Meluncan People      

       There has appeared a group recently in America that is believed to have the roots from Turks. Their real identities are fairly wondered about. This group has been dispersed from Sumter County towards the different regions of the country. Since the beginning of our century, it has been alleged that they have the lineage of Greeks, Portuguese, or even Arabians. However, the question why they have Turkish names could not be explained properly. Since the civil wars in America, these people have fought on the side of white people within the structure of the army. It has also been alleged that these people were rooted from the black people since their skins were dark

 

      Therefore, they could not register in the schools of whites for a long time and they were able to attain their rights in the courts through only the jurisdictional wars. It is probable that the ancestors of these Turks are the Ottoman soldiers who had gone to the region for support in the course of the civil wars or some adventurous people.

 

       As it is known, there are several ethnic groups who had come from foreign places and settled in America as well as the natives of America. However, the dominant power that overwhelmed the natives and the other groups were the Anglo-Saxon people. Anglo-Saxons subjected these natives to genocide in order to establish their dominion. Furthermore, they also imposed ethnical cleansing to several groups that came to America from some other places through any means. One of these groups is composed of Meluncan people.

       The meaning of meluncan is the “cursed soul” or “a man forsaken by God”. The Arabian roots of this word are “Melun Cin”. (Cursed Djinni). Meluncan people were not classified as the whites, the blacks, the hybrids and the Red Indians. They were classified as the colourless people in respect of the law. The significant lands that they owned were confiscated and their rights of education, voting and jurisdictional proceeding were rejected. Then, they were exiled to the western banks and to Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and the high regions of the Western Virginia Mountains.

       The greatness of Meluncan people is absolutely beyond the estimations and as a result, the number of the people that are the descendants of their lineage is much above the previous estimations. Furthermore, the most significant assimilations that were imposed on those who were the descendants of the Meluncan people took place before the census in the United States. Therefore, this important Mediterranean and Middle East heritage could not be registered in written records. This situation is a story that has been supported by the verbal rumours, folklore, cultural evidence, genetics and medicine, anthropology and the foreign history archives. Despite this fact, several American historians have neglected this issue. According to the standard pedigree records of America, this community did not actually exist in the past.

       Genetical and Medical Evidence

       The genetic researches about the Meluncan community (gene frequence) have indicated that there was not a significant difference between Meluncan people (177 human samples were randomised from Lee Country, Virginia and Hancock Country, and Tennessee and they were analysed again in 1990) and the communities who had lived in Spain and the region of Galician Mountain in Portugal, the Northern Africa (Morocco, Lebanon), Levant (Greece, Turkey, Syria) and the Middle East (Northern Iraq and Northern Iran).

      Among the diseases that were frequently determined in the Meluncan community, there are some regional diseases of the Mediterranean and the Middle East such as Behçet’s syndrome, Machado-Joseph disorder (Azorean disorder) and Talesemia, etc

      Cultural and Linguistic Evidence

      The cultural and linguistics proofs also support the origins of Ottoman and Iberian people. Some of these examples can be seen in the dressing style of the Native Americans in the Southeast such as turbans (Cherokees) and fez (Creeks and Seminoles).

      Furthermore, the dressing style of Levantines that are worn in layers have also been used in two tribes (a dressing style that is the counterpart of the uniforms worn by the Turkish Marines in the 16th century). The most interesting peculiarity is the tradition of Cherokees and Creeks to wear a turban with only one feather or fez. (The typical decorated hats worn by Ottomans). The drawings of Sequoya who was the chief of Cherokees, a group of Meluncan people point out that their dressing style was the counterpart of the style used by the Turkish Marines in the 16th century).

The motives used in the Apalaşyan quilts and the designs of the blankets and earthenware pots made by the Southeast Natives are not different from the designs of Turkish and Arabesque rugs and carpets (the tulips, the geometrical figures, and squares that are frequently repeated).

      Turkish (Anatolian) dances resemble much to the dancing styles of Apalaş people and the instruments that are nearly the same of the bucolic dulcimer and the percussive dulcimer create a perfect environment of the Middle East.

      There have been some famous people who had the roots of Meluncan people such as Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley, etc. The theories asserted about the origin of the Meluncan people do not reveal a satisfying answer. Due to this lack, the new researches are needed about this issue. However, it has been understood that the American historians have reached to a consensus about the concealment of the new opinions upon this issue. It is of no doubt that the difficulty of this issue and the insufficiency of the resources play the role with the first degree. But there are some different traces and effects of another approach. This approach must have resulted from the antipathy that is felt against the other races in America under the dominion of Anglo-Saxons and the policy determined in parallel to this antipathy. As a result of this policy, Meluncan people were forced to forget their own identities like several other races and those who did not give up their identities were subjected to psychological pressure. Therefore, it is estimated that there are thousands of people that are essentially rooted from Meluncan people who live in America unaware of this reality.