Turkish Galley slaves

Question

Is it true that some Ottoman Turkish prisoners of war, were actually brought to the Americas as slaves, most likely galley slaves, by Spaniards during colonial times? From the stories I hear, which I don't know if they are true, it sounds like these Turkish people would have been captured in some of the Spanish-Ottoman wars. I'm adding this just to bring more detail to my question.

Answer 1

I've never heard that before. But it is true that some Sephardics and Hispano-arabians muslims emigrated to America to escape religious persecution in Spain in the early 16th century. Throughout the 16th century ottoman pirates attacked the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula and caught christians in Portugal and Spain that later enslaved.