Many Spanish & Portuguese Jews were forced to run for their lives, when finally ordered out of Spain & Portugal, and seek sanctuary in whichever countries would accept them, and this they found within the realm of the Ottoman empire, and more specifically, in Turkey.
The Sephardic Jews of the Ottoman Empire, were existing & surviving in Salonika and Sarajevo and Istanbul – relatively safe from the Anti Semitic persecution(s) of the Roman Catholic church and it's Mafia - the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies.
I have read up on some fascinating (and disturbing) accounts of what became of many of those native Iberian/Spanish/Portuguese Jews, and particularly so in the case of “Salonika”.
Turkish Jewish Encounters
http://www.turkiye.net/sota/turkjew.htmHistory of the Jews in Turkey - Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_TurkeyJews who fled to SALONIkA in 1492 - OTTOMAN EMPIRE - Google Search
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=jews+who+fled+to...RE&btnG=Search&meta=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=SALONICA+-+OTTOM...=Google+Search&meta=A little Genealogy
http://www.jewishgen.org/jhscj/Genealogy.htmlQuote; “The third and the main part deals with the Ottoman Empire and their citizens professing Judaism. This empire was a safe haven for Jews throughout its history until its end at the beginning of 20th century.
In 1492 the Spanish Jews (Sephardim) were thrown out of Spain, their homeland for more than seven centuries.
On March 31st the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen issued the edict of expulsion and ordered conversion of all Jews and Muslims to Christianity. Many of Jewish refugees found homes in countries like Holland, France and Italy.
But by far the most important group preferred an Islamic country as a refuge. Their reason for this was that they had lived years under Islamic rule (Grenada, Andalusia) where they were treated as citizens.
The Jews who settled in the Ottoman lands were by far the largest of those refugees.
Ottoman-Turkish authorities welcomed the refugees and encouraged them to settle in Ottoman lands.
Bernard Lewis records the relation between Jews and Turks in Ottoman Empire as follows: when the Turks conquered part of Hungary in the beginning of the sixteenth century, they brought Jews from Ottoman lands and invited Hungarian Jews to go to Turkey.
When they left in 1686, the Jews left with them: there are records of imperial orders to protect them, ensure their safe departure, and resettle them in suitable places in the Ottoman lands after the withdrawal from Hungary.
The greatest centres of Ottoman Sephardic Jewry were Istanbul, Salonika and Sarajevo.
Today only Istanbul is within the boundaries of Turkey.
Salonika was a Turkish territory until 1912.
It was an economic centre of the Ottoman Europe and a cultural centre of Sephardic Judaism.
The founder of modern Turkey (Atatürk) was born there, after the loss of Salonika in 1912 to Greece, the Jews of Salonika were exterminated by Nazi forces and collaborating Greeks.
The Jews of Sarajevo were safe until 1992,but their fate seems to be the same as the Salonika and other Jews.
The articles of Bulent Özdemir and Yitzchak Kerem deals with Jews of the Ottoman Empire and their lives in Salonika.
Mahir Saul's article describes the development of nationalism and language at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century in Istanbul’s Jewish population. Ali Güler and Salahi Sonyels articles are about the transition from the Ottoman Empire into Turkish Republic and the effects of this on the Jewish and Muslim Turks of the Empire and the Republic.”
other related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogromhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Anti+Jewish+pogroms&btnG=Google+SearchSaludos.
Angelo
.
