish rites and traditions. Because of that they are also called "donme" -a turkish word meaning turncoats. They had an important presence in Thessaloniki; howver as a result of the biliteral agreement between the greek and turkish governments they also had to leave Greece for Turkey. Majority of them came to Istanbul and some to Izmir in 1923. Though small in number, they have been an unproportionally very influential group since the establishment of the modern turkish state. We mean that an institution in Izmir can be founded as The Center for Sabbataism Studies. Sinan Tortum