Elza Niego affair
The 1927 murder in
Murder
Elza Niego (20) was a typist of the National Insurance Company of Turkey.[6] During a holiday at Heybeli island, a Muslim Turkish official, Osman Ratıp Bey, fell in love with her.[6] Osman Bey, who was 30 years older than Elza, would follow Elza around the island.[6] In despair, Elza Niego cut short her vacation and went home. Niego eventually became engaged to a Jewish co-worker. Osman Bey, who was enraged by the engagement, pursued Elza Niego and stabbed her to death with a knife.[6]
Osman Bey was so in love with Elza that he reportedly cut ties with his wives (one in
Aftermath
During the funeral, a demonstration was held in opposition to the Turkish government.[6] This sparked an anti-Semitic reaction in the Turkish press.[8] Nine protestors were immediately arrested under the charge of "insulting the Turkish Republic", but were acquitted from charges in their first trial.[6] Soon thereafter, a second trial against the aforementioned nine Jews, including a Russian witness to the murder, was initiated. The defendants were arrested, and four of them were sentenced for the offense of "insulting Turkishness".[9]
Osman Ratıp Bey, on the other hand, was quickly arrested and charged with murder. His plea of insanity was accepted in court in 1928, and he was indefinitely placed in the newly-opened Bakırköy mental hospital. On 22 February, 1935, he escaped the hospital, but was apprehended after a 24-hour search by police. He was murdered by another patient in the hospital in 1938.[10]
References
- ^ "ELSA NİEGO: AMOR Y MUERTE EN ESTAMBÚL". sfarad.es. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ "Turkish Jewry Agitated Over Murder Case". Canadian Jewish Review. October 7, 1927. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ISBN 9780872031111. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ^ "TURKEY: Notes, Aug. 29, 1927". Time. Aug 29, 1927. Archived from the original on August 27, 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISSN 1773-0546.
- ^ a b c d e f "New Trial Ordered for Nine Constantinople Jews Once Acquitted". Jewish News Archive. January 16, 1928. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Üstün, Ebrar Begüm (2020). Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi Kadın Cinayetlerinin İstanbul Gazetelerine Yansıma Biçimleri (1923-1945). Istanbul: Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi. pp. 87–88.
- ISBN 9780520218222.
- ^ Münferit(!) antisemitizm vak’aları Archived February 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Ayşe Hür, Taraf
- ISBN 9789753423366.