The parliament of Portugal is scheduled to vote on whether to
naturalize descendants of 16th-century Jews who fled the country because
of religious persecution.
The motion will be brought to a first reading on Thursday by
Portugal’s Socialist Party and is expected to pass, as it has the
support of the ruling Social Democratic Party, according to Jose Oulman
Carp, president of Portugal's Jewish community. Together the
parties hold 80 percent of the Portuguese parliament’s 230 seats.
Carp called the motion “a huge development” and told JTA it proposes
to give Portuguese citizenship to descendants of the Portuguese
Inquisition, which began in 1536 and resulted in the expulsion of tens
of thousands of people and the forced conversion into Christianity of
countless others.
Portugal had a Jewish population of about 400,000, many of them
refugees from neighboring Spain, where the Inquisition started in 1492.
Spanish lawmakers are said to be drafting a similar motion.
“There is no way of knowing for certain how many people would become
eligible for Portuguese citizenship if the law passes, and there is no
bureaucratic system yet for vetting applications -- all of that will
have to come later,” said Carp, who has lobbied for the bill for several
years.
Carp is hoping the measure will help attract new members to the
country’s Jewish community of 1,000 to 1,500. The community would be
involved in reviewing applications, he said. Many Portuguese refugees of
the Inquisition settled in Turkey.
Popular support for the motion stems from a desire to “make amends”
for a dark historical chapter in Portugal – a country that Carp
describes as being“virtually free of anti-Semitism.” Some also hope the
law would attract investments by Jews seeking to settle in Portugal, one
of the European Union’s most vulnerable economies.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/04/10/3123916/portuguese-parliament-to-vote-on-citizenship-for-expelled-jews-descendants
Thursday 11 April 2013
Portuguese parliament to vote on citizenship for descendants of expelled Jews
Posted @ 16:08
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