Ilya Cohen now lives in Boston, in the US. But until the age of 17, he lived in Gaziantep, the sixth largest city in Turkey. Gaziantep is in Southeast Turkey, about 40 miles from the Syrian border.
Is your family still in Turkey? No there are no Jews left in Gaziantep now. In the 1970s there was some political unrest and anti-Semitism rose. A friend of mine was kidnapped for ransom. People in the town decided it was time to leave. They told their Turkish neighbors they were moving to Istanbul so as not to arouse suspicion and within six months there was no one left. Everyone moved to Bat Yam in Israel; the whole Jewish population of Gaziantep lives within ten blocks there!
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