THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MELUNGEON COMMUNITY TO TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS
by David L. Arnett
Zaman Online, Turkey
July 5 2006
I would like to begin by expressing heartfelt greetings to all of
you from the great people of Turkey.
I am a proud American, of course, and a career Foreign Service Officer
of the United States, but I have also spent nine years of my life
in Turkey, and I know the tremendous affection that Turks feel in
their hearts for all of you. In fact, Turks are much more likely than
Americans to know about you, the Melungeons, or Meluncanlar in Turkish.
Of course, not all Melungeons trace their roots to Turkey. We come
from many ethnic backgrounds, but I promise you that the Turks embrace
you all, just on the chance that some part of your genetic makeup
may also be Turkish or perhaps traced to one of the areas that was
a part of the Ottoman Empire.
One of the most heart-warming aspects of the Turkish character and
tradition is the love of family. Another is the extraordinary sense of
hospitality. When these two are combined-family and hospitality-you
can begin to understand why Melungeons receive such a warm welcome
in Turkey. That welcome is very similar to what you will find in
Tennessee, or in my father’s home state, Kentucky, when relatives,
kinfolk, return to their homes. Nothing is too good for such
visitors. The best food is served, the best china is used, and the
host will sleep on the floor if he has to so that his guests can have
the most comfortable bed. In Turkey, the poorest villager will offer
whatever he has to a visiting stranger, particularly a foreigner,
out of a time-honored sense of hospitality and honor.
That sense of honor also still links the Turks with the Melungeons
and the people of Appalachia. As a former Army officer, I learned
to esteem the ideals of "Duty, Honor, Country." They are still the
highest ideals in the Armed Services of both the United States and
Turkey, and I believe that they are still most alive in the general
population in this region of the country, where the Melungeons are
most prevalent. Of course, a noble sense of honor can sometimes evolve
into something destructive, such as with the blood feuds that still
existed in my grandfather’s day in Kentucky and still exist today in
some of the remote parts of eastern Turkey. The phrase in Turkish is
almost the same-"kandavasi" or a "blood matter."
But a genuine sense of honor is to be admired, and honor and pride are
both alive and well today in Turkey. Where we have only one word for
honor, there are many such words in Turkish, and those same words are
also used for people’s names. Certainly for me, it has been an honor
to live and work in Turkey, and an honor also to be among you today.
I have served in Turkey three times, from 1983 to 1987 as the Press
Attache at the American Embassy in Ankara, the capital of Turkey;
from 1995 to 1997 as the Counselor for Public Affairs at the Embassy
in Ankara; and from 2002 to 2005 as the Consul General, or the head
of the American Consulate, in Turkey’s largest city and the former
capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul.
I would like to tell you a little story, a true story, about my
introduction to Turkey and the strong connection that I have felt to
the country from the very beginning. It happened in 1983, when I first
arrived in Ankara. On my first night in the city, I stepped out on to
the balcony of my high-rise apartment and looked out at the lights of
the city twinkling within the bowl-shaped area in which it lies and
up in the surrounding hills. It was a beautiful evening, and, when I
lifted my eyes from the city lights to look at the early night sky,
I was truly surprised to see in perfect clarity the crescent moon and
a single star that lay just to the side of it. That crescent and that
star on a field of red comprise the Turkish flag, and I had thought
that they were only symbolic. But there in the sky above me lay that
same crescent moon and star together, and I had the feeling that I
was being welcomed home somehow, that the country’s flag had been
planted above me somehow as a sign of welcome and return. I never
again saw the moon and star aligned so perfectly.
I had not heard of Melungeons at that time, and I had no idea at
all that I might also trace my roots to Turkey. It was during my
second tour in Turkey, in 1995 or 1996, when I first began to hear a
fascinating legend about the crew of a Turkish ship that had found
itself on the eastern coast of the United States centuries before
and had worked its way inland and settled in the broad Appalachian
region. I have heard two versions, (1) that the ship foundered off
the coast, and (2) that the ship was captured by the British from
the Spaniards after the battle of Lepanto and brought to the New World.
In any case, I found the story interesting, but I did not focus on it,
because I thought that it had no direct bearing on me. I was pleased,
though, as an American diplomat stationed in Turkey, to learn that
Americans with possible Turkish heritage were coming to Turkey and
being very warmly received.
