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Under construction - Dec. 2016 Remarkable People Having Roots in Asia MinorCurrently there are only two people on the list, I welcome suggestions for more. *********************************************************************** Movie director Elia Kazan (1909-2003): He was born in
Istanbul and emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was
four years old. (The family was originally from Cappadocia). They came
o the U.S. with the help of his uncle, Avraam Kazantzoglou. In 1963 Elia
directed and produced the movie America America based on the
life of his uncle. Admiral James G. Stavridis (born 1955): His grandfather was a Pontiac Greek who fled Turkey during the "ethnic cleansigs" following WW I. Stavridis rose to become Supreme Allied Commander Europe (2009-2013). After retiring from the Navy he embarked in a distingushed acedemic career and he is a prolific writer, including articles in Time magazine. According to a newspaper article quoted in Wikipedia A NATO exercise off the coast of modern Turkey was the "most amazing historical irony [he] could imagine," and prompted Stavridis to write of his grandfather: "His grandson, who speaks barely a few words of Greek, returns in command of a billion-dollar destroyer to the very city - Smyrna, now called Izmir - from which he sailed in a refugee craft all those years ago." Wikipedia article on James Stavridis *********************************************************************** |
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