Varlık Vergisi

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Varlık Vergisi ("wealth tax" or "capital tax") was a Turkish tax levied on the non-Muslim citizens of Turkey in 1942, with the stated aim of raising funds for the country's defense in case of an eventual entry into World War II. However, it is accepted that the underlying reason for the tax was to incur financial ruin on the minority non-Muslim citizens of the country,[1] terminate their prominence in the country's economy[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and move the assets of non-Muslims into the hands of the Muslim bourgeoisie.[11]



Background

Non-Muslims auctioning off their furniture to pay for the tax.

The bill for the one-off tax was proposed by the Şükrü Saracoğlu government, and the act was adopted by the Turkish parliament on November 11, 1942. It was imposed on the fixed assets, such as landed estates, building owners, real estate brokers, businesses, and industrial enterprises of all citizens, but especially targeted the minorities. Those who suffered most severely were non-Muslims like the Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Levantines,[12] who controlled a large portion of the economy,[13] though it was the Armenians who were most heavily taxed.[14]

The tax was supposed to be paid by all citizens of Turkey, but inordinately higher rates were imposed on the country's non-Muslim inhabitants, in an arbitrary and predatory way.[15] Because those forced to pay the bulk of the taxes were exclusively non-Muslims,[16][17] the law was perceived by the public as a "jizya - kafir tax" against them.[17] These taxes led to the destruction of the remaining non-Muslim merchant class in Turkey,[16][18][19] the lives and finances of many non-Muslim families were ruined.[20][21] In addition, the law was also applied to the many poor non-Muslims such as drivers, workers and even beggars, whereas their Muslim counterparts were not obliged to pay any tax.[22]

The Varlık Vergisi resulted in a number of suicides of ethnic minority citizens in Istanbul.[23][24]

Population group Amount of taxes to be paid[25][26][27]
Christian Armenians 232%
Jews 179%
Christian Greeks 156%
Muslims 4.94%

During World War II, Turkey remained neutral until February 1945. Officially, the tax was devised to fill the state treasury that would have been needed had Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union invaded the country. However, it is argued that a main reason for the tax was to nationalize the Turkish economy by reducing minority populations' influence and control over the country's trade, finance, and industries.[28]

The tax could not be challenged in court. Non-Muslims had to pay their taxes within 15 days in cash.[29] Many people who could not pay the taxes borrowed money from relatives and friends, also sold their properties at public auctions or sold their businesses to gather some money to pay.[30][31] People who were unable to pay were sent to labor camps in eastern Anatolia.[32][33][34][35] Workers were paid for their service but half of their wages were set-off for their debts.[36] Because of the hard plowing work on Kop Pass, elder obligors conspired with young villagers from Aşkale to make them work instead and they paid villagers daily wages in return.[37] Five thousand were sent there and all were non-Muslims,[38] since the Muslim taxpayers who failed to pay received lighter sentences.[39] Also, there were easiness for payments and tax discounts for the Muslims taxpayers. Although the law stipulated that people over fifty-five years old were exempt from labor service, elderly men, even sick people were sent there.[40] Twenty-one of the people who sent to the labor camps died there[41] and the Turkish government usurped their wealth and sold it to Turkish Muslims at low prices.[42]

The state also confiscated the property of the taxed person's close relatives (including parents, parents-in-law, children and siblings) and sold it to settle the tax amount, even if the person had been forced into labor service.[43]

Foreign-passport residents in Turkey who gave in a tax return or owned a business was forced to pay a huge capital levy on supposed wealth too. However, none of them were ruined or committed suicide. The tax was not based on any reality, but just on a whim of the authorities.[44] This provoked the intervention of foreign embassies and consulates on behalf of their nationals.[45]

Taxpayers were classified into four separate lists, the M list, for Muslims, the G, for non-Muslims (Gayrimuslim), the E, for Foreigners (Ecnebi) and the D for converts (Dönme).[46]

The rigidly-enforced, discriminatory law did not yield the results the government had hoped for. Companies increased the prices of their products sharply to recoup their losses, creating a spiral of inflation that wrecked low-income consumers.

