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 in Kenya, Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria [ [http://www.afro-turk.org/index.php/ayvalikin-renkli-dernegi Ayvalık’ın renkli derneği, retrieved 28 August 2008] ] were brought by Turkish slave traders during the Ottoman Empire to plantations around Ayvalık, Manavgat, Dalaman, Menderes and Gediz valleys, and Çukurova. 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 and İstanbul [ [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] ] . In 2006, 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 of UNESCO 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 of oral 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 the Turkish Football Federation
* Cetin Uludag, Head Tribesmen
* Sadri Usuoğlu, football manager
* Mustafa Yıldız "known as "Arap Mustafa", weightlifter

Notes

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