In 2004, in Istanbul, I was invited by the Turkish-American University
Association to attend a lecture on Melungeons, and I was fascinated to
learn that one of the families associated with the Melungeons is the
Crow family, since my father’s mother was a Crow. I then remembered
that my father’s father was rather dark-skinned with blue eyes and that
both of them came from southern Kentucky. My father was born, in fact,
within a hundred yards or so of the Tennessee border. The photographs
that I have of my grandfather show a man who could easily be Turkish.
In 2005, with that information in hand, I began to mention to my
Turkish friends that it might even be possible that I too shared in
their Turkish heritage. I mentioned this also in an early farewell
speech and said that although I could not be at all sure that I had
Turkish blood in my veins, I would definitely carry Turkey always
in my heart. The next day, the possibility that I might be partly
Turkish was carried on the front pages of the national press and
on the television news channels. Given the huge interest that had
been generated by the media, I arranged to have a DNA test conducted
through the labs in Oxford, England. To my great pleasure, the results
indicated that I share my genes on my father’s side with a full 25%
of the Turks. And that is in part why I stand before you today.
The other reason is to emphasize the very great importance of
Turkish-American relations and the role that the Melungeon community
can play in strengthening and improving those relations.
Turkey is important to the United States. Like the United States,
Turkey is a remarkable melting pot of civilizations and cultures. It
lies at the heart of nearly every regional issue of concern to the
United States. Whether one discusses current events in the Middle
East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Europe itself,
Turkey is an important key to both regional and world stability.
Turkey and Israel have long been the only real democracies in the
Middle East region. And Turkey’s ties to Israel are important factors
in the search for lasting peace in the region.
The United States strongly supports Turkey’s entry into the European
Union, and we view its success as a secular democracy as an essential
element in the prevention of any potential "clash of civilizations."
Turkey is one of our strongest and most reliable NATO allies. It is
the only Muslim-majority country in NATO. We can boast of over fifty
years as NATO allies and as many years of joining hands around the
world to bring peace and security to troubled regions. We used to
say: "From Korea to Kosovo." Now we say: "From Korea to Kabul." Add
to that two centuries of commercial interaction and a century and a
half of educational exchange, and our countries are linked as allies,
trading partners, and friends.
The primary focus of American policy in Turkey is to support Turkey’s
efforts to achieve the ambitious economic and political goals that
the Turkish people have set for themselves. By becoming an official
candidate for membership in the European Union, Turkey has signaled
strongly that its place is in Europe. Just as important, all Turkish
citizens will benefit from an open, transparent, democratic system that
respects their individual rights and freedoms. Turks are justifiably
proud of what they have achieved over the past few years, and the
United States will continue to support the process of reform.
Inflation in Turkey is lower than it has been in a generation, and
real interest rates have declined sharply. Turkish companies are
exporting at record levels. Total annual trade between the United
States and Turkey is at a level of some 9 billion dollars.
With nearly 12,000 Turkish students enrolled in U.S. universities,
Turkey sends more students to the U.S. than any other European
country. Turkish students are currently enrolled in all fifty U.S.
states.
We are also engaged together in many places around the world to achieve
solutions to regional conflicts. Turkey’s role in Afghanistan is a
case in point. Turkey has successfully commanded the International
Security Assistance Force in Kabul twice, and participated in the
initial training of the Afghan National Army.
Turkey is an important donor for reconstruction. The inauguration
of the Kabul-Kandahar highway, built by U.S. and Turkish companies,
is a good example of our common approach.
Turkey can certainly serve as an example of a country with a large
Muslim-majority population that is also democratic and secular. We
refrain from saying that Turkey is a model, but rather an example,
because it has its own unique history and a founding father, Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, who was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th
century. We also do not speak of our own country, the United States
of America, the oldest continuous democracy in the world, as a model
for the rest of the world, because we have our own unique history.
There is no perfect democracy, because people are not perfect. But
the genius of democracy is that it accepts that people are not perfect
and provides for peaceful change.
The U.S. and Turkey have worked together closely to address our various
interests over the Iraq issue. Turkey has legitimate regional security
concerns, and we have sought to address them. We have repeated very
often that we stand firm on maintaining the territorial integrity of
Iraq, that we are opposed to a separate Kurdish state, and that our
vision is of an Iraq where all ethnic groups, the Turkmen certainly
among them, will have their rights, representation and access to the
nation’s wealth protected.
On June 12, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell sent a message to
the City of Istanbul at the opening ceremony for our new Consulate
there. These are his words: "The United States and Turkey are great
nations. As Ataturk said, we have both been inspired by democratic
ideals, and this experience indeed deepens our friendship. Both Turks
and Americans are focused on the future, a future that will be a very
bright one for the Turkish people despite the many challenges you face
today. It will be bright for the same reason that my country’s future
is bright: because innovative people freed to use their creativity
and initiative can produce wonders."
