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| | | Turkish Forum formed during June 1993 by the Turks living in USA and Americans of Turkish Decent and Friends of Turkey | | Turkish Forum is a tax exempt grassroots organization, | | Turkish Forum has 180.000+ members across the globe | | Turkish Forum is a volunteer organization |
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| | | 1993: Turkish Forum began an organized and completely volunteer work ,to Preserve Turkish Culture and to protect Turkish American values.. | | | | Later Turkish Forum realized Political and Cultural organization should be complemented by Economic relations to improve its penetration to American fabric. |
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| | | Original Turks came from the region of todays Chinese province called Xinjiang (those Turks there today are called Uigurs) or as Turks call it eastern Turkestan (which borders Mongolia) | | The Turks are a nomadic, warrior people whose roots are in Central Asia but who in several ways of migration moved west conquering lands in India, the Middle East, Russia, Anatolia, and Eastern Europe. | | The old Turkish society of the steppe was one that women were treated with equal regard and respect as the men. | | Culturally, honor, strength, and courage were the most respected virtues, and being a good fighter (warrior or soldier) was an essential part of becoming respected tribal member. | | Both men and women engaged in combat, and were skilled in both archery and swordsmanship. This innate fighting skill developed by Turks established them as empire-builders, and gave birth to such famous conquerors as Tamerlane, and Attilla the Hun. |
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| | | - The Republic of Turkey, founded in 1923, has its roots in historical | | sources deep in the depths of the past. One of these resources | | inherited by modern Turkey is the successful and recorded history of | | the Turks over a time frame of more than 4,000 years. | | - The Huns: The first Turkish tribe that is mentioned in history is | | the Huns. Clear records about the Huns made their appearance in the | | 8th century B.C. Chinese sources refer to the Huns as Hiung-nu and in | | time, some of the Huns migrated to the West. | | | | - The Gokturks:Founded in 552 AD by Bumin Khan, the Gokturks | | engaged in widespread diplomatic activity. The famed Orhun epitaphs | | from this period are made up of the tombstone inscriptions of Tonyuk, | | Kültigin and Bilge Kagan. | | | | The Uygurs:The rule of the Göktürks was brought to an end in the | | year 745 by the Uygurs, who were of the same ethnic stock as | | themselves. | | - In this manner all the Turks who had converged under the banner of | | the Göktürks were dispersed to that of the Uygurs that the agricultura | | basin where they lived became known as Turkistan. In the year 1229, | | the Mongols put an end to Uygur sovereignty; the Uygurs however | | became their cultural and political mentors. |
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| | | Todays Turkey is a country that is inhabited now by people of many ethnic groups, that have very much been intermixed over the centuries of co-existence. In forming the national identity, | | The Founder of Modern Turkey, Ataturk placed emphasis not on a citizens ethnic origins or religion, but on loyalty to Turkey - that land of Anatolia which forms the modern borders. One of his most famous sayings is "Happy is He who calls himself a Turk!" In this meaning of Turk, however, Ataturk is not just referring to the original, ethnically Turkish elements, but of a Turk as a citizen of Turkey, that encompasses all mixtures of ethnicity. | | Not all of the Turkic peoples left Central Asia. After the collapse of communism the Soviet Union, creating the republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgzstan. Additionally, there are still many Turkish people who live in Russia, such as the Chechens, and the Tatars, or in Georgia and the Ukraine. There are also Turkic people who live in China (the Xingxhang Province, otherwise known as Eastern Turkestan). There is also the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. |
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| | | Not all of the Turks migrated southwest and became Muslims. Many also migrated towards the North deeper into Russia, and even as far as Finland, where they instead adopted Christianity. | | Peoples such as the Georgians, the Chuvash, and the Gagauz are all Christians with Turkic origins. | | However, because of the dominance of the Islamic Empires established by Turkish ruling families, and their subsequent wars with the West which had religious overtones, such as the Crusades, the Europeans came to equate "Muslim" with "Turk." | | In fact, in European vernacular, a Christian who became Muslim was typically said to have turned "Turk.' Nevertheless, the term "Turk" is an ethnic term, not a religious one, and connotes people of all religious who have Turkic origin. |
