Turkish Forum

Author: Aylin D. Miller

  • What do Turkish people think of the Ottoman Empire today?

    What do Turkish people think of the Ottoman Empire today?

    Didem Korkmaz on Quora answers the question as follows:

    Some Turkish people are big admirers of the Ottoman Empire and in fact would prefer to bring it back. I’m thinking of a large portion of the current Turkish government Akp’s supporters. They often carry a flag of the Ottoman sultan’s tughra, call themselves Evlad-ı Osmanlı (the child of Ottoman) and fully or partially reject the Republic of Turkey. Oddly enough these people are also the ones who know the least about the Ottoman Empire or simply refuse the truth they know. Just to give one example, 8 out of 10 Evlad-ı Osmanlı I come across are xenophobic nationalists and/or totally intolerant of different religions and/or dislike “the West” and what they call “white Turks.” But the Ottoman Empire was much more multicultural than Turkey is today, there were a lot more people from different religions, and a pretty high number of the Sultans they admire had European genes, so they were white Turks. In other words they don’t love the real Ottoman Empire, they love what they created in their minds as the Ottoman Empire which is very different than the reality.

    For the rest, the Ottoman Empire is history; we like and feel grateful for some things they have done for paving our way, enjoy some stories from that era, cherish the architecture and inventions (personally speaking, especially food.) We also dislike some other things they have done and wished it was different.

    In the end, it’s history. The Ottoman Empire was doomed to fall like every other empire. Our grandfathers and grandmothers built a more modern, democratic country from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire and I’m proud to call myself one of the Cumhuriyet Çocukları, the children of the Republic.

  • Turkish Flag Raising Ceremony

    Turkish Flag Raising Ceremony

    Turkish Flag Raising Ceremony / Wall Street. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkiye

    Turkish Flag Raising Ceremony, Wall Street.

    Cordially invites you to the 23rd Annual Raising of the Turkish Flag at Wall Street’s Historic Bowling Green Park.

    Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkiye 

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams tentatively Scheduled to Attend 

    Bowling Green Fence and Park New York City usa
    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

    CUMHURİYET 100’UNCU YIL DONUMU

    Sizleri, Wall Street’de Tarihi Bowling Green Park’ta yapilacak olan 23 uncu. 

    Geleneksel Turk Bayrak Cekimi’ne davet etmekten onur duyariz.

    Date: Friday, October 27, 2023  Time: 11:30 am 

    Location: 26 Broadway, New York, New York 10006

    For more information call Ibrahim Kurtulus at 646 267 7488

  • Life in Old İzmir

    Life in Old İzmir

    Snapshots of Life in Old İzmir with 100 Photographs
    ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF İZMİR’S LIBERATION

    After the Ottomans surrendered at the end of World War I and signed the Armistice of Mudros on October 31, 1918, Greek forces occupied İzmir on May 15, 1919. The Turkish Army under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, took İzmir back on September 9, 1922, after a two-year war, followed by a fire which destroyed half the city. The fire was the end of an era. In the years following the
    declaration of the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923, “Cosmopolitan Smyrna” destroyed by the fire has risen from its ashes as “Turkish İzmir”. The war that finished the most cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire also
    created the modern state of Türkiye out of the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire. Reconstruction of İzmir after the Great Fire of September 1922 was an important part of the nation-building process after the War of Independence.

    izmir fotograflari

    İzmir now is a completely different city than what it was a century ago. The İzmir of 1922 has vanished entirely and another has taken its place. As we tell the story of old İzmir, we seek our past in our own memory, but we do forget, indeed. As Necati Cumalı describes in his poem “İthaf “ (dedication):

    “The tears, the wishes for happiness,
    now secret Stories of centuries told to us are secret
    Whatever known as Old İzmir by one and all
    is the broken-down narrative the elders tell.”

    https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/fotograflarla-izmir.pdf

    fotograflarla-izmir
  • Letter of European Rabbis

    Letter of European Rabbis

    A group of 50 senior leading European Rabbis have signed a joint letter condemning the leaders of Armenia for using holocaust rhetoric in its campaign against its neighbor, Azerbaijan.

    hahamlar rabbis

    RABBINICAL CENTRE OF EUROPE
    RCE
    B.S.D. Brussels, September 6, 2023

    Mr. Yitzhak Herzog, President of the State of Israel, Jerusalem, ISRAEL

    Dear Mr. President,

    As rabbis serving the Jewish communities across the European continent, we are writing to you following interviews given by senior Armenian government officials in the international media on matters related to the political conflict with the government of Azerbaijan. They employed the language and comparisons that are appropriate solely to describe the deliberate, systematic and largest genocide in the history of mankind, which the Jewish people have been subjected to: The Holocaust.

