Boris Johnson’s leadership bid has found surprising support in Turkey despite the fact his Turkish great-grandfather was murdered for being a traitor to the country.
Turkish journalist Zeynel Lule, from the online newspaper T24, described Boris Johnson’s race for leadership of the Conservative party as: “The journey from the Cankari village in the Black Sea region to London” adding “is this the fruit of being multi-cultural?”
Another Turkish media “Haberler” describes how “Ottoman (Turkish) Descendant Boris Johnson leads the race for the leadership in the UK.”
Johnson’s ancestor was Ali Kemal, a former journalist in the Ottoman Empire as well as an editor and poet. He was briefly Interior Minister as well for three months before he was assassinated in November 1922.
He married a dual British Swiss nationality woman called Winifred Brun, who is the daughter of Margaret Johnson, at a ceremony in Paddington in London in 1903, and in 1909 was forced into exile in England where his wife gave birth to a son, Osman Wilfred Kemal, who was Boris Johnson’s grandfather.
Osman and his sister adopted their maternal grandmother’s maiden name of Johnson, with Osman going one stage further and using his middle name Wilfred as his first name. His son was Stanley Johnson, and their son was Boris Johnson, making Boris Kemal’s great-grandson.
For his part after returning later to Istanbul, Kemal was kidnapped from a barbershop and eventually attacked by a mob where he was beaten with sticks, stones and knives and his head was caved in before he was hanged from a tree. The allegations against him stemmed from the fact that he was considered to have been a traitor who collaborated with enemies of the country.
International media that publish Turkish editions, such as Microsoft News, also highlighted Johnson’s Turkish roots, saying that the “Ottoman Descendant” who had an eye on Theresa May’s position is winning the race for the top job with a huge lead over his rivals.
In April 2016, Johnson said in a speech that he was a fan of Turkey, but that he could not imagine his 77 million Turkish friends and people of Turkish origin coming to England without any control, saying that it would be crazy.
Many in the country took to social media to welcome the news, such as Kivanc Baskaya who wrote: “With a real Ottoman heir in the form of Boris Johnson in charge, this puzzling world that has allowed Donald Trump to come to power can now be put to rights.”
And Selcuk Arici added: “Boris Johnson is the descendent of an Ottoman man. In other words, he is Turkish.”
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Repport
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