Hundreds of thousands of Americans visit Turkey every year. At the
Consulate General in Istanbul alone, we processed more than 65,000
visas for Turkish citizens each year, and many thousands of Americans
have made Turkey their permanent home. Turkey is a beautiful country
with spectacular tourism sites, enviable weather, great cuisine,
and people whose hospitality is known throughout the world.
We want the great and sovereign Republic of Turkey to remain
exactly what it is-a strong secular democracy that is perfecting
the democratic rights of its people and moving ever closer to full
integration with Europe.
Just as the Ottoman Empire once extended from Central Europe through
the Middle East and North Africa to the Arabian Gulf and the very
borders of South Asia, Turkey today forms a bridge between Europe and
Asia, a bridge between the ancient and modern worlds, and a bridge
between Islam and the West. It is also one of the most beautiful and
interesting countries in the world.
So, what problems could possibly exist between us? Unfortunately,
there are some. Most of them began with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Our government believed that the Turkish Parliament would approve
the movement of our 4th Infantry Division and Turkish troops
through southern Turkey and into northern Iraq as a major part of
the battle plan. In fact, both governments expected approval, and
so did both militaries. However, on March 1, 2003, despite the yes
votes outnumbering the no votes, the small number of abstentions meant
that the motion to approve did not have the support of a majority in
the Parliament that day. In fact, Turkey did approve the dispatch of
many thousands of troops to Iraq on October 7 of that year, but that
offer was eventually declined because of the opposition of many in
Iraq itself.
The March 1 decision came as a shock and disappointment to many in
Washington. Although our relations later improved, they have not been
as close as before. Today, there are other concerns in Washington,
focusing on high-level Turkish contacts with Syria and Hamas, at a
time when unified world opposition to their activities in Lebanon
and Palestine has been sought, and there are questions about Turkish
policy in regard to Iran.
On the Turkish side, the fears that led to the rejection of the March
1 motion never materialized. There was no influx of Iraqi refugees
into Turkey. The Turkish tourism industry and the Turkish economy as
a whole have boomed since that time, although it was feared that both
would be badly damaged.
However, on July 4, 2003, an event occurred that poisoned the
relationship on the Turkish side. A small contingent of Turkish
soldiers in the northern Iraq city of Sulaimaniye was arrested by
American troops who were acting on reports that they were planning
destabilizing actions in the region. As is customary with such arrests,
they were handcuffed and bags were placed over their heads while
they were transported to American facilities. Within a day or so,
they were released, and high-level meetings were held between our
two militaries in order to discuss the incident and avoid anything
similar in the future.
That might have been the end of it, but reports were leaked to the
Turkish media, and the entire country became inflamed by what was
perceived to be a serious breach of Turkish honor. All of the polls in
Turkey continue to confirm that the institution held in the greatest
esteem by the Turkish people is the military. To dishonor the military
is to dishonor the entire nation. To this day, many Turks believe that
the Turkish uniform was dishonored that day, although their soldiers
were actually in civilian clothes.
Nevertheless, that single incident has grown in the Turkish
consciousness into a huge black mark against the United States. That
has been coupled with a widely accepted but decidedly false belief that
the United States supports the establishment of an independent Kurdish
state in northern Iraq, which might tempt Turkish Kurds to demand their
own state within the current boundaries of Turkey. That combination of
beliefs has led to several popular books and films in the last year
and a half in Turkey that have depicted the United States in very
ugly terms and undermined the friendship between our two countries.
So, yes, there are some problems. And what does that mean for the
Melungeon community, and how can we help?
There are at least two major points of convergence between Melungeons
and the Turks. The first is the search for identity and a longing to
belong to a wider community. The second, of course, is the genetic
link in many of us and a shared physical heritage. I would like to
explore both for a few minutes.
I believe it is true that nearly all of the world’s peoples are of
mixed race and ethnic heritage. One of the differences with Melungeons
is that we are well aware of that. And there is no doubt of that
really with the people of the United States and Turkey. We are a
land of immigrants, and modern Turkey is the heir of probably the
greatest empire that the world has ever seen, the Ottoman Empire,
which encompassed vast territories in Europe, the Middle East,
Africa, and Central Asia, and a great mixed population drawn from
all of those areas.
