Karataş, Izmir

Karataş (Ottoman Turkish: قره طاش‎) is a neighborhood of İzmir, Turkey, within the boundaries of the city's central metropolitan district of Konak. The neighborhood no longer has an official delimitation or status and exists as a notional zone (semt) that is admitted to stretch along the small cove of the same name (Karataş Cove (Koyu)) in the Gulf of İzmir. Its area roughly corresponds to the officially delimited quarter (mahalle) named Turgut Reis. The inhabitants, among whom neighborhood pride is quite developed, also usually declare living in Karataş.

Karataş is historically the part of İzmir where the city's Jewish population was concentrated, particularly for middle- to richer classes. In Ottoman times, the poorest were usually either concentrated in Mezarlıkbaşı quarter or around Havra Sokağı (Synagogue Street), both of which are located in or around Kemeraltı bazaar zone, or were scattered across the city. Karataş is still the area in İzmir where most members of the city's Jewish community continue to live.

Along with most Jews in Turkey, İzmir's Jewish community is also overwhelmingly Sephardic, notwithstanding a continuous Romaniote Jewish existence in Anatolia dating back to the antiquity, as well as small scale migrations by Ashkenazi Jews into Ottoman lands (usually fleeing the persecutions in Central Europe) at various times.

The constitution of an organized Jewish community in Ottoman İzmir has its roots in the eviction of Jews from Spain in 1492, although it is almost certain that there was not a direct and immediate migration from Spain to the city of İzmir self. It is indeed interesting to note that, while the records do indicate small settlements by Sephardim Jewish migrants in such inland cities as Manisa, Akhisar, Turgutlu and Tire, the current day metropolis of İzmir goes unmentioned in the 16th century context. The early 20th century Turkish Jewish scholar, the virulent Turkish nationalist Avram Galante, who remains the principal reference for the Jewish history in Turkey, explained the absence of Jews in pre-17th century İzmir by the frequent plagues and wars in this coastal city, as well as by the preference Jews themselves have shown for such tax havens of the time as Selânik and Manisa.

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Wikipedia