Christopher Nolan's Odyssey has reignited a centuries-old claim in Turkey: that Turks are the descendants and avengers o...

Christopher Nolan's Odyssey has reignited a centuries-old claim in Turkey: that Turks are the descendants and avengers of Troy, and that Greek military defeats throughout history are their revenge for the fall of that ancient city. The argument was put forward recently by Ragip Soylu, Turkey Bureau Chief for Middle East Eye, in a piece titled "The Turks Who Avenged Troy." Soylu traces a line from Mehmed the Conqueror's capture of Constantinople in 1453 all the way to Ataturk's victory over Greek forces in August 1922. According to the article, Ataturk allegedly told his commanders after forcing the Greek army into retreat at the Battle of Dumlupinar on August 30, 1922: "Now I have avenged Hector." Hector was the Trojan prince killed by the Greek hero Achilles in Homer's Iliad. The idea that Turks are descended from the Trojans is not a modern invention. Turkish historian Erhan Afyoncu, a figure favored by President Erdogan, traces the claim in his book "Truva'nin Intikami" (The Revenge of Troy) back to a 7th-century chronicle and a 12th-century Frankish text. The theory holds that after Troy fell, Franks migrated west toward what is now Hungary and the Rhineland, while Turks settled in Scythian lands. The Troy connection also surfaced during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. Turkish academic Naim Baburoglu draws parallels between the Trojan War and the Allied assault at Canakkale: both involved coalition forces attacking from the west by sea, and in both cases a British warship named Agamemnon took part in the assault. Australian historian Sara Midford, in her book on Gallipoli and the Anzacs, notes that the Allied forces even attempted their own Trojan Horse, deliberately beaching the British ship River Clyde on April 25, 1915, loaded with up to 2,000 soldiers for a surprise landing. The operation failed with heavy casualties, mostly Irish troops. Nolan chose not to film any part of his Odyssey production in Turkey, where the ancient city of Troy sits in modern-day Canakkale. That decision did not go unnoticed in Turkish media. #Turkey #GreekHistory #Troy