Comments on: Eastern Turkey

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sat, 16 Oct 2004 08:59:36 +0000

Thanks for your comment Utku. According to Encyclopedia Britannica 2004, Saladin was born in 1137/38 in Tikrit, "into a prominent Kurdish family." He was a Mesopotamian and a Muslim sultan (founder of the Ayyubid dynasty as you say). Arabic (the language) spread hand-in-hand with Islam, so he would have spoken Arabic - but was ethnically Kurdish. This is also explained in Wikipedia. According to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, of Hoşap Castle was built in the 16th century by Sar Süleyman who was the leader (Bey) of the Mahmudi dynasty of Kurds and was, incidentally, also an Ottoman subject. Do you have references to contradict these authoritative sources? Best wishes, Bruce

By: M & D

M & D — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 09:54:05 +0000

Hi Bruce Excellent read excellent photos - thank you.

By: Utku

Utku — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Bruce. You made a historical mistake, The king Saladin who united muslims was not Kurdish. He was an Arab and teh head of Abbasi Empire. Indeed it is a Arabic name , search the internet well, u can get the information better. Also there is no Kurdish castle it is an old castle of which many civilisations used.