However, according to official information, the Turkish government collected 324 million liras (at a time when 1 US dollar was equivalent to 1.20 Turkish lira) through the confiscation of non-Muslim assets.[15] The press allegedly had "anti-minority" articles and reports.[47][48][49]

According to T.C. Resmi Gazete, the official journal of Turkey that publishes the new legislation and other official announcements, the Varlık Vergisi (Law #4305) was not applied to any particular ethnic or religious communities.[50] Tax tariffs were determined one by one for every business sector. According to the T.C. Resmi Gazete, the tax tariff of 4.94% was for the large-scale farmers, and not limited to any particular religious community. It was also indicated that the tariff for the large-scale farmers could not exceed 5%.[51]

Abolition and aftermath

The law could not sustain relentless international criticism, and it was abolished on 15 March 1944, under the pressure of the United Kingdom and the United States.[52] After the abolition of the law, the minority citizens who were at the labour camps were sent back to their homes.[53] Although the Turkish government promised to give back the paid taxes to non-Muslims, this did not happen.[54]

The opposition Democratic Party (DP) capitalized on its unpopularity in the general elections of 1950,[13] thereby achieving a landslide victory against the incumbent Republican People's Party (CHP).

These taxes brought about a permanent demographic change within the minority population. Many people of the minorities, especially the Greek minority, felt that there was no future for them in Turkey and they left their ancestral homes and became refugees in Greece. On the other hand, some, especially from the Jewish community had managed to secrete assets abroad and they were able to restart a reduced and hesitant life in Turkey.[55] The tax, also, resulted in state confiscation of much minority property in Istanbul, Turkifying not only the economy but also the landscape.[56] The 1935 Census records non-Muslims as 1.98% of the population. By 1945 this had fallen to 1.54%.

In addition, the Varlık Vergisi once more demonstrated that being Muslim constituted a significant part of the definition of citizenship in Turkey.[57]

Years after the introduction of the Varlık Vergisi, the political elite of Turkey had difficulties coming to terms with the subject. The novel The Pearls of Ms. Salkım (Salkım Hanımın Taneleri), written by Turkish author Yilmaz Karakoyunlu, recounts stories and witnesses of the non-Muslims during the Varlık Vergisi. The novel was soon turned into a film named "Mrs. Salkım's Diamonds". Members of parliament, such as Ahmet Çakar (MHP), were outraged at the screening.[58]