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| | | | | The Piri Reis Map of 1513 is the first surviving map that shows the Americas (the Vinland map may be older but only shows a part of North America). The Piri Reis map shows North America, South America, Greenland and Antarctica which had not yet been discovered in 1513 ???. | | The map was made by a Turkish Admiral Piri Ibn Haji Mehmed. Reis means admiral. Piri Reis did not long bath in the light of this famous work but was beheaded in 1554 for an unsuccessful foray into the Persian Gulf. | | The map became lost and was only rediscovered in 1929 by a group of historians working in the harem section of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul found the map in a pile of rubble. | | Because of the details on this map, many claims have been made for this map. Some even believe that it is so perfect that it could only have been made from very high altitude photographs. Some of this claims can be found at the following web site: http://www.prep.mcneese.edu/engr/engr321/preis/piri_r~1.htm | | The Piri Reis map is not made like modern maps with horizontal and vertical grid for location purposes but with an older method perfected by Dulcert Portolano which instead had a series of circles with lines radiating from them. Maps made by this method are thus termed "portolan" maps. Their purpose was to guide navigators from port to port and not for the modern idea of find position. | | The Piri Reis map also has a number of notes written on the map. These notes cover everything. A translation of these notes are supplied in the above web site |
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| | | Map is in various colour and is decorated with numerous illustrations. on South America of lamas and pumas. On the oceans and along the coasts we see illustrations of Portuguese and Spanish ships. |
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| | | The map is transcribed by experts as follows: | | I. The mountains contain rich ores. . . . There some of the sheep have silken wool. | | II. This country is inhabited. The entire population goes naked. | | III. This region is known as the vilayet of Antilia. It is on the side where the sun sets. They say that there are four kinds of parrots, white, red, green and black. The people eat the flesh of parrots and their headdress is made entirely of parrots' feathers. There is a stone here. It resembles black touchstone. The people use it instead of the ax. | | we found a headdress made of these parrot feathers, and also a stone resembling touchstone. | | IV. This map was drawn by Piri Ibn Haji Mehmed, known as the nephew of Kemal Reis, between the 9th of March and the 7th of April of the year 1513. | | Dr. Joseph Richardson, PhD, PE [rich@rich.engr.mcneese.edu]
Associate Professor of Civil Engineering
Mcneese State University . |
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| | | In the 16th century, the size and power of the Ottoman Empire reached its peak. Since the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453, the Ottomans had engaged in active expansion, both in land and on the sea. Seeking the legitimization and prestige associated with guarding the Islamic Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. | | The Ottomans marched southward and eastward towards Arabia and Persia. But the conquest of Istanbul had opened the door to Europe, so the Ottomans also advanced westwards towards the Balkans. With the establishment of its Navy in the late 1400s, the Ottomans soon came in conflict with the seafaring Italian city states. | | By the beginning of the 1500s, however, the Ottomans had emerged as the dominant power in the Eastern Mediterranean. These successes in turn paved the way for Ottoman seamen to enter the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, thereby threatening the European trade routes to the East, and bringing the Ottomans into conflict with the Portuguese and Spain. |
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| | | Ottoman Sultans took interest in the Voyages of Discovery and followed European developments. | | Ottoman trading and military activity focused mostly on Northern Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Like any other European, it was possible to pay for passage to America. | | Records of North Carolina Land Patents and Grants show that as early as 1635 some Turks were brought to the colonies as workers and laborers. Thus, the trade that developed between the Americas and Europe, Europe and North Africa, and North Africa and the Middle East provided a link that on an individual scale permitted an intermingling of peoples. |
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| | | | | Why we must thank the Turks, | | not Drake, | | for defeating the Armada | | | | John Ezard, arts correspondent | | June 01 2004 | | | | © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396. Registered office: 164 Deansgate, Manchester M60 2RR |
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| | | - For four centuries, Sir Francis Drake has symbolized English nonchalance and cunning in the face of danger. | | First, according to the legend drummed into every pupil, he insisted on finishing his game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe as the Spanish Armada approached in July 1588. | | Then he dispatched the enemy ships with little more than a few burning rowing boats and a favorable breeze. | | But yesterday, it was claimed that Elizabeth's protestant throne was saved by a less celebrated ally: the Turkish Navy |
