Vedat Çalık News Antakya / February 17, 2023
Today is my 4th day in Antakya, where the earthquake disaster took place. Everywhere in the 400,000-population district, there is pain, destroyed and damaged buildings, and then there are those who exploit the disaster.
Obviously, not everyone has the same intention. When I arrived in Antakya, I met the teams from Kocaeli and wanted to learn about their experiences as they were on the ground. They had witnessed many painful events. I was particularly struck by the fact that they said that the teams from Israel were working effectively around the Synagogue where our Jewish citizens were located.
The synagogue in Antakya, which was hit hard by the disaster, was damaged, and Shaul Cenudioğlu, the head of Hatay's Jewish community, and his wife, Mrs. Fortüne, lost their lives. I asked them if they had seen anything out of the ordinary in this area. The Kocaeli team working in the same area learned that the Israeli team had been working in this area on the first day, and that they had not allowed anyone to approach the area, and that the people they took out were put on helicopters and taken away.
Since I knew that the synagogue in Antakya had a 600-year-old and a 300-year-old gazelle skin Torah manuscript, I did some research to find out if there was any news and checked the Twitter account of the Jewish Community of Turkiye. The following posts dated February 7 and 10 immediately caught my attention.
On February 7, the official twitter account of the Jewish Community of Turkiye showed an image of a person with his back turned, probably taking the scrolls written on gazelle skin found in the Antioch synagogue.
The other was a post dated February 10, starting with "Good Friday", showing Mendy Chitrik, the representative of the Chabad organization in Turkiye, better known to us as the founder of the Rabbinical Alliance of Islamic Countries, with a large black bag on his lap and 7 people with him.
I lived through the Kocaeli earthquake, so I know that it is frowned upon to be caught taking something from the rubble, no matter what. Apparently, Mendy Chitrik, a member of the Chabad organization, which many of our Jewish citizens in Turkiye are uncomfortable with, was holding the scrolls, which are historical artifacts, that he took from the Antioch Synagogue on February 7 on February 10. (
see - video footage)
Interestingly, there was no explanation in the posts on the Turkish Jews twitter account about Mendy Chitrik being with 7 people while taking the Scrolls. But Mendy's post on February 11th said, "Antakya synagogue damaged, Torahs taken to safety by @tyahuditoplumu team." However, there was no explanation on the Turkish Jewish Community's twitter account or anywhere else. On February 7, Mendy probably brought the ancient Scrolls to Istanbul with 6 other people - again, a crime - without notifying the official authorities and without the official people taking them. Because as far as we have learned from the Antakya security units, there was no such delivery.
The Scrolls brought to Istanbul are somehow handed over to the Jewish Community of Turkiye, either they are handed over or not. Again, according to Mendy's post, they are taken to the "police station".
Unfortunately, another lie is revealed here, because the scrolls were not taken to a safe place, the "police station"! We learn this from the confession of Ishak Ibrahimzade, who was part of Habadist Mendy's team. Ibrahimzade said, "The Torahs were taken from our synagogue in Antioch by a team including the esteemed rabbi of our Turkish Jewish community and are under protection. With the revitalization of our synagogue and Antioch, they will return to their place ... Let's not allow any provocation!"
They steal the scrolls and then say, "Let there be no provocation"?
Let me remind you that Chabad, one of the world's most well-known, most widespread and largest Hasidic Movements, especially for its social welfare activities, was founded in Russia towards the end of the 18th century (1775), and it seems that it wants to give itself a new depth in Antioch, which has a history of 2500 years. And it also wants to possess 600 years of historical scrolls.
In fact, Mendy Chitrik came to the Antioch Synagogue on August 13, 2021 and photographed the location of the Scrolls and took his breath here at the time of the earthquake.
As a result, Mendy Chitrik, a member of the Chabad organization, took a historical artifact, the records of which were in Antakya, without permission and brought it to Istanbul.
Historical artifacts in our country are primarily in the inventory and under the protection of the Republic of Turkiye.
No excuse can excuse this crime, which has been committed and for which there is more than enough documentation.
Whatever the reaction of the citizens to whose stole anything in the disaster area where the earthquake took place, it should be even more severe to Mendy the Habadist.
