Famous Jewish Couple in Turkey Stabbed to Death

Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News is reporting that a famous Jewish couple were stabbed to death in their home in Istanbul. The bodies of Jak Karako, 77, and his wife, Georgia Karako, 69, were discovered by police in their apartment in Istanbul’s Ortaköy neighborhood. The caretaker for the couple is nowhere to be found; police regard the caretaker as a suspect. 

One local source familiar with the community told The Algemeiner:

There is some level of mistrust against the government as a result [of] recent anti-Semitic incidents. Some believe that the truth about the couple’s murder will never come out, but it will be some manipulated version of what had happened.There have been several reported murders of Turkish Jewish businessmen throughout the past several years, but these incidents were either never solved or were blamed on some small local disputes which the community always looked at with suspicion.

Hurriyet reported that Karako was quite well known:

Karako was one of the founders of Ören Bayan, the most famous yarn brand in Turkey. Famous actresses, like Türkan Soray, have played in the brand’s TV ads. Moiz Dana, the other co-founder, died while travelling to the United States in 2009. The sons of Karako and Dana had taken over the company from their father in the 1990s. The families later sold the company due to financial troubles.

Turkey’s Jewish population has been targeted with violence recently; anti-Israel statements have become common, and some Jews have been violently attacked. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan recently compared Israeli actions in the war with Hamas to Hitler, and the Israeli embassy and consulate have been the targets of violent protests.