Zaro Aga

Last updated

Zaro Aga
Zaro Agha, de oudste Turk ooit Zaro Agha, the oldest Turk ever.jpg
Born16 February 1764 (claimed)
Died29 June 1934 (allegedly aged 170 years, 133 days)
Istanbul, Turkey
NationalityTurkish
CitizenshipOttoman Empire
Occupation(s) Porter, labourer, doorman
Known forLongevity
Children36

Zaro Aga (Turkish : Zaro Ağa; Kurdish : زارۆ ئاغا, romanized: Zaro Axa) was a Kurdish man who claimed to be one of the longest-living persons ever. He claimed birth on 16 February 1764 in Mutki, and died on 29 June 1934 [1] in Istanbul, Turkey. He was allegedly aged 170 when he died, and thus claimed to be one of the longest-living persons ever.

Contents

Debate

There is ongoing debate as to his actual age when he died. [2] [3] According to the death certificate provided by his Turkish doctor, Zaro Aga's age was 157. He died in Istanbul, although some confusion about the place of death exists, probably because the body was sent to the US right after his death. However, an investigative report published by Walter Bowerman in 1939 indicated that Zaro Aga was around 97, not 157. [4] [5]

Biography

Aga was born in Medan village (present-day Meydan)[ citation needed ] in Mutki (then in the Ottoman Empire), worked as a construction worker when he was young, and then moved to Istanbul, where he worked as a porter and finally retired as a janitor. He was a major attraction to popular press during his last years as allegedly the world's oldest living man and one who had travelled to many countries, including the United States, [6] the United Kingdom, France and Italy. His body was sent to the US for research purposes after he died.[ citation needed ]

Zaro Aga had come into Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's presence twice and called him "Sultan". Turkish newspaper Taraf wrote that when Zaro met with Mustafa Kemal, he mentioned his having done very good jobs, but he allegedly criticised his giving much freedom to the women. [7]

During his lifetime surgeons treating Aga for an internal complaint examined X-Rays of his bones and cast doubt on his claimed age, suggesting he was not more than 120 years old. The old man was, according to Reuter from Istanbul, very angry and flourished his birth certificate under the noses of the doubting doctors. [8]

He claimed to have met Napoleon, to have fought in six wars, and to have fought in the Battle of Plevna, when he was 100. He was not sure if he had been married eleven or twelve times, but claimed to have roughly 36 children. [8]

In 1931, he toured England and enjoyed a flight from Brooklands. He did not drink, or smoke, and was largely vegetarian. He held conservative views, feeling that women should have long hair and skirts, and in Turkey they should remain indoors, out of the view of strangers. [8]

Aga had 14 children, however their names were never recorded. His wife, a Turk, was highly looked upon. She was viewed as a person above most people, but died at 60 years old.

Aga himself refused to believe the claims of a man in China who was said to be 252 years old. Aga lived in relative anonymity until 1930, when someone, hearing his stories about meeting Napoleon and the Sultan of Turkey, pointed out that he had a claim to be the world's oldest man, and he began a public life with a tour of the US. He said that he lost his teeth soon after Napoleon III lost Sedan. He became prosperous through his fame and toured circus shows as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'. [8]

Eventually Aga had to return home, as his wife Kudret was threatening to sue him for maintenance. He resumed his £8 a month job as a coffee brewer for the local city council. For the remainder of his life he told stories to the coffee house patrons not of meeting Napoleon, but of his travels to New York and London. [8]

Aga found a mention in Satyajit Ray's Bangla short story, Spotlight. The central character of the story was a centenarian. His arrival in the United States on July 18, 1930 is referenced in the 1930 Gershwin-Guy Bolton-Jack McGowan musical comedy Girl Crazy .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehmed IV</span> Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Mehmed IV, also known as Mehmed the Hunter, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to become the second-longest-reigning sultan in Ottoman history after Suleiman the Magnificent. While the initial and final years of his reign were characterized by military defeat and political instability, during his middle years he oversaw the revival of the empire's fortunes associated with the Köprülü era. Mehmed IV was known by contemporaries as a particularly pious ruler, and was referred to as gazi, or "holy warrior" for his role in the many conquests carried out during his long reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osman III</span> 25th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1754–1757)

Osman III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1754 to 1757. He was succeeded by his cousin Mustafa III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustafa III</span> 26th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774

Mustafa III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30), and his consort Mihrişah Kadın. He was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I (1774–89).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish War of Independence</span> Interwar conflict in Turkey, 1919–1923

The Turkish War of Independence was a series of military campaigns and a revolution waged by the Turkish National Movement, after the Ottoman Empire was occupied and partitioned following its defeat in World War I. The conflict was between the Turkish Nationalists against Allied and separatist forces over the application of Wilsonian principles, especially self-determination, in post-World War I Anatolia and eastern Thrace. The revolution concluded the collapse of the Ottoman Empire; ended of the Ottoman sultanate and the Ottoman caliphate, and established the Republic of Turkey. This resulted in the transfer of sovereignty from the sultan-caliph to the nation, setting the stage for nationalist revolutionary reform in Republican Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaşar Kemal</span> Kurdish writer and human rights activist (1923–2015)

Yaşar Kemal was a leading Turkish writer and human rights activist of Kurdish origin. He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature on the strength of his 1955 novel Memed, My Hawk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustafa Kemal Atatürk</span> President of Turkey from 1923 to 1938

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, also known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until the Surname Law of 1934, was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism (Atatürkism).

