Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan Reportedly Claims Olympic Flame is Turkish

By on August 4, 2012 in news, Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated, occasioned by the 2012 Olympic Games taking place in London, that the Olympic flame and by extension, the Olympic torch relay, has a Turkish origin.

According to star.gr, during a meeting they had with the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, in London, both the Turkish Prime Minister and Turkish Youth & Sports Minister, Saut Kilic, agreed that the Olympic flame comes from Turkey.

Representatives of the Turkish government said that there is a mountain situated close to Anatalya, called Olympus, where the ground can be naturally light up due to the amount of methanium that exists in the area. According to an ancient myth, people used to light up the Olympic Torch in this place, commented Mr Erdogan.

Turkish Minister Suat Kilic stated during a press release, in a bid to convince officials of the International Olympic Committee that Turkey should host Olympics in the future, that “Turkey is the birthplace of the Olympic flame and as a result, Mr Erdogan explained to Jacques Rogge that we want the Games back in our country. The IOC has the right to bring the Olympic flame back to its origin.”

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  • DonePozdivski

    You should read history before you make stupid comments. Macedonia was a country before Greece existed. Read your own Athenian or Spartan historians and see what they said about “Macedon” and its kings. The kingdom of Macedon is on the same territory as the Republic of Macedonia and the territories Greece occupied after the 1912-13 Balkan wars. It seems the ancient Hellenes did not like the ancient Macedonians, they often called us “Barbarians”. Also, while the ancient city states that are on the current Greek territory had wars between each other, the only times they banded together was to fight the Persians and many years later the Macedonians. The Athenians and Spartans hated us so much that Greek mercenaries sided with the Persians to fight against the Macedonians of Alexander the Great.

  • eleni

    sounds like this guy is losing it… he probably didnt take his medications when he said this… im greek and i would know… he is just extremely jealous of us greeks :)

  • Chrystal

    It is obvious the Turks are still undergoing an identity crisis.

  • I am Greek

    How can I be jealous when I am 100% Greek ???

  • George S

    “You should read history before you make stupid comments. Macedonia was a country before Greece existed.”

    Countries, or nation-states as they are referred to in the study of International Relations, are a recent phenomena. The idea of the nation-state, or country as you refer to it, is associated with the rise of the modern system of states associated with the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia. Therefore, in the modern sense, we cannot consider any entity prior to 1648 as a true “country/nation-state”.

    The Macedonia, or Macedon, to which you are referring to, the Macedonia of Phillip II, Alexander III and Aristotle, was a Hellenic city-state. In other words it was Greek. There are plenty of credible scholarly works available on the internet which attest to this historical fact.

    “The kingdom of Macedon is on the same territory as the Republic of
    Macedonia and the territories Greece occupied after the 1912-13 Balkan
    wars.”

    Your statement is partly true. The boundaries of the kingdom of Macedon, when it was first founded by Karanos around 800BC, were situated entirely within the state of Modern Greece. According to Strabo, Thucydides and Herodetus, Ancient Macedon later expanded its borders slightly northwards, east wards and westwards, in the process, it incorporated small amounts of territory which now belong to Albania, FYROM and Bulgaria.

    (Look at the link below. It shows the frontiers of Ancient Macedon and the borders of present day countries.)

    http://melitainsula.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/ancient-macedonia-and-its-people.html 

    “It seems the ancient Hellenes did not like the ancient Macedonians, they often called us “Barbarians”.”

    The Ancient Macedonians were Hellenes. They attested to this fact themselves. “For I (Alexander I) myself am by ancient descent a Greek, and I would
    not willingly see Hellas change her freedom for slavery.” (Herod. IX,
    45, 2 [Loeb]).

    The Ancient Hellenic city-states never called each other barbarians. Different Hellenic city-states called each other Xenoi – plural of Xenos – (Foreigners). For example, an Athenian would be a Xeno to a Spartan, whilst a Macedonian would be a Xeno to a Corinthian, despite the fact that they were all Hellenic.

    To the Ancient Hellenes, the word Barbarian evokes the image of a person babbling (speaking) in a non-Greek language. “Bar-bar” was what a non-Greek language sounded like to the ears of the ancients. In modern English we use the term “blah blah” when someone is speaking gibberish. This comes directly from the Greek “bar-bar”. 

    The word Barbarian was used for non-Hellenes only, speaking in a non-Hellenic language/dialect. The Ancient Macedonians spoke a Hellenic language. There is no record of any Hellenic city-states or peoples referring to the Macedonians as Barbarians. Instead, there are plenty of records referring to them as Xenoi, which proves that they were indeed Hellenic.

    “Also, while the ancient city states that are on the current Greek
    territory had wars between each other, the only times they banded
    together was to fight the Persians and many years later the Macedonians.”

    They banded together on many more occasions then what you mention. The Hellenic city-states banded together to fight each other by forming different Hellenic Alliances, to fight the Phoenicians, and of course to fight the Persians. The Hellenic city-state never banded together as a united entity to fight another Hellenic city-state in Macedon. Some accepted Macedonian hegemony whilst others did not and fought a CIVIL-WAR, something which the Ancient Hellenes and modern ones as well did on a frequent basis.