We have generally celebrated our mixed ethnic heritage in the United
States, but modern Turks have not yet done the same. Against all
odds at the end of the First World War, the great Turkish general
and statesman Ataturk, himself a man with blond hair and blue eyes
from Salonika, rallied his countrymen from the heart of the Turkish
homeland, Anatolia, and beat back the Western powers that had tried to
divide the country with the Treaty of Sevres and defeated the various
minority groups that tried to secede and establish separate countries
on what remained of Turkey. With the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923,
Ataturk and his followers achieved their hard-fought independence
and established the modern Republic of Turkey.
But it was held together by the will of Ataturk and a strong
nationalism based upon pride in being a Turk. The most famous of so
many revered statements by Ataturk is this: "How happy is the one
who says I am a Turk." Minorities have been viewed as threats that
might fracture the unity of the new country. In addition, Ataturk
disbanded the Caliphate, or the spiritual leadership of Islam that
had been vested in the Sultan in Istanbul until 1923, and he also
outlawed various religious orders in the country, in a successful
attempt to steer Turkey toward the modern West and away from what
he considered the backward ways of the traditional Arab world. He
also championed the emancipation of women, Western dress, the Latin
alphabet instead of the Arabic, and a series of other reforms that
thrust the country into the 20th century and headlong toward the West.
And today, 83 years later, there is a national identity crisis in
Turkey that is also being played out in the political world, because
the reforms certainly changed the shape and practice of the state,
as well as the surface of Turkish life throughout the country, but
they left several unresolved questions to this day. For example, if
the country is truly secular, then why does the government regulate
religious practice and expression? In a true democracy, should the
military have the right to intervene in political affairs? Should
the country really fear the differences expressed by minority
groups as threats to national unity, or should it not embrace those
differences as they enrich the wider society? These and many other
similar questions are being debated in Turkey today as a government
with Islamist roots faces a skeptical military establishment and
resistance from the secular establishment.
As Turks struggle with their internal identity, they are also compelled
to re-examine their external or international identity.
Turks will point to the map to help people understand their strategic
situation. For example, during the Cold War, they were surrounded by
the Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Warsaw Pact-member Bulgaria and
NATO-ally but traditional rival Greece. The situation is better today,
but relations are mixed with Russia, rather tense with Armenia,
uncertain with Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and still not warm with
Greece. The current government of Turkey appears to believe that Islam
can be the unifying force that will create good relations with its
Arab and Persian neighbors, but history does not provide much support
for that view, and the Arabs have not forgotten that they were ruled
by the Turks for centuries. At the same time, whenever Turkey reaches
out to regimes considered totalitarian or terrorist or both by the
West, it risks losing the friendship of Europe and the United States.
The U.S. has long supported full Turkish membership in the
European Union and continues to do so, in the strong belief that
such membership will anchor Turkey firmly and finally in the West
and complete Ataturk’s vision of a country with a strong secular,
liberal democracy that can proudly take its place among the world’s
most modern democratic states.
The polls in Turkey used to indicate that nearly 70% of the population
supported Turkish membership in the EU, but that support has been
steadily declining as new opposition to their membership has arisen in
Europe, while some conservative forces in Turkey fear the loss of their
traditional privileges if Turkey should become a member of the EU.
At the moment then, there is both a personal and national search for
identity taking place in Turkey, and a genuine longing, I believe,
to find or to create a wider sense of community and belonging. And
isn’t that what we are doing here today as well-searching for identity
and creating a sense of community?
In their search, Turks embrace anyone with Turkish roots. With the
fall of the Soviet Union, Turkey reached out strongly and vigorously
to the Turkic people of Central Asia in the newly independent states
of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan. They expected that their ethnic connections would lead to
enormous growth in trade and an economic windfall for Turkey. Indeed,
many Turkish companies have done well in Central Asia, but the huge
windfall never materialized.
Turkey has championed the Turkmen people in northern Iraq following
the fall of Saddam, in part from a genuine sense of brotherhood, and
in part because the Turkmen provide political leverage for Turkey in
the Kurdish region of Iraq, a region that continues to haunt Turkish
policy-makers.
The Turks have even claimed kinship with Native Americans, pointing to
Turkish words in tribal languages, identical carpet designs, and other
cultural and social similarities. And here, of course, we are back with
Melungeons and the research of Brent Kennedy and many others. We do not
have to speculate, as I have heard some Turks do, about a land bridge
from Siberia and a crossing by Turkic peoples from Asia thousands of
years ago, because there is a simpler and more convincing explanation
known to all of us here-that Turks entered the country a few centuries
ago from the east, not thousands of years ago from the north.
