History of the Jews in Turkey modest Jewish population. According to Jewish scripture, Noah's Ark landed on the top of Mount Ararat, a mountain in the Taurus range in Eastern Anatolia, near the present-day borders of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. Flavius Josephus, Jewish historian of the first century, notes Jewish origins for many of the cities in Asia Minor, though much of his sourcing for these passages is traditional. New Testament mention of Jewish populations in Anatolia is widespread: Iconium (now: Konya) is said to have a synagogue in Acts 14:1, and Ephesus is mentioned as having a synagogue in Acts 19:1 and in Paul's Epistle
Little Ararat peak. On , Baltic German explorer Friedrich Parrot and Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian climbed Little Ararat. Its peak and eastern flank were on the Iranian side of the border until the 1930s. During the Kurdish Ararat rebellion, the Kurdish rebels used the area "as a haven against the state in their uprising." Turkey crossed the border and militarily occupied the region, which Iran eventually agreed to cede to Ankara in a territorial exchange. Little Ararat Little Ararat, also known as Mount Sis or Lesser Ararat ( or Սիս, "Sis", Azerbaijani: "Küçük Ağrı," , ), is the sixth tallest peak in