    “The Athenians and Spartans hated us so much that Greek mercenaries sided
    with the Persians to fight against the Macedonians of Alexander the
    Great.”

    Since when are you and others from FYROM descendants of the Ancient Macedonians and Alexander?

    In regards to who can claim descent from the Ancient Macedonians, Eugene Borza states that,
    “If the claim is based on ethnicity, it is an issue of a different
    order. Modern Slavs, both Bulgarian and ‘Macedonians’, can not establish
    a link with antiquity, as the Slavs entered the Balkans centuries after
    the demise of the ancient Macedonian Kingdom. Only the most radical Slavic factions – mostly emigres of US, Canada and Australia – even
    attempt to establish a connection to antiquity”.

    There were many Hellenic city-states which despised the Ancient Macedonians, but not because they were not Hellenic. But because they did not want to Macedonian hegemony.

    The Ancient Macedonians united the Hellenic/Greek world in an entity called the League of Corinth (aka the Hellenic League or Greek League), which was under the guidance of Phillip II, who was elected leader of the first unified Greek state in the history of Greece and the world. 

  • right

    hey man, we were the ones that owned cypres in the first place so dont talk to me about turks being greedy when greeks are just as or even more greedy then us

  • samson

    hahaha! mr. erdogan do u mean that “turkey” is part of greece ?

  • NPanamevris

    Dear Mr. Erdogan, u need to read credible history about the Olympics & their origins before making statements of this nature. After all, you’re a high profile figurehead of a Nation…

    And to all those poor uneducated souls from FYR (Former Yugoslav Republic) that bring Makedonia into this topic (which is totally unrelated), the Macedonians were, are & always will be Greeks (Hellenes). If you go back to the beginning when history was first written & carved in stone, From the speech of Alexander I of Macedon when he was admitted to the Olympic games, Alexander said…

    “Men of Athens… In truth I would not tell it to you if I did not care so much for all Greece; I myself am by ancient descent a Greek, and I would not willingly see Greece change her freedom for slavery.”  Herodotus, “Histories”, 9.45) 

    Also, here’s a history professors view on the Slavs from Skopje!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcvdKgteDNE&feature=plcp

  • guest

    are you really talking about how tukish cuisine was originated from other cultures under a topic like this?
    emperial turkish culture consisted of many origins which you could find it in even the blood of the emperors as well as cuisine. this is how an empire was built.
    you should think twice before you spill your complexes all around.

  • Aetos

     I am not afraid to talk the truth. Because the whole area of present day FYR was the province of Moesia a Roman province. So it is one suitable solution to FYR claim to ancient fame.
    If you DonePozdivski can read the texts in the ancient Makedoniki Tombs of Philip II then you will realise it is written in Greek. And the names of both Alexander and Philip are Greek in origin and meaning not Slavic or Bulgarian. We do not have names like Bagloi but you do.

    Alexander = Alex (helper)
    Ander (man) = helper of men (a Greek name and words).

    Pomochnikchovek = helper of
    man in the Slavic language, so your Skopjan Alexader is
    Veliko Pomochnikchovek.

    Philipos = Phili (freind)
    ipos (horse) = freind of horses ( a Greek name and words).

    Prijatelkoin = friend of
    horses in the Slavic language, so your Skojan Philipos is Prijatelkoin.

    So
    i really see the similarity between the ancient Greek Macedonian language and
    the Slavo/Bulgarian Skopjan language of today.

  • Aetos

     No just stating the facts.
    Are you denying that the Ottoman and Seljuk Turks came from the area of Turkestan? And that you did not take from the invasions and turn it into your own identity?

  • Demetrios E. Lekkas PhD

    Oh, mankind, hear ye! voila the ultimate truth: actually, according to a mystical revelation I was given by a spirit in my dreams, the Olympic torch used to be lit on the great volcano mount Pinatubo in Luzon, the Philippines.

  • turkos

    really ? who are u the western turk?
    look ; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/18/italy.johnhooper

  • Kakakoritsia1

    OKAY ERDOGAN AND JACQUES ROGGE MUST BE HIGH ON SOMETHING THEY ARE BOTH FUCKED UP
    UNDERSTAND OUR GREEK HISTORY CULTURE ISTANBUL WILL RETURN TO GREECE UNDER EU THATS WHEN OUR GREEK ARMY WILL MARCH WITH OUR BLUE & WHITE FLAGS COVERING ALL VOSPOROS AND AIGIA SOPHIA CHURCH BELLS WILL RING WITH ALL THE REST GREEK CHURCHES 98 OF THEM AND THE SEMINARY SCHOOL IN HALKI WIIL OPEN ITS GREEK SOIL STOLEN BY THE OTTOMANS , WHY DO TURKS WANT TO SAY THERE GREEK AND GREEKS NEVER SAY THERE TURKS PRETTY FUNNY
    TURKS GET READY TO GO BACK TO MONGOLIA KARAKATRUM TO YOUR DEEP ROOTS AND LEAVE US GREEKS THE FUCK ALONE
    GOD BLESS GREECE AND ALL GREEKS AROUND THE WORLD

  • zafer

    I agree with the right

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