U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Tom Barrack described the significance in his family history of the word “Turkish” listed in his family’s passports when discussing their migration 126 years ago. Barrack said his grandparents’ passports identified their nationality as “Turkish” when they traveled to the United States in 1900.
“That is how we were addressed everywhere,” Barrack said. He added that his grandfather was known by the nickname “Turk” for about 50 years.
Barrack’s family had immigrated to the United States from Lebanon’s Zahle region, which at the time was within the borders of the Ottoman Empire.