Friday, March 21, 2008

Native Americans Targeted for Turkish Alliance

The Armenian Reporter March 15, 2008

Turks are saying they were the first Americans

Real Native Americans say they speak with forked tongue

by Anoush Ter Taulian

''Last month, I reported about a January 26 panel discussion on
Turkic and Native American connections, held at the Turkish Center in
New York (see the story in the Community section of the Feb. 9
Reporter) in which the Turks presented their theory that their
ancestors crossed the Bering Strait into the Americas and thus are
the ancestors of some of the present day Native Americans. Since
then, I've been asking Native Americans and what they think of this
theory and I've found they do not welcome these Turkish
claims...............................

............However, the presenters also put forward a claim of
Turkish-Native American relatedness from a much more recent time. It
involves a group of Turks who claim to be related to
the "Melungeons": a population of mixed Indian, white, and black
ancestry, whose members say they are the descendants of the 200
Moors, West Africans, Portuguese soldiers, South American Indians,
and Ottoman Turkish galley slaves that Sir Francis Drake brought to
Roanoke Island, Virginia, in 1586.* There is no record of the number
and origin of the rescued prisoners who made up the diverse
ancestors of today's Melungeons (the group designated "Ottoman
slaves" could have included Bulgarians, Circassians, Abkhazians,
Arabs, Berbers, Greeks – evenArmenians). Nevertheless, there are now
Melungeon societies in the Appalachians; and the town of Wise,
Virginia, and Cesme in Turkey have become "sister cities" and plan to
engage in economic trade – all on the basis of this claim of a
Turkish-Melungeon connection. But according to Anton Edwards, a mixed
Native and African American, "The claims of these Turks are
preposterous." Edwards familiarized himself with some of the
materials used by the Turkish-Melungeon advocates, but came away
unconvinced..........

Continued here
http://www.reporter.am/pdfs/A0315.pdf

* This assertion has no basis in fact. It has not been proven that Sir Francis Drake left any people in North America or if he did, that any survived. And the leap to identifying them as ancestors of the Melungeons is a very long leap, indeed. Additionally, it is a matter of historical record that Drake returned the Turks to their homeland. See David Beers Quinn.

Janet Crain

9 comments:

Mclovin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

This is story is well known in Danville virginia and other parts of virginia , its not spoke of but if mention the Elderly will speak on the Turkish Origin and mixture , even Most African - american elderly will Speak on this historical Origin.

Historical Melungeons said...

Yes, it probably is well known NOW, having been introduced in books in the early 90's and spread over the Internet for over ten years. Can you document a person saying this 100 years ago?

Anonymous said...

I know nothing of "being the first Americans", but my great-great-great grandmother and father were Cherokee and Turkish (in that order) in eastern Kentucky. My great-grandfather's sister was the first (and so far only) person I ever heard use the term or describe our heritage as "Melungeons" ...interesting story at any rate since I'm extremely watered down with other lineages by now. I do enjoy being an "American mutt" :)

Historical Melungeons said...

Anonymous; I would really like to know the names of the people you speak of. Some people have a very broad definition of Melungeon. They use the word to describe any mixed person in the South and this is simply not correct. The historical Melungeons were a distinct people with their own history. It is that history this blog seeks to present.

Anonymous said...

The writer is simply "Another Armenian Racist"!!

Band of Rhea said...

My family comes from Wolfe County, KY. A county with long standing ties to both Hancock, TN and Highland, OH. So far I have found nearly a dozen 2nd to 3rd cousins who belong to the X mtDNA group associated with the Altai. This of course doesn't even include the 100s of other cousins I have from from just about every other haplogroup---including the male NC1. I think it's time we all get together and burn all those early Melungeon books---and start over. It seems rather "odd" that after all these years, my Appalachian Mountain family is showing to have far more in common with mixed Asiatic Gipsies (from Romania)---than they do with the old "mix of Black, White, and Indian" story. A very, very, tired story btw.

Historical Melungeons said...

Band of Rhea: I would have to know what surnames you are speaking of before I could comment.

Historical Melungeons said...

Band of Rhea: I would have to know what surnames you are speaking of before I could comment.