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| | | Jerry Brotton, a lecturer at Royal Holloway College, London, told the Guardian Hay literary festival that a hitherto unnoticed letter from Elizabeth's security chief and spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, to her ambassador in Istanbul showed that it was Turkish naval maneuvers rather than Drake's swashbuckling which delivered the fatal blow to the Spanish invasion plans. | | The letter, which ordered the ambassador, William Harborne, to incite the Turks to harry the Spanish navy, was written in the mid-1580s and has been buried in archives ever since because it did not apparently relate to any major historical event. | | |
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| | | But Mr. Brotton told the festival: "Walsingham's plan was ultimately successful. Ottoman fleet movements in the eastern Mediterranean fatally split Philip II's armada _ | | So alongside all the stories we're told at school about why the Spanish Armada failed to conquer Britain and destroy Protestantism, we should add another reason: the Anglo-Ottoman alliance brokered by Elizabeth, Walsingham [and others]." | | In his letter to Harborne, Walsingham wrote: "Her Majesty being, upon the success of the said King of Spain's affairs in the Low Countries, now fully resolved to oppose herself against his proceedings in defense of that distressed nation, whereof it is not otherwise likely but hot wars between him and us, wills me again to require you effectually to use all your endeavor and industry in that behalf." |
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| | | Walsingham hoped that Turkish forces might keep the Spanish forces "thoroughly occupied" by "some incursions from the coast of Africa", or by attacking his Italian territories from the sea. | | The Spanish fleet was eventually defeated on July 30 1588 as it awaited the rest of the invasion force off Calais (which never came). | | At the battle of Gravelines, the English navy used fireships before closing in on the confused Spanish | | |
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| | | | | Melungeons | | 16th century forced migrants | | * Estimated population Today, 4M | | * Social Org. Melugeon Heritage Assoc. |
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| | | | | "Melungeon"
From the beginning, the term was applied to a diverse group of primarily sixteenth-century Mediterranean’ Middle Eastern and Central Asian immigrants who suffered great prejudice and united in an effort to survive encroaching Anglo-American racism and depopulation | | Where Can I Go for More Information? | | There are many research efforts underway. Melungeon Research Committee is chaired by Dr. Brent Kennedy, Vice Chancellor, Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia, in Wise, Virginia (540-328-0129). Dr. Kennedy can provide the names and contact information for specific scholars concentrating on anthropological, archaeological, historical, linguistics, genetics, and other aspects of research. |
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| | | There are some physiological characteristics which are called ethnic
markers, that seem to be passed on through the lines of some Melungeon descendants. There is a bump on the back of the HEAD of SOME descendants, that is located at mid-line, just ABOVE the juncture with the neck. It is about the size and shape of half a golf ball or smaller. This is called an ANATOLIAN BUMP, AND INDICATES ANCESTRY FROM THE ANATOLIAN REGION OF TURKEY. If you cannot find the bump, check to see if you, like some descendants, including myself, have a ridge, located at the base of the head where it joins the neck, rather than the Anatolian bump. | | See the following diagram for the site of both the ridge and bump.
Back of Head
\lllllllllllllllllllllllll/
ears ( ___x___ ) ears x marks the bump's location
\valley / the ridge is the line __ shown
\ / neck
/ \__shoulders |
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| | | How Did These People Get Here?
Evidence is also strong (see the work of English historian David Beers Quinn) that in 1586 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE DEPOSITED SEVERAL HUNDRED TURKISH AND MOORISH SAILORS, liberated from the Spanish in present-day Central America, on the coast of North Carolina at Roanoke Island. | | No trace was found of these people when later English vessels dropped anchor for re-resupplying. It is possible, if not likely, that many of them survived and were absorbed into the surrounding Native American tribes. | | This is particularly intriguing when one considers that most sixteenth-century Turkish sailors were themselves of central Asian heritage, thus making them literal cousins to the Native Americans they would have encountered. |
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| | | | | There is also a ridge on the back of the first four teeth - two front
teeth and the ones on either side (upper and lower) of some descendants. If you place your fingernail at the gum line and gently draw (up or down) you can feel it and it makes a slight clicking sound. The back of the teeth also curve outward rather than straight as the descendants of anglo-saxon parentage do. Teeth like these are called Asian Shovel Teeth. | | Many Indian descendants also have this type of teeth. The back of the first four teeth of Northern European descendants are straight and flat.