Mutki is a town in Bitlis Province, Turkey. It is the seat of Mutki District. Its population is 2,294 (2021). The current mayor is Vahdettin Barlak (AKP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salih Hulusi Pasha</span> Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1920)

Salih Hulusi Pasha, known as Salih Hulusi Kezrak after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934, was one of the last Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire, under the reign of the last Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI, between 8 March 1920 and 2 April 1920. Since he had been unable to form a government, and as part of the chain of events following the occupation of Istanbul by the Allies, he was dismissed from office by the sultan under foreign pressure on 2 April. His dismissal was to be followed by the official closure of the Parliament itself on 5 April, thus putting an end to the Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topal Osman</span> Turkish officer and militia leader

Hacı Topal Osman Ağa also known as Osman the Lame, was a Turkish officer, a militia leader of the National Forces, a volunteer regiment commander of the Turkish army during the Turkish War of Independence who eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and was a perpetrator of the Armenian and Pontic genocides. Except the Greeks and Armenians, he also terrorised local Muslim population who opposed him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salih Mirzabeyoğlu</span>

Salih Mirzabeyoğlu was a Kurdish-Turkish Islamic fundamentalist with Bitlis Province origin. His family were close to both the Naqshbandi and Nurcu Islamic brotherhoods, and were involved with the Kurdish Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925 against the newly founded Turkish Republic. Most of his supporters were Kurds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ihsan Nuri</span> Leader of Ararat rebellion

Ihsan Nuri, also known as Ihsan Nuri Pasha, 1892 or 1893, Bitlis – 25 March 1976, Tehran) was a Kurdish soldier and politician, former officer of the Ottoman and Turkish Army, and one of the leaders of the Ararat rebellion as the generalissimo of the Kurdish National Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behiç Erkin</span> Turkish minister and ambassador (1876–1961)

Behiç Erkin was a Turkish career officer, first director (1920–1926) of the Turkish State Railways, nationalized under his auspices, statesman and diplomat of the Turkish Republic. He was Minister of Public Works, 1926–1928, and deputy for three terms; and an ambassador. He served as Turkey's ambassador to Budapest between 1928–1939, and to Paris and Vichy between August 1939-August 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military career of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk</span> Overview of Mustafa Kemal Atatürks military career

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a field marshal, revolutionary statesman, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first president. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's military career explains his life between graduation from Ottoman War College in Istanbul as a lieutenant in 1905 to his resignation from the Ottoman Army on 8 July 1919, as well as his military leadership throughout the subsequent Turkish War of Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohat Alakom</span> Kurdish writer (born 1955)

Rohat Alakom is a Kurdish author from Kars, Turkey who writes his books in Kurdish, Turkish and Swedish. He was born in a village of Kağızman a district of Kars Province. He went to high school in Kağızman, Later, he went to the capital of Turkey Ankara for higher education. After living in Bulgaria (1979–1980) and Germany (1980–1982) he went to Sweden. He is currently living in Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ararat rebellion</span> 1930 Kurdish uprising in eastern Turkey

The Ararat rebellion, also known as the Ağrı rebellion, was a 1930 uprising of the Kurds of Ağrı Province, in eastern Turkey, against the Turkish government. The leader of the guerrilla forces during the rebellion was Ihsan Nuri of the Jibran tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halis Öztürk</span> Turkish politician (1899–1977)

Halis Öztürk was a Kurdish chieftain and Turkish politician.

Ibrahim Heski or Ibrahim Pasha Haski Tello was a Kurdish soldier, politician and president of the Kurdish Republic of Ararat. He was from the Jalali tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferzende</span> Turkish politician

Ferzende or Ferzende Beg, was a Kurdish Heseni tribesman, soldier and politician.

Hıdır Gürel, better known by his pen name Âşık İbretî, was a Kurdish ashik, poet and folk singer. His pen name means "the Exemplary Ashik". His poems were written in the tradition of Turkish Alevi folk poetry.

Events in the year 1934 in Turkey.

References

  1. Mecid Efendi (one of the son-in-law of Zaro Aga), Cumhuriyet , 1 July 1778.
  2. "Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers". Chicago Tribune.
  3. Karahan, Ali Yavuz; Batmaz, İbrahim (27 December 2018). "Zaro Agha, The legendary Kurdish supercentenarian". International Journal on Disability and Human Development. 14 (2): 201–202. doi:10.1515/ijdhd-2014-0015. S2CID   147635506.
  4. "Oudste man ter wereld: Zaro Ağa". IsGeschiedenis. 24 August 2012.
  5. "Nieuws en pers » Zaro Ağa, de oudste man ter wereld? - gahetNA". gahetna.nl.
  6. "WORLD'S OLDEST MAN DEAD". Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954). 30 June 1934. p. 21.
  7. "'Modern Methuselah' Zaro Ağa - Ayşe Hür - Taraf.com.tr - Düşünmek Taraf Olmaktır". 14 February 2015. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Bournemouth Echo 30 June 1934 'World’s Oldest Man Dead'

Further reading