    During WWII the Jewish people were persecuted, murdered, butchered, burned, tortured, drowned and buried alive. The Holocaust was not limited to a single place but occurred throughout almost the entire European continent and with the collaboration of too many nations.

    Such words as “ghetto”, “genocide”, “Holocaust” and the like in no uncertain terms inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement. Usage of these terms belittles the terrible suffering experienced by the Holocaust victims and the entire Jewish people, which still bears the indescribable pain of the largest tragedy ever experienced by a single group.
    We call upon you to explicitly and unequivocally clarify to the Government of Armenia and all other countries that they should recognize and respect the terrible human suffering endured by the Jewish. We urge you to make them aware that the practice of minimizing and downplaying the suffering of the Jewish people for furthering any political agenda through the continued use of Holocaust-related phrases should be ceased immediately and completely.

    Respectfully,

  • Was Romania part of the Ottoman Empire?

    Was Romania part of the Ottoman Empire?

    Yes, Romania was part of the Ottoman Empire for a significant portion of its history. The region that is now Romania was under Ottoman rule for several centuries, starting in the late 14th century and lasting until the 19th century.

    The Ottoman Empire began to expand into the Balkans in the late 14th century, and by the early 15th century, it had established control over various territories in what is now Romania. Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the three historical regions that make up modern Romania (the third being Transylvania), came under Ottoman suzerainty, meaning they had to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire and were subject to Ottoman influence.

    While Wallachia and Moldavia were technically under Ottoman control, they also retained a degree of autonomy and had their own local rulers (voivodes) who governed with a degree of independence, provided they paid tribute and maintained loyalty to the Ottoman Sultan.

    Transylvania, on the other hand, was not directly ruled by the Ottomans but was often caught in the struggle for influence between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy.

    Although Romanians will deny this information saying that they were never Ottoman citizens and they had their own citizenship even before their independence, their claim was not recognized by the Ottoman Empire and neither by any state as a matter of fact.

    During the XIXth century, when modern diplomacy did not recognize any relationship of vassality and suzeranity between states as in the Middle Ages, Moldavians and Wallachians were considered as special subjects (citizens) of the Ottoman Empire. As far as international and Ottoman law was concerned, this means that they had Ottoman citizenship and the Ottoman Law of citizenship of 1869 applied to them. Any child born from a Moldavian or Wallachian father and mother or just from the father was by jus sangvinis also considered an Ottoman citizen and was issued an Ottoman passport. Any foreigner naturalized on Moldavian or Wallachian soil also became Ottoman citizen. All this till Romania gained its independence in 1878.

    When a Romanian was traveling within the Ottoman Empire outside of the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, in their own minds they were a foreigner, but as far as Ottoman authorities were concerned, they were an Ottoman national travelling in their own country, even if they were in Constantinople, Damascus or Tunis. Romanians also like to call their country before their independence as United Principalities but again, they had no international status as “principalities” and officially they were just provinces (memalik-i mahruse) of the Ottoman Empire.

  • Inflation is coming back

    Inflation is coming back

    Inflation on the rise

    By jumping onto the green machine too quickly at the expense of world oil, the Biden Administration has sown its old disastrous defeat.

    These communists/democrats are miminking  V. Putin of Russia, who has jailed Alexie Navalny for 20 years, and are trying the same feat with Donald Trump.

    The problem is these politicians think they know the law.

    Here is the big problem: There is no quick fix for Biden.

    The price of Diesel fuel has gone over the $4.00 threshold. There are only a few distilleries that can convert oil to diesel fuel. Trains, truckers, and airplanes use diesel. That raises the cost of everything.

    Now, to add more logs to the unwanted wind, the Panama Canal is in big trouble, and it is not China’s fault. It is the weather. ‘They have had a severe drought of over three years. The Lake that supplies water for the canals is running low. The Lake has to reduce the water it provides to the channel.

    Heavy-laden ships displace too much water, meaning they can not cross a crowded canal with other ships. The result is that the canal usually ferries 42 vessels a day through their waterways. It is now down to 32. Traditionally, 90 ships are waiting to go through, but now the figure 130. Ant if rain, thanks to El Nino, does not come in the next three months, the canal will have to go to a one-year restrictive plan.

    Just think of the added expense of fueling [the stationary ships and feeding their crews. Honestly, It raises the cost of the goods they are carrying.

    All of these factors lead to higher inflation. Unless our administration does not change its venu, higher interest rates are not the correct answer under normal circumstances. These healthy perishable produce items do not have a long shelf life.

    The solution to our problem is to shop and add to the kitchen can goods and paper items. When prices rise, we will have needed funds for perishable produce items that are good for one’s overall health.

    Larry Kudlow has often said the solution in his Fox TV show is DRILL BABY, DRILL.

    Cheerio,