Turkey: Belgians are descended from Turks

When an Ottoman dignitary once visited Germany he noticed some words in German were very similar to Turkish. He therefore assumed that German was descended from Turkish and missed discovering Indo-European. Belgians, and Europeans, are of course distantly related to the Turks, but that could be said about almost everybody in the Indo-European language family. If already, the Belgians are much more directly related to the English, since according to Winston Churchill the Belgae were the first conquerors of Britain,


The Belgian people are descended from a part of the Oğuz Turks tribe who settled in the region thousands of years ago, said the head of Gaziantep University's Department of Medical Biology yesterday.

In a move that is destined to bring Belgians and Turks together as brothers, Professor Ahmet Arslan said that when the Selçuk part of the Oğuz tribe formed a state in Central Asia, their capital was called Genk, having the same name as the city of Genk in Belgium.

He also said the symbol of Genk Municipality was a double headed eagle, and added as his conclusive proof, "In the Selçuk tribe, the same symbol was used. One head symbolized Interior Oğuz while the other Exterior Oğuz."

Referring to the city of Genk in Belgium, Arslan said: "There are many dark haired, light skinned people there. This is the basic characteristic of the Oğuz tribe."

Arslan said Kurds were also a branch of the Oğuz Tribe. "I think the Kazıkurtları seen as part of the Oğuz tribe are linked to Kurds. Kurds appear to be from the Exterior Oğuz," said the academic.The molecular genetic studies the department had conducted showed the main migration route from Central Asia followed the north west and west of the Caucasus Mountains, Arslan said. He said there were close blood ties between Europeans and Turks as a result of these tribal migrations.


Source: Turkish Daily News (English) h/t Brussels Journal