New British PM Ottoman-Muslim by Origin

The election of Boris Johnson, former mayor of London, to be new Prime Minister of Britain, has stirred a storm of controversy when.

He is a direct descendant of the last interior minister in the Ottoman Empire before its collapse in 1924.

The media reports pointed out that father of the newly appointed Prime Minister, was Stanley Johnson, a conservative politician and writer who was widely recognized through his participation in several television programs.

The father is the grandson of Ali Kamal Bey (1867-1922), Turkish poet, journalist and politician, who served as interior minister for three months  In 1922.

He was a leading interior minister during the last phase of the Turkish War of Independence.

He issued an arrest warrant for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who led the nationalists over struggle against the invading European forces.

Ali Kamal Bey was kidnapped and assassinated later on suspicion of treason by a nationalist mob.

Years before that, Kamal Bey knew, during one of his visits to Europe, a British-Swiss journalist named  Winfried Braun became his first wife.

She died in 1909 after the birth of their youngest son, Osman Wilfried Kamal, and they also had the eldest daughter Salma.

Kemal returned to Turkey  in 1912,where he married for the second time and had his third child, Zaki, while his older children remained with their grandmother Margaret Johnson in Britain.

She played a pivotal role in their care and launched a legal process to give her name to her grandchildren during World War I.

Turkey  engaged in the war against  Britain and other European powers. The name of the new prime minister would be Boris Kemal if that war did not break out then.

It is  worth to mention that the grandmother of Johnson, the wife of Osman Wilfried, Irene Williams, was of European noble origins.

She  was a descendant of Duke (King) German Wurttemberg, Frederick I (1754-1816), making Johnson relatives of the royal families in Turkish Ottoman Empire, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and contemporary Sweden.

Despite his Turkish origins, Johnson raised a wide controversy three years ago when he won a contest for the most poignant poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His poem includes offensive words.