moving every year. In October 2013, it was reported that a mass exodus of Turkish Jews was underway. Reportedly, Turkish Jewish families are immigrating to Israel at the rate of one family per week on average, and hundreds of young Turkish Jews are also relocating to the United States and Europe. Turkey and Israel Turkey was among the first countries to formally recognize the State of Israel. Turkey and Israel have closely cooperated militarily and economically. Israel and Turkey have signed a multibillion-dollar project to build a series of pipelines from Turkey to Israel to supply gas, oil and other essentials to Israel. In 2003 the Arkadaş Association was established in Israel. The Arkadaş Association is a Turkish–Jewish cultural center in Yehud, aiming to preserve the Turkish-Jewish heritage and promote friendship (Arkadaş being the Turkish word for Friend) between the Israeli and Turkish people. In 2004, the Ülkümen-Sarfati Society was established by Jews and Turks in Germany. The society, named after Selahattin Ülkümen and Yitzhak Sarfati, aims to promote intercultural and interreligious dialogue and wants to inform the public of the centuries of peaceful coexistence between Turks and Jews. Diaspora The various migrations outside of Turkey has produced descendants of Turkish Jews in Europe, Israel, United States, and Canada. Today, there are still various synagogues that maintain Jewish-Turkish traditions. The Sephardic Synagogue Sephardic Bikur Holim in Seattle, Washington was formed by Jews from Turkey, and still uses Ladino in some portions of the Shabbat services. They created a siddur called Zehut Yosef, written by Hazzan Isaac Azose, to preserve their unique traditions. In recent years, several hundred Turkish Jews, who have been able to prove that they are descended from Jews expelled from Portugal in 1497, have emigrated to Portugal and acquired Portuguese citizenship. Notable Turkish Jews Ishak Alaton, co-founder of Alarko Holding Aaron Alfandari, writer Solomon Eliezer Alfandari, Sephardic rabbi Seyla Benhabib, political theorist Can Bonomo, musician from Izmir who represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan Abraham Salomon Camondo, Ottoman-Italian financier and philanthropist; patriarch of the Camondo family Elijah Capsali, first Hakham Bashi () of the Ottoman Empire Moses Capsali, Hakham Bashi Isaac Carasso, Ottoman Jewish entrepreneur and businessman Mendy Chitrik, rabbi of the Ashkenazi community, chairman of Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States Uzeyir Garih, co-founder of Alarko Holding Fernando Gerassi, Turkish artist Françoise Giroud, politician Umut Güzelses, Turkish-Israeli soccer player Ishak Haleva,