Just as Turks have reached out to other Turkic peoples around the
world, they are indeed reaching out to you. What better way could
there be to help mend the frayed edges of Turkish-American relations
than to celebrate Turkish-Americans and welcome long lost relatives
back to the ancestral fold?
The exact number of Turkish-Americans in the United States is not
known. I have heard estimates ranging from 75,000 to 400,000. But
that is before Melungeons are taken into account. There are some 100
Turkish-American Associations that I am aware of in the United States,
and I believe that all of them would be very pleased to welcome any of
you as members. The two largest federations are the Assembly of Turkish
American Associations (ATAA) and the Federation of Turkish American
Associations, and both can be located easily through the Internet.
Most Americans, in fact, know very little about Turkey, and
that is partly because until now there have been relatively few
Turkish-Americans, as opposed to other much larger hyphenated American
ethnic groups. There are no Turkish-Americans in our Congress, for
example, although there is now a substantial Turkish caucus comprised
of Members who are well aware of the importance of Turkish-American
relations and the importance of Turkey to global peace, as well as
the peaceful integration of Islamic traditions and the modern world.
Turkish-American organizations are backing the campaign of a
Turkish-American running for Congress this fall in Maryland. I expect
that there will be many more such candidates in the future. And I
anticipate that many of you will be asked for your support in the
future in regard to Turkish-American issues and concerns as word of
the Melungeons and their numbers spreads in the American consciousness.
Regardless of your political beliefs, however, and regardless of
whether you have any ancestral connection to Turkey, I hope that
as many of you as possible will travel to that great country and
experience the homecoming that will be offered to you as soon as
you reveal that you are a Melungeon. Your very presence in Turkey
and your interest in Turkish culture, history, and tradition can do
wonders for the Turkish-American relationship.
Finally, I would like to say a few words about the genetic
connection. In many cases, it is impossible to know exactly how or
when other influences were added to our genetic makeup. In my own
case, I thought that perhaps there would be indications that I had
ancestors from the Mediterranean and even the eastern Mediterranean.
But the DNA results came back with specific mention of Turkey.
However, it is known that Turkic peoples also made their way as far
north as Finland, and there appear to be similarities between Turkish
and Finnish, particularly in sentence structure and grammar. That
might help explain why my own DNA results also mention 20% Norwegian
and a full 40% from the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia,
the Sami. Arnett is actually a Scottish name, and it seems reasonable
that the Vikings of Scandinavia brought my own bloodline to Scotland
along with the Turkish element. It is known that the Vikings visited
Istanbul, or as it was known then Constantinople or, as it was known
to the Vikings then, Miklegard. In fact, Viking mercenaries served the
Byzantine emperors of Constantinople for over two centuries. Did Turks
return with the Vikings on their ships up through the Black Sea and
the rivers of Russia back to Scandinavia? Did some Vikings establish
themselves in Turkey (Asia Minor) and return many years later? Or
am I related to that substantial part of the Turkish population that
came from Central or Eastern Europe perhaps, or another part of the
Ottoman Empire? It is probably impossible to know, and I am simply
content in the knowledge that my own mixed heritage includes a strong
connection to modern Turkey.
For those of you with Turkish genes, I recommend strongly that you
visit the modern Republic of Turkey and help solidify the important
links between our two great countries. For those fellow Melungeons
who do not have Turkish genes, I recommend that you also visit the
modern Republic of Turkey and help solidify the links between our
two great countries. Both groups will be rewarded by extraordinary
beauty, unbelievable historical riches, fascinating archaeological
discoveries, warm hospitality and friendship, unmatched cuisine,
and the knowledge that you are playing an important role in bridging
differences between cultures and religions and avoiding the threatened
"clash of civilizations."
The contacts and the friendships that you make will be lasting,
and you personally can play an important role in strengthening and
deepening Turkish-American relations. And you will know, as I know,
that the Turks are perhaps the most warm-hearted and friendliest
people in the world.
In closing, there is a Turkish proverb that I would like to bring to
your attention. I think it speaks to us both as individuals and as
nations. I quote: "Ayrilikla olumu cekmisler, ayrilik agir gelmis."
In English: "They weighed separation and death on the scales, and
separation was found to be heavier."
Ladies and gentlemen, the Melungeons are together here in Kingsport.
We are bringing together the elements of our own lives and ending the
separation that has been felt in our families. I can think of no other
group that is better qualified to lead the way in helping all people
and all nations lose their sense of separation. I am very proud to
be among you. Thank you very much for your time and attention today.
June 9, 2006
This is the unabridged version of The Importance of the Melungeon
Community to Turkish-American Relations on Zaman’s Turkish web site.