An example of northern European teeth would be similar to this diagram: [\l ]
Shovel teeth look like this diagram. Back of teeth [ )/ ] front of teeth,
straight |
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| | | It is believed that the the Bering Strait bridge existed many years ago and, hunting bands from Central Asia, pursuing migrating herds across Bering or along its coasts, could have reached Alaska. | | Once in Alaska, they and their descendants continued to pursue the game animals, following them along the Alaskan coasts, up the Yukon and other river valleys, and gradually south | | The hunting bands spread to the Atlantic Coast and through Central and South America |
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| | | "DNA evidence clearly links today's Asians and American Indians. The debate is about where in Asia the first groups were from and how many groups migrated," | | Research indicates that groups migrated into North America from Siberia | | Linguistic differences among American Indian groups and archeological evidence in South America supplement the DNA evidence from Asia and America that supports the migration theory |
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| | | Russian geneticist claims he has taken a giant step toward identifying THE PRECISE ORIGIN OF NATIVE AMERICANS, based on his genetic studies of the TUVAN TURKISH PEOPLE IN SIBERIA. | | Ilya Zakharov, deputy director of Moscow's Vavlov Institute Of General Genetics, says an expedition he led last year proved a DNA link between American Indians and the Ak-Dovurak region 2,100 miles southeast of Moscow. Tuva today is one of Russia's poorest and most mysterious regions, with ancient cultural traditions that include shamanism. The area, bridging Siberia's huge Taiga Forest and the steppes. or plains, lies north of Mongolia. The Tuvans are mainly Turkic-speaking nomadic pastoralists who herd camels, yaks, sheep, goats, and reindeer. | | Zakharov says his team was able to greatly narrow the focus with hair samples taken from about 430 Tuvans. DNA data from the hair roots was analyzed and then compared with that of Eskimos and Amerindian people, including the Navajo and Apache. AMERINDIAN DNA MAKEUP EXACTLY MATCHED THE TUVANS |
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| | | Abstract: Both conventional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a new type of electrophoresis screening procedure indicate that the polymorphic albumin variants Naskapi, found chiefly in the Naskapi Indians of Quebec, and Mersin/Turkey, found in the Eti Turks of southeastern Turkey, are molecularly identical or very similar and that the amino acid substitution site in these variants is located between residues …….. | | This discovery is consistent with a genetic relationship between the Eti Turks and American Indians. http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=350084 | | Published by the National Academy of Sciences Distributed By The Stanford University's Highwire PressTM |
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| | | . Local Records Show: Approximately 80,000 out of the 120,000 Turks who moved to the United States from the Ottoman Empire in search of a better life between 1820 and 1920 came from Harput in Turkey's southeastern province of Elazig. | | . Escape from war thorn Turkey during 1914-1920 * Farmers and Unskilled Workers - Their only desire return to Turkey ONEDAY - No knowledge on American society values | | and American political life - Poor language and integration - Near zero contribution to US Society * Social Org (Türk Hars Birliği, 1933) |
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| | | Migrants After 1950 | | * Higher level of educated and experienced people, Social and Cultural integration and contributions into the American society | | * 1950-1990 Organization Period FTAA(1956), Associations, ATAA(1979), AFOT(ATC)(1979),.., Motor (1973 Cyprus Problem, 1970-1980 Ermenian Terror, +) 1981 First FTAA organized Anti-Terror Walk in NY City 1982-ATAA First Political Action Committe | | Cooperative work/Lobby with American Jewish Associations ?? Cooperative work with American Veterans Associations - Korea Cooperative Lobby with American Companies DBT | | * 1990 Collapse of Russian Empire, Migrations from Central Asian Turkish republics, Increased ethnic pride, Bosnia++ | | * 1991 Formation of World Turkish Congress in NY CITY | | * 1993 Birth of Turkish Forum and beginning of a strong and unique world wide grassroots organization. |
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| | | Over a thousand years ago, the far east of Europe was ruled by Jewish kings who presided over numerous tribes, including their own tribe: the Turkic Khazars. “The Arabic writer Dimashqi wrote that refugee Jews offered their religion to the Khazar Turks and that the Khazars "found it better than their own and accepted it". | | Adopting Judaism was perhaps also a symbol of political independence for Turkish Kinghdom of Khazaria, holding the balance of power between Muslim Caliphate and the Christian Byzantine Empire. | | . The Khazars were an advanced civilization with one of the most tolerant societies of the medieval period. | | |
