Remarks by Dr. Toni Richard Turk 
A meeting with Turk genealogists, researchers and historians:

Opening Remarks:

We are TURKs without regard to religion, race or ethnicity. But there are footnotes. It is difficult to say "forget about politics and forget about religion". We would all like to be considered unprejudiced; however, the facts and the history that we study include wars - and wars are most often fought over religion, race and ethnicity. There are really deep roots, going all the way back to the Crusades, which are reinforced by modern conflicts and economic issues. Prejudice takes many forms. For today, for this summit, we rise above the biases of history and current issues to share our studies and to learn from them. We do not subscribe to the evils of discrimination.

Our agenda today represents Turks of the world.  We have created a single portal to Turk name research on our website www.turkgenealogy.com.  We invite all interested researchers to visit and to join with us in contributing information.  We have contributing researchers and historians from Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, South Africa and the United States. We are most grateful to our connections in Istanbul. Our research gained much attention because of the Sabah newspaper articles. It has opened up additional areas of study and caused a flurry of interest from other Turks around the world, as well as interest from historians in Turkey, who are also here today. The website had numerous visitors because of the publicity. People seem intrigued by our embrasure of the Turkic connection. The people of Turkey have been most hospitable and accepting. Turkey has a history of moderation and tolerance and this meeting follows that tradition.

I am here to share what we know about the TURK surname and to learn from my participation. For 39 years, I have studied the TURK surname. In 1999 I joined the Guild of One-Name Studies. This Guild encourages the detailed worldwide study of individual surnames. I accepted the assignment to study the TURK surname around the world. I share the information willingly and freely through the www.turkgenealogy.com website. I am here today from the genealogy capital of the world, the State of Utah in the United States, as a scholar and as a student. Let us take a journey through our shared history today.

It is with a sense of great responsibility that I approach the distinguished academics and scholars, who have gathered today in the presence of the Turkish media and other public figures to participate in this summit. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to further the research interests of TURK-surname individuals from around the world. It is my personal judgment that while there are many origins of our surname, the most common origin is descent from some distant ancestor of Turkish origins. It is the hope of furthering legitimate research toward making that connection that brings my wife and myself to Istanbul and this summit. We are honored and humbled by our reception.

We seek to establish the historical viability of an individual referenced in our records as Arnulph le Turque. According to our records he was captured in the Crusades, befriended by Raymond IV of Toulouse, France, and dispatched to France where he was ennobled. Arnulph was his assumed name. Reportedly his Turkish name was Hayraddin Saladin. This name is suspect. It appears to be a combination of two popular names: Hayraddin, who was the gypsy in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Quentin Durward published in 1823 and Saladin, who led three successful campaigns against the Crusaders between 1164-1169. However, there appears to be some historical evidence to support the Arnulph le Turque scenario. Raymond did capture the emir or cadi of Tripoli, who committed to becoming a Christian, if Raymond was successful in capturing Jerusalem, which he did in 1099. That emir was Jalal al-Mulk. Raymond presided over the emirate of Tripoli for the rest of his life, never returning to France. Did he switch places with Jalal al-Mulk?

Body: Framing the Research Question

While there are many possible origins of the TURK surname, a primary origin is the name given to a person from Turkey who settled among an indigenious population. Over generations of blending among locals, many of the Turkic features and customs were softened and loss and complete assimilation occurred over time. Only the surname remained to tie descendants to the past. From our mystical/mythical "Arnulph le Turque" until the present day, 900 years have lapsed. Modern TURKs, wanting to be accepted as the assimilated French, Germans, and English that they had become, sought to devise an explanation of the surname that was anything except Turkic connected. We've seen some of those definitions.

  The Turks of yesteryear were fierce warriors. They were not well liked by those against whom they fought. Two relatively recent definitions of a Turk underscore this:

"A real Turk is a manly, though rather violent, kind-hearted being, and if he has confidence in you, very easy to deal with." - Lady Stanhope, October 1827.

"A humorless soldierly people whose arts are courage, honor, and bloodletting." - Nelson Algren 1963.

Why would a soldier, returning to Europe, from the Crusade, take upon himself such a loathed name? Also, there were many Crusaders. Why wouldn't all of them be called TURK, if that was what the populace called such returned Crusaders? We know that did not happen. In today's view, it would be like assuming that the United Nations soldiers in Afghanistan would return from the war and take upon themselves the name Bin Laden or Al Quaeda or Taliban. It is simply unthinkable. Those who have thought it through have determined that the nickname Turk, which became the surname, was shortened from something like "Turk Fighter".

  The reality is, with the one exception of the Westphalian nobility line, the surname TURK is relatively recent in most of Europe and is virtually unknown until the late 1500s.

The French Edict of Nantes of 1598 extended religious tolerance to the Huguenot. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 withdrew this religious tolerance. The effect of these two events was that after 1598 Huguenots were able to move through France and its dominions without restraint. After 1685 they had to flee these regions, if they wanted to practice their religion freely.

  Consider the fact that Arnulph was admitted to the French nobility. Currently the earliest TURK record is the Westphalian nobility. Is there a long since lost Westphalian tie to Arnulph? Did most with this surname remain within France after Arnulph, until some of these began to venture forth with the advent of the Huguenot heresay, i.e. 1598-1685?

  Unless a surname's emergence can be traced to the initial bearer of that surname with a tie to what he was known as before the surname's adoption, every theory is a flight of fancy. This is why we are so interested in placing Arnulph le Turque in history. Everything seems to point to Jalal al-Mulk as being Arnulph. If we can establish that a christened Jalal was sent to France, we would seem to have the evidence we need. 

Jalal al-Mulk is recorded as the Cadi of Tripoli – tied to the Banu'Ammar dynasty, that had conserved its independence thanks to the ability to face the Egyptian fatimids with the Turkish seljuks. He was very respected by the whole of Islam. He was very learned and achieved a great prosperity for the city of Tripoli.

We move now to a study of the Turk Papers Submitted.