In 2012, one of the Turkish Jewish witnesses, Şabat Levi, addressed this response in his interview on Milliyet. When asked "Do you want the government to apologize?", he said, "Of course I'd want them to say 'we were wrong'. Who cares? I already forgave them. İsmet İnönü saved us from Hitler, so I forgave the tax. If he gave us to Hitler, we would become soap. Life cannot be evaluated with money. We survived owing to İnönü. I didn't forget this."[59]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."In reality, the idea was to reduce the influence of the minority non-Turkish citizens to the country's affairs."
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."These quotations reveal that the real reason for the Wealth Tax was the elimination of non-Muslims from the economy."
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."However, the underlying reason was the elimination of minorities from the economy, and the replacement of the non-Muslim bourgeoisie by its Turkish counterpart."
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."... an attempt was being made by means of the Wealth Tax to eliminate the minorities who occupied an important place in Turkey's commercial life."
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The first visible attempt in order to remove minorities from economic life was the implementation of ‘Wealth Tax’ in 1942 which was accepted in the National Assembly with the claim of balancing and distributing properties of minorities. The actual aim behind the scenes was to impoverish the non-Muslim minorities and eliminate them from the competition in the national economy. Instead, the RPP government tried to create a new wealthy Turkish Muslim bourgeoisie."
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."With the introduction of the Varlik Vergisi (capital tax) in 1942, which aimed to confiscate the property and assets of non-Muslims, an attempt was made to bring the national economy also under the control of Muslim citizens."
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The aim was to destroy the economic and cultural base of these minorities, loot their properties and means of livelihood, and, at the same time "turkify" the economy of Turkey."
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."That tax was instrumental in transferring the control of the market from the non-Muslim groups to the Muslims."
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Varlik Vergisi is commonly translated as "Capital Tax" or "Wealth Tax" we might, however, consider an alternate translation of varlik as "presence" which focuses attention on the devaluation- both financial and political of minority presence during this time"
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."... We will use it to eliminate the foreigners who control the market and hand the Turkish market over the Turks." "The foreigners to be eliminated" referred primarily to the non-Muslims citizens of Turkey."
  11. ↑ Şakir Dinçşahin, Stephen Goodwin, “Towards an Encompassing Perspective on Nationalism: The Case of Jews in Turkey during Second World War, 1939-1945"
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Those mmainly afflicted were the Greeks, Jews, Armenians, and, to some extent, foreign-passport Levantine families."
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Varlik_Vergisi" defined multiple times with different content
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."But in its application it differentiated between Muslim and non-Muslim taxpayers, and levied far heavier taxes on non-Muslims, leading to the destruction of the remaining non-Muslim merchant class in Turkey."
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."They were almost exclusively non-Muslims. The law was thus perceived by the public as a "punitive measure" against non-Muslims."."
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Further, the Varlik Vergisi, an excessive tax instituted during World War II, pilfered small Jewish (and other minority) businesses to the point of bankruptcy"
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Due to the law, most non-Muslim merchants sold their properties and vanished from the markets."
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."As a consequence of Varlık Vergisi and the labour camps, the lives and finances of many non-Muslim families were ruined."
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."..., by the time that tax was abolished the major Greek, Armenian and Jewish merchant figures were shaken and dislocated."
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The law was also applied to the many poor non-Muslims (numbering 26,000) such as drivers, workers and even beggars, whereas their Muslim counterparts were not obliged to pay any tax."
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The Varlık resulted in a number of suicides of ethnic minority citizens in Istanbul, indeed, i saw one myself. One evening while on a ferryboat i saw a man jump off the stern into the Bosphorus current."
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Some people committed suicide in despair."
  25. ↑ Corry Guttstadt: Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust. Cambridge University Press, 2013. p. 75
  26. ↑ Andrew G. Bostom: The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History. Prometheus Books; Reprint edition, 2008. p. 124
  27. ↑ Nergis Erturk: Grammatology and Literary Modernity in Turkey. Oxford University Press, 2011. p. 141
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."In addition, the non-Muslims were required to pay their taxes in cash within 15 days."
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The property of individuals who could not raise their assessments was sold at public auctions,..."
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."..as a result they had to sell their businesses or property to Muslim businessmen at low prices to cover the bill."
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."..., and those unable to pay were packed off to a camp at Askale, near Erzerum - an area cooler than Moscow in the winter - where they were put to work breaking stones."
