Beki Luiza Bahar

Beki Luiza Bahar ( Morhayim; 16 December 1926 - 19 August 2011) was a Turkish-Jewish writer and playwright.

She was Turkey's first known female Jewish playwright. Best known for her historical creations, her plays were staged by the General Directorate of State Theaters and many theater companies in Turkey.

Apart from her plays, she wrote poetry, essays, research and her memoirs. She published articles in many newspapers and magazines of Turkey. Her best-known works are Efsaneden Tarihe Ankara Yahudileri (The Jews of Ankara from Legend to History) and Altmış Yılın Ardından (After Sixty Years) in which she compiled her memories. She also wrote poems in Ladino.

Biography Bahar was born in Istanbul on 16 December 1926, to Sara (Benbiçaçi) and Jak Morhayim. She attended the Beyoğlu Jewish School in Istanbul. When her family moved to Ankara in 1937 due to her father's job, she completed her education at the TED Ankara Koleji.

She returned to Istanbul with her family in 1980. Once there, she continued to publish articles in the Jewish newspaper Şalom as well as the Turkey-based magazines Eflatun, Tiryaki, Konya Çağrı, Göztepe, Gelişim and other publications published by Turkish immigrants to Israel.

For the 500th anniversary of the Alhambra Decree and the subsequent Expulsion of Jews from Spain, she wrote the poem Azan, Çan, Hazan, better known as Boğaz'da Ortaköy'de (In Ortaköy-on-the-Bosphorus), which was engraved and placed on a plaque in the Ortaköy Pier Square on 26 April 1992, after the poem being read by the mayor of Ortaköy. The words "Azan, Çan Hazan" became very popular, and eventually became the title of a documentary series. The Turkish composer Ali Kocatepe wrote a song named "Azan, Çan Hazan".

Her play, Senyora Grasya Nasi, dedicated to Grasia Mendes Nasi earned her the Yunus Emre Achievement Award of the Bakırköy Municipality in 1995; it was translated into French in 2001. Her play Ölümsüz Kullar (Immortal Slaves) entered the repertoire of the State Theater in 1997; but has not yet been put on stage. Some of her unpublished plays have been staged in Jewish community centers in Istanbul.

Works Poems Yakamozlar (1963) Kişi Bunalımı+Dişi Bunalımı (1970) Doğada Düğün (1989) Koronas (2002) (in Ladino)

Plays Ölümsüz Kullar (Pudu-Hepa, 1973) İkiyüzbininci Gece (1986) İkizler, (1986) Sıradan Bir Şey (1984) Donna Grasya Nasi (1993)

Essays Efsaneden Tarihe: Ankara Yahudileri (2003) Bir zamanlar Çıfıt Çarşısı (2010)

Unpublished plays Balat'tan Bronx'a (musical) Bir Bütün Alabora

Memories Ordan Burdan Altmış Yılın Adından (1995)

Anthology Ne Kendi Tanır Ne de Söz Edeni Vardır (2000)