What’s the story?A Turkish press report has reignited the debate over the origins of Egyptian star Mohamed Salah. It puts forward a research account linking his family’s roots to an old Turkish family descending from the Trabzon region in north-eastern Turkey, and specifically from the district of Dernekpazarı. The striking claim reopens the file on the family origins of one of the most prominent stars of Egyptian and Arab football.Trabzonspor match tickets in the Turkish leagueBuy your ticket now!A Turkish threadTurkish newspaper “Taka” published details of research prepared by Ali Galip Yücel, a lecturer in the physical education department at Amasya University, which was then reported by the Lebanese newspaper “An-Nahar”. Yücel traces the history of the Turkish “Ekşioğlu” family and its branches, following them from Anatolia to other regions, all the way to Egypt as a possible link in the origins of Salah’s family.The start of the search for the rootsSuper LigKasimpasaKAS16 Aug 202600:00TrabzonsporTRSBy the Turkish researcher’s account, the “Ekşioğlu” family had historical extensions across various regions of Anatolia during the Ottoman era. Its lineages then branched out and spread over a number of areas. One of those branches, the research indicates, later headed to Egypt.Yücel believes this branch may be the point of connection between the Turkish family and Salah’s family. That link, though, remains within the scope of research and has yet to reach the stage of conclusive historical proof.”Ekşi Ali Pasha”: an old link in the accountThe threads of the research go back to an Ottoman figure known as “Ekşi Ali Pasha”. The account places him among those close to Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, before his name became associated with an area in the district of Dernekpazarı in the province of Trabzon, where he was buried.His descendants, the research says, later scattered across different regions of Anatolia and the Ottoman state. Some branches settled in Ordu and Rize. Another is believed to have headed to Egypt.Where does the connection begin?Tracing the movement of these branches, the researcher tries to establish a link between the family in Trabzon and Salah’s family in Egypt, relying on historical indications and names drawn from records and sources tied to the Ottoman era.One of those names is “Ekşizade Bendullah”, whom the research presents as a religious figure connected to the Sufi sheikh Khalid al-Naqshbandi, with reference to the movement of one branch of the “Ekşioğlu” family to Egypt.Are Mohamed Salah’s origins really Turkish?Despite the detail, the talk of Turkish origins for Salah remains merely a research hypothesis with no historical proof behind it. The report presented no original archival documents, nor a connected and documented line of descent directly linking the “Ekşioğlu” family in Trabzon with Salah’s family in Egypt.Trabzonspor match tickets in the Turkish leagueBuy your ticket now!A similarity of names, or the existence of branches of one family in different regions, is not enough on its own to prove a lineage connection. That leaves the account in need of further evidence and independent review before anyone can treat it as historical fact.The researcher continues the search for the missing linkYücel intends to press on with his research into the family’s history, according to the Turkish newspaper, focusing on the branches thought to have left Anatolia for Egypt. He hopes to uncover clearer documents that settle the nature of the supposed connection.