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| | | The Khazars were a Turkic people who originated in Central Asia. The early Turkic tribes were quite diverse, although it is believed that reddish hair was predominant among them prior to the Mongol conquests. | | In the beginning, the Khazars believed in Tengri shamanism, spoke only Turkic language, and were nomadic. Later, the Khazars adopted Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, learned Hebrew and Slavic, mixed language/dialogue, and became settled in cities and towns throughout the north Caucasus and Ukraine. | | The Khazars had a great history of ethnic independence extending approximately 800 years from the 5th to the 13th century. |
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| | | The history of Khazaria presents us with a fascinating example of how Jewish life flourished in the Middle Ages. In a time when Jews were persecuted throughout Christian Europe, the Turkish kingdom of Khazaria was a beacon of hope. | | Jews were able to flourish in Khazaria because of the tolerance of the Khazar rulers, who invited Byzantine and Persian Jewish refugees to settle in their country. | | Due to the influence of these refugees, the Khazars found the Jewish religion to be appealing and adopted Judaism in large numbers. |
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| | | Relations between the Turks and the Sephardim Jews go back more than 500 years. | | We Sephardim, the descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, take such closeness for granted, because our ancestors have lived it and we are practicing it today in this country and around the world. | | The convergence of views between the Turkish nation and the Sephardim dates back to our settlement in the Ottoman Empire after our expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. |
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| | | That trust that we both, Turks and Sephardim, take for granted has been nurtured by over 500 years of living peacefully together side by side. | | We Sephardim may have a claim to prior knowledge of the Turkish character and take it for granted that we are friends and allies, having 500 years of common history to fall back upon. | | And this is the reason why the American Association of Jewish Friends of Turkey was founded, to show to the American people, Jews and non-Jews alike, that there is a basic historical precedent for strong friendship between Turks and Jews, a friendship that comes from the heart as much as from the head. |
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| | | . TA Closely monitor US foreign policy for the mutual interest of Turkey and US. - Voting members of the Turkish communities are small - Lack of institutions devoted to TA relations * Think Tanks (“Local”, State or “Central”, Federal * Academic Centers | | . TA lobby is not very influential “Alone”, - TA communities are emerging, learning and developing rapid response techniques * TA are begin to unite with a strong voice * Need to form more alliances | | . New generation “New Born” of TA’s are coming up * Students, Teachers, Businessman, Lawyers, Politicians ++ | | . Great deal of work and education needed * To develop well informed TA lobby, * Long term strategy development and * Strong Grassroots level (Non-social level) organizations |
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| | | History of Shared Interests of Turkey and US | | * Turkey has been a NATO ally since 1952 (Second largest military power) * Maintained 24 American Military Base During Cold War and Now * An US key ally in Gulf war 1991 * Participated missions in Korea, Somalia, Kosova, Afganistan * Safe Home and passage for US Army During during 1993 Iraq Problem. * Working with US To rebuild Iraq | | Difficulties and Problems of Turkish American society | | * Not yet well represented in American Fabric * Since Sept-11 domestic uncertainties in Turkey have also made it difficult for the todays weak yet emerging strong Turkish-American Lobby to formulate long term Strategy and maintain consistent position | | Desire and Goal / Purpose of Turkish Americans | | * An active lobby will be instrumental in strengthening cooperation between the two allies during this critical period when a lack of security ignating around Turkey’s south borders. +...+ |
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| | | Increase the attention and support to the activities New Generation of Turks born in USA. Encourage them to function in political arena. | | Preserve the Fabric of Turkish Culture and improve its cultural values integration to American society with all its plusses. | | IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH EARLIER SETTLERS (AMERICAN INDIANS, MELUNGEONS , DESCENDANTS OF EARLY 20TH CENTURY IMMIGRANTS ) AND FORM ALLIANCES ON CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ARENA. | | Improve relations with Other races and their societies settled in USA , Define common cultural values and historical relations, Form Alliances on cultural arena. | | Improve relations of Turkish and American companies doing business in Turkey and USA, and form relations on the basis of free trade and win win agreements. | | CONTINUE TO SUPPORT TURKISH AMERICAN RELATIONS ON COMMON FOREIGN POLICY ARENA |
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Notes
