The former Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy, Orhan Miroğlu, who also sits on the party’s Central Decision Executive Board (MKYK), has put forward the bizarre theory that U.S. President Joe Biden is actually Kurdish, Cumhuriyet reported on Friday.
Miroğlu said, “A Kurdish friend I spoke to recently said that, although it is hard to believe that it is serious, it is not difficult to guess what the purpose is, someone said that Biden’s real name was Cımoyê Bahattîn Ağa! He’s from the Biruki tribe!”
Twitter users did find his claim hard to believe. Professor Özgür Demirtaş simply replied with the facepalm emoji.
Unbelievable claims about the true ethnic origin of famous people have been common in Turkey over the years, where speculation on the ancestry of Turkish leaders like Mustafa Kemal Atatürk have often proved to be popular. Long threads on the popular Turkish discussion site Ekşi Sözlük discuss the idea that William Shakespeare was actually called Sheikh Pir.
Joseph Robinette Biden III grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and it has been widely reported that his parents were of Irish and mixed English, French and Irish ancestry.
Biden has had a long relationship with Kurdish groups. In 2003, he addressed the Kurdish parliament in Erbil, telling them that ‘the mountains aren’t your only friends’.
Kurdish officials in Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday congratulated Biden on becoming President.
Source: Ahval