A Turkish Muslim student finds asylum and a new home in Israel

Turku Avci, a 28-year-old Turkish Muslim student and outspoken supporter of Israel, has been granted asylum in Israel after a two-year ordeal of online harassment, legal threats, and social isolation in her native Turkey. She shared her story with Emily Frances on i24NEWS’s Jewish World Weekly, describing both the hostility she faced for defending Israel and the warmth she says she found among Israelis.

From Marmaris to Jerusalem

Avci grew up in Marmaris, a resort city on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. She first encountered Israelis as tourists, and the meetings challenged assumptions she had grown up with.

“I didn’t have any Jewish friends. I didn’t have anyone Jewish around me,” she told Frances. “When I was 20, I started knowing Jews because the Israelis started coming to Turkey, especially to my city, to Marmaris. And they were so warm. They were like one of the best tourists we had in Marmaris. They were respecting our culture, our women. And they were so much fun, generous.”

Those encounters later influenced her decision to study abroad. Jewish friends suggested the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Avci said studying in Jerusalem appealed to her desire to understand Israeli society firsthand.

She enrolled as a political science and communications student.

“I was looking for a university abroad,” she said. “Those Jewish friends of mine, they told me, you know, you are really interested in politics. And we have a Hebrew University. It’s great. And then studying in Jerusalem sounded so charming to me.”

October 7 Changed Everything

Avci had planned to pursue sports media after arriving in Israel, but the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, upended that path. She was living in student dormitories in East Jerusalem and, in the early days of the war, feared that violence could reach her and other students.

“It was a trauma for me,” she said. “We were alone, like a couple of students. And we had this plan, like if they would come for us, if they would join them from East Jerusalem, how are we going to hide? What are we going to do? And for three months, we held on to that plan.”

What followed, she said, was a second shock: seeing people around the world, including in Turkey, justify or minimize the attack. “I told myself, this is going to be the first war. Everyone is going to support Israel. I couldn’t think otherwise,” she said.

“And then the next day, I saw from Turkey, from worldwide, that people started defending what happened. And I feel like someone is psychologically torturing me.”

For Avci, the experience became personal. “It’s very personal to you, like so many of us. And everyone is blaming me. And it was really, I just wanted to scream. I was like, no, it’s not what’s happening. What are you talking about?”

That reaction pushed her into public advocacy. Using her phone and social media, she began posting videos defending Israel and criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rhetoric.

Her account eventually reached about 30,000 followers in Turkey before she shut it down amid threats to her family and legal action against her.

The Cost of Speaking Out

Avci says the backlash escalated quickly. She faced a hate campaign online, including calls for violence against her, the publication of her ID number, and posts exposing information about her family. Turkish authorities later issued an arrest warrant, charging her with offenses including “serial aggravated assault” and insulting Erdogan over her social media activity and media appearances.

“People were calling for jihad against me," she told Frances. "They were posting online. They were posting my ID number. That information, no one can reach my numbers and my family’s locations. So I could never imagine they would come to that point.”

The consequences extended beyond online abuse. Her Turkish scholarship was canceled, leaving her in Israel on a student visa without permission to work.

She had to leave her dormitory and was eventually housed by a family in Tel Aviv.

“I lost my scholarship. And I was here with a student visa. I’m not allowed to work. I had to leave the dorms,” she said. “And I was living with this family in Tel Aviv. They were so kind to give me a room. And I had to learn how to deal with this alone.”

Avci also lost relationships. Friends and relatives stopped speaking to her, some because they disagreed with her views and others because they feared association with her could put them at risk.

“Most of them, we stopped talking,” Avci said. “Because they don’t agree with me. And they don’t want to associate with me. Friends and also family. And also, they saw that being connected with me is dangerous. So I lost many people.”

Asylum and a New Beginning

Avci applied for asylum after realizing the threats against her were unlikely to stop. She went through multiple interviews over the course of a year before Israel granted her asylum last week, issuing her residency documents and permission to work.

“It was a one-year process to gain asylum,” she said. “I decided when I first went viral in Turkey. And I saw people filing complaints against me. And people were calling other people to file complaints on X, on Instagram. So this is how I decided to apply for asylum. And then I received the official arrest warrant.”

She said the process included four interviews. “In the end, just last week, I was granted asylum in Israel,” she said.

The contrast between her treatment in Turkey and her reception in Israel remains striking to her. “When the people in Israel heard about my story, I lived exactly opposite things to what I’ve been through with the radical groups in Turkey,” Avci exclaimed. “There was a whole love campaign for me. And it was just so amazing.”

She has also continued to face pressure from Turkey, including what she describes as a conspiracy campaign against a lawyer who agreed to represent her. “They made this whole conspiracy news against him,” she said. “Who is defending Zionists in Turkey? Are we controlling the legal system? It means I may be right. Because I’m the only one tiny girl who says something opposite. And they’re trying to cancel me.”

Her response is defiant. “If your cause is so strong and you’re so right, why are you afraid of me? Me speaking maybe makes your cause even stronger.”

Jews in Turkey

Turkey’s Jewish community is one of the oldest in the Muslim world. Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, where communities flourished in Istanbul, Izmir and other cities. Ladino, a Judeo-Spanish language, became a central part of their cultural identity.

Today, the community is much smaller. Estimates place Turkey’s Jewish population at roughly 15,000, with the vast majority living in Istanbul and a smaller community in Izmir. Most are Sephardic, and the community continues to maintain synagogues, schools and cultural institutions despite decades of emigration, much of it to Israel.

Avci said she knew little about this history before moving to Israel. “I didn’t even know that there’s a Jewish-Turkish community in Turkey,” she said. “I didn’t know anything. Even when I came to Israel, I didn’t know about Shabbat. I didn’t know about religion.”

A Relationship in Free Fall

Israel and Turkey were once close security and trade partners, but relations have deteriorated sharply under Erdogan, particularly since the Gaza war began after October 7. Turkey suspended direct flights, restricted and then halted much trade with Israel, and downgraded diplomatic representation, while Erdogan and Israeli leaders traded increasingly personal and inflammatory accusations.jiss+2

In November 2024, Erdogan announced that Turkey was severing diplomatic relations with Israel, citing the war in Gaza. The countries’ diplomatic missions have since operated at a sharply reduced level, and direct contacts between their societies have largely collapsed.

For Avci, however, the political break does not reflect the relationships she has experienced on the ground. She believes Israelis and Turks can rebuild their friendship, but says that will require greater freedom of expression and a more diverse media environment in Turkey.

“We are culturally really connected, and Israelis love Turkey,” she said. “They listen to Turkish songs. They watch Turkish shows. The other day I was watching a Turkish game with my friends, and we were wearing our jerseys, and everyone was just like, oh, are you from Turkey? Please join us. Sit with us.”