A rare photo of Mustafa Kemal in WW1

[Borys]

Dear YM,
1-He got the surname "Atatürk" according to the new social and civil reforms of the Turkish Republic in June 21st 1934 with the law Nr. 25 25. Until that time Turks had no surnames like all moslems. That coused mostly great misunderstandings and confusion. Every Turk had his fathers name as surmane. e.g. My name is Tosun. My fathers is Ahmet. Therefore I had to use Tosun Ahmet as name. Silly isnt it?

No, not silly.
I am sure the Icelanders still use this system (guess the first name of Olafur Grimsson's father ... ), and I suspect the Bulgars and Danes also. The Russian system is mixed, with BOTH father's name and fixed surname.

As to blue-eyed and blond Turks - I haven't seen any yet. But my experience is limited.
But I'd say that 75% of the dark haired Turks running kebab stands in Warsaw are pale skinned enough as to pass as Polish if they wanted to.

Borys

[glaswegian]

in ane of the history buiks i hae read concerning the turkish race, the kuman turks,wha lived in central europe during the ottoman period are often described as blue eyed and blonde

Regards

William Tuna

[emir pasha]

in ane of the history buiks i hae read concerning the turkish race, the kuman turks,wha lived in central europe during the ottoman period are often described as blue eyed and blonde

Regards

William Tuna

rus people named kumans as "polovets" which means blonde. This alone speaks itself enough.

[Tosun Saral]

Mustafa Kemal in 1911 at Balkans

[Tosun Saral]

I found the original photo published in Agemeine Automobile Zeitung, Wien 25.11.1918