Bareilly/Rampur:

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It came as a surprise for the then Turkish ambassador to New Delhi, Hasan Gogus, when he received an invitation in 2005 from an NGO based in a Moradabad to attend a seminar for promotion of Turkish culture in the region . “The ambassador was amazed to learn that a large number of Turkish-origin people are still residing in rural parts of Rohilkhand region. When the next ambassador, Halil Akinci, visited us in 2007, we gifted him traditional Turkish handicraft items that we have been making here for centuries,” Maulana Mohd Ali, president of Turk Cultural Education Anjuman Islahi Society, said.According to historians, who have been conducting researches, collecting data on the basis of surnames, family genealogies, and various bodies like the Turk Cultural Education Anjuman Islahi Society, there are over 1.5 million descendants of Turks living in Rohilkhand and their large settlements are in around 900 villages of Amroha, Sambhal and Rampur.It is believed that Turks came to India during the Slave Dynasty. Its second king, Iltutmish (1211-1236), conquered Badaun and Aonla (Katehar) in Rohilkhand and Turks settled in the region in the time of Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-86), who also served as deputy to Razia Sultan’s brother Nasiruddin Mahmud (1246-66). Balban made Badaun an important centre of his empire. Local historians, however, say that most of these Turkish-origin people are ignorant of their customs, traditions and languages. A few traits, though, can still be seen which connect them to the land of their forefathers. Like women in these households weaving baskets in their spare time, a custom still prevalent in Turkey. And big-sized rotis, which are identical to Mediterranean 'lavash', in their kitchen.Abhay Kumar Singh, professor of ancient history and culture at Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University in Bareilly, said, “Hordes of Turks settled in this region during Balban’s reign. Prominent historians, like KA Nizami and AL Srivastava, have written about Turkish settlements in Rohilkhand.”Ahsan Ali, a retired school teacher of Turkish origin who has researched on Rohilkhand Turks for many decades, said, “After ascending the throne, Balban broke up the ‘Amir Chahalgani, a group of the 40 most important nobles in the court which was formed by Iltutmish. As a result, these nobles fled to different villages in Rohilkhand and settled down.” Ali added, “Even a book on Rampur history by Abdul Gafur Khan in 1904 mentions the name of over 50 villages where these Turks settled.”Ali said that Turks who settled here had come from Uzbekistan and Turkistan. “As Turks came to India in groups, they still live together in clusters in big-sized joint families in the region,” said Iftikar Hussain, head of a social organization working for welfare of these Turkish origin people.Ali, who has also studied linguistic connections these people share with the home country, added, “Though the Rohilkhand Turks speak Urdu and Hindustani after 750 years of settling down here, remarkably, these people still use a number of Turkish words without realizing the philological connections with their native land. For example, Turkish terms like ziyafat (feast), dari (female friend), vaba (plague), hacet (need), ticaret (commerce) and fazilat (merit), are not part of regular Urdu, but they are frequently used here. However, Urdu itself, which originated in war camps and took words from different languages, has many Turkish words, like ustra (razor), lezzet (taste), din (faith), zayif (weak), etc.Interestingly, some of the customs these people follow are still practiced in Turkey. For example, reed baskets are very much part of their culture and women in their spare time weave these baskets. In Turkey, such baskets (called sepets) are woven by household women and used in kitchen, for dining and a host of other domestic purposes.Families on festive occasions eat together from Rakavi (a big-sized aluminium plate), a practice still prevalent in Turkey. Whenever a guest arrives in our house, we serve ‘Turki Tabaq’ (rice cooked with ghee and sugar) to guests in ‘Rakavi’ as per our Turkish tradition,” Noor Begum, a homemaker who resides in Rampur’s Rasool village, said. Other Turkish food habits include big-sized chapatis, which bear an uncanny resemblance to Turkish Lavash. Instead of normal tea, the community prefers Cay (Turkish tea). “It is black tea and hence, prepared without sugar and milk. However, one puts ‘khajoor’ (dates) in mouth before taking a sip of tea for cultivating sweet taste,” Gulfiza, a housewife, said.Of late, youths from the community have begun showing interest in tracing their roots. Many of them travel to Turkey and other Central Asian countries to see where they came from. Majid Husain, who took admission in an MBBS course in a college in Kyrgyzstan last month, said, “The idea is to trace our roots and know more about our culture and language.” Similarly, six youngsters from Moradabad’s Yusufipur Nagigaliya village have been studying in Turkey for the past eight years. Maulana Mohd Ali, who visited Turkey in 2011 for a month, said, “The culture and food followed in our community in Rohilkhand is noticeably similar to the ones prevalent in Turkey.”After a number of youths from the community showed interest in learning Turkish language, Sitara Devi College in Rampur is going to start a language course from this session.