What is less well known about turkey is its jewish heritage turkey has been home to a jewish presence for over 2 000 years and during the 15th century many jews settled in turkey while escaping the spanish inquisition the two main settlements are in istanbul and izmir and the emphasis will be on seeing some of the historic synagogues in both cities including what is reputedly the oldest one in the world dating back to 3ad combined with the jewish heritage are the tours of istanbul and ephesus