Although in modern times a large portion of the Jews living in what are now the Balkans and Turkey were of Iberian origin, thriving Jewish communities in this region long predated the expulsion from Spain. From the 4th century until the 15th, this area—along with, at times, the Levant and portions of northern Africa and even of Italy—made up the Byzantine, or eastern Roman, empire. Henry Abramson presents a brief history of this empire’s Jews, and the multiple waves of persecution they suffered. (Video, 12 minutes.)
Read more on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnJJKNL8cwc