- Afro-Turks
Afro-Turks, African Turks, or Turkish Africans are people of African descent in
Turkey . "Afro-Turk" is a neologism; they have been colloquially named as "Arap" in Turkish, and are now also referred to as "Afrika kökenli Türkler" [ [http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika kökenli Türkler Article from Turkish Wikipedia: Afrika kökenli Türkler] ] .Beginning several centuries ago, a number of sub-Saharan Africans, usually via
Zanzibar and from places inKenya ,Sudan ,Ghana ,Nigeria [ [http://www.afro-turk.org/index.php/ayvalikin-renkli-dernegi Ayvalık’ın renkli derneği, retrieved 28 August 2008] ] were brought byTurkish slave traders during the Ottoman Empire to plantations aroundAyvalık ,Manavgat ,Dalaman ,Menderes andGediz valleys, andÇukurova . Some of their descendants remain, mixed with the rest of the population, in these areas, though many migrated to larger cities. [ [http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141522 Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt, "Today's Zaman", 11 May 2008, Sunday, retrieved 28 August 2008] ] These factors make it difficult to guess the number of Turks of African ancestry.Mustafa Olpak , writer and a prominent Afro-Turk, gives an estimate of 2,000,000 for the people of African ancestry who live on the littoral between Antalya andİstanbul [ [http://www.afro-turk.org/index.php/afrika-kokenli-turk-vatandaslari-izmirde-dernek-kurdu Afrika kökenli Türk vatandaşları İzmir’de dernek kurdu, retrieved 28 August 2008] ] . In2006 , Olpak founded the first officially recognised organisation of Afro-Turks, the Africans' Culture and Solidarity Society ("Afrikalılar Kültür ve Dayanışma Derneği") in Ayvalık. [ [http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141522 Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt, "Today's Zaman", 11 May 2008, Sunday, retrieved 28 August 2008] ] The opening ceremony was attended by Ali Moussa Iye, the Chief ofUNESCO Slave Routes Project [ [http://www.afro-turk.org/index.php/hayallerinin-otesine-gecti Mustafa Olpak’ın Kurduğu Dernek, UNESCO’nun Da Dikkatini Çekti: Hayallerinin ötesine geçti] ] [ [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001510/151097e.pdf Slave route project, no. 4; The Slave Route newsletter; Vol.:4; 2007] ] . A principal aim of the association is to promote studies oforal history on Afro-Turks, a community history of whom was usually ignored by official historiography in Turkey. Olpak's story is told in the Turkish film "Baa Baa Black Girl" [ [http://www.chinafilmproject.org/index_files/Page747.html ‘Breaking The Chains’ Prize, Zanzibar International Film Festival, July 5, 2007, retrieved 28 August 2008] ] , which discusses how his grandfather was whose African grandfather was purchased as a household slave by an Turkish family, but later moved to Istanbul after the Turkish Revolution in 1922. [ [http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-445/i.html Zanzibar Film Festival: Dealing with the Gruesome History of Slavery, retrieved 28 August 2008] ]Notable Afro Turks
*
Kuzgun Acar , sculptor
*Mansur Ark , musician
*Fercani Bey , footballer
*Esmeray , singer
*Tuğçe Güder , top model and actress
*Ahmet Kostarika , actor
*Zenci Musa , politician
*Mustafa Olpak , writer
*Vahap Özaltay , footballer
*Dursune Şirin , actress
*İbrahim Şirin , classical Ottoman musician
*Sait Sökmen , ballet dancer
*Melis Sökmen , actress
*Cenk Sökmen , musician
*Sibel Sürel , ballerina
*Hadi Türkmen , former head of theTurkish Football Federation
*Cetin Uludag , Head Tribesmen
*Sadri Usuoğlu , football manager
*Mustafa Yıldız "known as "Arap Mustafa", weightlifterNotes
External links
* [http://www.afro-turk.org "Afro-Turk"] Website of the Afro-Turks' association in Ayvalık
* [http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141522 Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt] , "Today's Zaman ", 25 June 2008
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