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Turkey's good relations with Jews go all the way back to when the Spanish kicked most Jews out of Spain, 1492 or thereabouts

My wife (who is Spanish) and I met some Spanish-speaking Turks in 1973 when we were stationed at Incirlik. Dont know if they were Jews or Islamic, the latter I thought, but it was a bizarre time. Speaking to Turks who spoke 15th century Spanish, handed down through the generations! Wild!

Those people were probably Sephardic Jews that fled from the Spanish Inquisition primarily around 1492. Their 'native tongue' is Judeo-Spanish and is still being used by some Turkish Jews. Here's a link to an 8 page weekly newspaper [1 page in Judeo-Spanish] published in Turkey called Salom [pronounced Shalom].

And here's an article in Judeo-Spanish:

Mesaje del Vice Primer Ministro Mesut Yilmaz a la komunita djudia de Turkia

A la okazyon de la fiesta de Pessah, el Prezidente del Partido Politiko ANAP el Sinyor Mesut Yilmaz, Viçe primer Ministro del Governo Turko, adreso al grande Rabinato el mesaje de felisitasyon siguiente:

''Pessah es la fyesta ande se komemora en el entuzyasmo, la kontentes i los sentimyentos de ermandad, la liberasyon de los ijos de Israel salvados del esklavaje en Ayifto. Suetamos a muestros sitizanos de konfesyon djudia ke esta Fyesta sea syempre para eyos un simbolo de paz i de amistad i les auguramos salud buena i Alegria.

Vice Primer Ministro Mesut Yilmaz.

El Prezidente de la Prefektura de Sisli Mustafa Sarigül i el Müftü de Estambol Tayyar Tas ekspresaron tambyen sus suetos.

Speaking to Turks who spoke 15th century Spanish...

I believe the name of the language is Ladino. Many Jews in Bosnia-Herzogovina also spoke Ladino, as their ancestors fled there after the expulsion from Spain. Sorry, but I find these kind of linguistic anachronisms fascinating. Thanks for the info. Did you know there's a canton in Switzerland where they speak Low Latin mixed with a little German? It's called Romansch or Romantsch. For a sample see this link