atomicbrh
Elite Member
I've been to Turkey and have some friends of Turkish extraction, now American citizens. They are from Istanbul (or perhaps Constantinople ). At any rate, they are good folks.
Turkey is a beautiful country with wonderful archaeology. They have what may be the oldest town on Earth there, Çatalhöyük. It isn't far from Konya, seat of the "whirling dervish" Muslim sect. It wouldn't surprise me to learn of older arch sites being found in the area. We also hitchhiked into ancient Troy (The chariots, er, busses weren't running into that area off the highway at that time.).
Turkey is a Muslim country. The West and North parts of Turkey are cosmopolitan and generally enjoy and prefer Western culture. The East and South are more fundamentalist. Historically, there was a lot of interaction between Turkey, the Balkans and Southern Russia, characteristically, military. A large number of slaves were taken by the Ottoman Turks, so there is a fair amount of Russian bloodline to be found there. For instance, Roxelana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrem_Sultan), described as a stunning redhead and a favorite of Sultan Suleiyman the Magnificent, was of Ruthenian Russian extraction.
That explains it.