Turks would have been correct enough, since North Africa, including Algiers, was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire well into the 19th cenbtury. But Persia never was.

The song puts me in mind of "The Flying Cloud" - the same sweep of narrative. And here is th DT version oftaht song (Though I note the DT has the narrator as from just outside Dublin, when he's normally from Waterford down on the South Coast.)

Well done Larry.