Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Ankara, made a notable statement about his family’s history, which dates back 126 years. Barrack said his grandparents’ passports listed their nationality as “Turkish” when they emigrated to America in 1900. “That is how we were addressed everywhere,” Barrack said, adding that his grandfather was known by the nickname “Turk” for about 50 years.
The Barrack family emigrated to America from Lebanon’s Zahle region, which was within the borders of the Ottoman Empire at the time.