*Atatúrk, the clues in the name. He was a Yórúk Turk on his maternal side, a lot of Yórúks in the Balkans esp. North Macedonia. They’re the original descendents of the Oghuz tribe. Women particularly in my family look like Yórúks. There are suggestions his dad was Albanian, but I doubt it as he looks Turkish to me. Atatúrk was born in Salonica which had a large Jewish population, maybe the largest in the Ottoman empire. I think this is where the donmeh rumours stem from, also the fact that Atatúrk wasn’t an anti-Semite. He had a Jewish teacher at school, thereon Atatúrk formed a positive impression of Jews. He was disappointed at the rise of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany and wanted nothing to do with it. Atatúrk was an ultra-nationalist and this feeling was embedded into the Turkish psyche. The nationalist fervor persists today, however this Turkish nationalism is unique in that it doesn’t belittle other ethnicities and countries. The multi-ethnic ‘Young Turk Movement’ had 2 or 3 donmehs apparently. Talaat Pasha who was half Roma gypsy was held largely responsible for the fate of the Armenians.
*Mano the Golden Dawn fella used to call Atatúrk and his mum all kind of things. What happened to Mano btw? ..I read his posts on here years before I joined disqus. They’ve all been deleted now, so either he’s been banned, or he’s fallen in love with a Turkish woman❤️🤍😂 …I miss the banter with the crazy Grik…
*Backgammon is fun but I really wish Turks took as much interest in Chess. My dad was addicted to Poker before he became a Hajj, one of his mates told me my dad would gamble large amounts on the throw of a single dice. I prefer ‘Yahtzee’ instead. In answer to your question… Yes I’m a son of Turks living in Europe, I thought you’d guess that by now.
*I want to ask you…. are the surnames ‘Merver’ and ‘Kudlow’ Jewish by any chance? There’s a Canadian connection to those names….