When the Jewish false messiah Shabbetai Zevi converted to Islam on September 16, 1666—the year his followers believed the Messiah would bring redemption—his followers split into three groups. One of the groups actually believed that Shabbetai did not fail by converting to Islam; they believed that “one cannot know the mysteries of God’s chosen.” A large number of Jewish families, about three hundred of them, followed him. Those became known as Donmeler or Donme, meaning converts, and they didn’t mix with other Muslims until the twentieth century.
They had their own schools, mosques, and even their own cemeteries, indicating that they were like the conversos of Europe. Jewish historian Marc David Baer writes, “Shabbetai Tzevi’s conversion was not profound, in the sense that it was not based on profound belief in Islam, and that rather, it was quite superficial, because he had been compelled to change religion.” The Donme proved this point when they migrated to Salonika, a cosmopolitan Jewish city in the empire.
https://www.unz.com/article/the-jewish-role-in-the-armenian-genocide-and-bloodbath-of-christians/
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