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The Askale victims were later sent south to a camp in the Tigris Valley."
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."..., and if the sale failed to produce the required amount, the owners were sent to forced labor camps run by the Ministry of Public Works."
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Those unable to pay had to work off their debt in labour camps in Askale, in eastern Turkey."
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Yaşlılar, Kop geçidinde kar temizleme işinin ağırlığından dolayı Aşkaleli köylülerden bazıları ile anlaşarak kendi yerlerine gençleri çalışmaya göndermişler, bunun karşılığında da onlara günlük ödeme yapmışlardır."
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Out of 40,000 tax debtors, about 5,000 were sent to these camps, and all of these were members of non-Muslim communities."
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Muslims taxpayers who failed to pay in full received lighter sentences."
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Although the law stipulated that people over fifty-five years old were exempt from labor service, seventy-five and eighty year old men and even sick people were dragged to the train station and deported."
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Twenty-one people died in these camps."
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Unfortunately, 21 people died in these camps and the government usurped their wealth and sold it to Turkish Muslims at low prices."
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The law empowered the state to confiscate the property of the taxed person's closed relatives (including parents, parents-in-law, children and siblings) and to sell it to settle the tax amount, even if the person had been forced into labor service."
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."No foreign-passport residents in Turkey were ruined or committed suicide. However, every foreigner who gave in a tax-return, or owned a business, was forced to pay a huge capital levy on supposed wealth. The tax was not based on any reality, but just on a whim of the Authorities."
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."This provoked the intervention of foreign embassies and consulates on behalf of their nationals."
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Taxpayers were classified into two separate lists, the M list, for Muslims, the G, for non-Muslims (Gayrimuslim). Later, two other categories were added, E, for Foreigners (Ecnebi) and the D for converts (Dönme), i.e., members of the Sabetaist sect of Jewish converts to Islam."
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."One or two weeks after the Wealth Tax lists were displayed, the attitude of the press began to harden further. The "anti-minority" attitude of the news reporting and leading articles that appeared to the press became more pronounced. In particular, during the process of levying distress and sending taxpayers to Askale, anti-minority sentiment reached its zenith."
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The newspapers depicted individual black marketers or suspected "usurers" as "parasites of the Turkish people"; those explicitly named were always non-Muslims."
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Although the smear campaign was directed against non-Muslim minorities in general, it was mostly Jews who were specifically targeted by articles and caricatures, which employed stereotypical anti-Semitic tropes.
  50. ↑ http://www.tbmm.gov.tr/anayasa/anayasa_2011.pdf MADDE 10- Herkes, dil, ırk, renk, cinsiyet, siyasî düşünce, felsefî inanç, din, mezhep ve benzeri sebeplerle ayırım gözetilmeksizin kanun önünde eşittir.
  51. ↑ http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/5255.pdf Madde 2B) Büyük çiftçiler (Büyük çiftçiden maksat, işinin idaresine ve vüsatine halel getirmeksizin bu mükellefiyeti ifa edebilecekleri bu kanunda yazılı komisyonlarca tesbit edilenlerdir)' . Madde 6 - ... İkinci maddenin (B) fıkrasında yazılı çiftçilerin mükellefiyetleri de varlıklarının yüzde beşini geçemez.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The Wealth Tax was withdrawn in March 1944, under the pressure of criticism from Britain and the United States"
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Minority citizens still in the camps were sent back to their homes."
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."Although the RPP government promised to give back the paid taxes to non-Muslims, it did not happen."
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The Varlık Vergisi brought about a permanent demographic change within the minority population. Many (especially the Greek minority) felt that there was no future for them in Turkey, and they left their ancestral homes and became refugees in Greece. On the other hand, some, especially within the Jewish community had managed to secrete assets abroad and they were able to re-start a reduced and hesitant life in Turkey, being careful to abstain from displaying any sign of affluence."
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The tax resulted in state confiscation of much minority property in Istanbul, Turkifying not only the city's economy but also its landscape".
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found."The Wealth Tax once more demonstrated that being Muslim constituted a significant part of the definition of citizenship in Turkey."
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-varlik-vergisi-ni-affettim-cunku-inonu-bizi-hitler-den-kurtardi-/pazar/haberdetay/29.01.2012/1495171/default.htm "* Devletin sizden özür dilemesini ister misiniz? “Hatta ettik” demelerini isterim tabii. Ama ne değişir? Ben affettim zaten. Bizi Hitler’den kurtardı İnönü, Varlık Vergisi’ni de affettim böylece. Eğer bizi Hitler’e verseydi sabun olacaktık. Parayla hayat ölçülmez. İnönü sayesinde hayatta kaldık. Bunu unutmadım."

Further reading

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