@kenancruz Prior to Dilaçar, another Armenian should be remembered as a pioneer of Turkish studies: Bedros Keresteciyan (1840-1909), a polyglot who worked as head of Translations for the Ottoman Finance Ministry, wrote the first etymological dictionary of Turkish. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedros_Ke… 
@kenancruz Here's a link to a pdf version of the 1971 reprint of "Matériaux pour un dictionnaire étymologique de la langue turque" (yes it was written in French, one of the many languages mastered by Bedros Efendi, who had studied in Paris) libgen.unblockall.org/book/index.php…
@kenancruz The book was published posthumously by his nephews Haig and Berç. The latter is also an interesting figure. After serving in the Ottoman Bank, he got close to M.Kemal and became the first Armenian MP of the Republican Era in 1934, known as 'Berç Türker' research.sabanciuniv.edu/8292/
@kenancruz Both Bedros and Berç lived in mansions in Büyükada, Princes Islands, a testimony of their wealth and perhaps the most tangible trace they left behind to that day turanakinci.com/portfolio-view…
@kenancruz Berç bey was a life-long proponent of Turkish-Armenian friendship as evidenced by this letter published in a newspaper in 1948. His Republican name, Türker, allegedly suggested by M. Kemal himself, hints at his personal loyalty (one might say assimilation)
@kenancruz Berç Türker/Keresteciyan gets a mention in @nords41's new book 'Eternal Dawn: Turkey in the Age of Atatürk' but check out the dissertation by Semi Ertan linked above for an in-depth biographical study.
