The Jews
The Jews of Turkey include a small remnant of the captivity settled around Jerusalem and in Mesopotamia.[250] After the destruction of Jerusalem, the valley of the Tigris became the most important seat of the Hebrews. Parthian tolerance granted them a partial autonomy under the authority of a chief chosen from among the descendants of the house of David.[251] This liberal régime ended with the decline in power of the Abbasside caliphs of Bagdad. The Jews were then forced to abandon Chaldea. Many emigrated to Spain. Later, under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, they were compelled to flee from Spanish persecution and seek a home again in Turkey. Descendants of these emigrants, known as Sephardim, are settled in cities of Asia Minor and Syria. Small colonies of Ashkenazim Jews are also scattered in various Turkish towns. An old colony of a few hundred Samaritans survives in the vicinity of Nablus.
The Jews are an exceedingly composite people and, contrary to popular belief, do not represent as pure a type of the Semitic race as the Bedouin Arabs. Southern Syria was a prey to invaders from every quarter of the compass. It was the clashing ground of Hittite and Nilotic civilizations. From the west, Mediterranean seafaring populations swarmed in from earliest antiquity. At least three great waves of Semitic migrations overwhelmed the land prior to the coming of the Arabs. The Jew, therefore, represents the fusion of four distinct races of men. The purity he has retained is that of the fused type. His language alone is Semitic. His physical appearance recalls Hittite traits more prominently than Semitic and this probably accounts for the frequent mistaking, in western Europe and in the United States, of Armenians for Jews.