Hasan Tahsin Mayatepek was a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

diplomat. He got his surname from his position as Turkish ambassador in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

(31 March 1935 – 7 March 1938) where he concluded that the

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

word for 'hill' () was the same word as in Turkish (''tepe''). His son Huveyda Mayatepek married to

Enver Pasha İsmail Enver, better known as Enver Pasha ( ota, اسماعیل انور پاشا; tr, İsmail Enver Paşa; 22 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was an Ottoman military officer, revolutionary, and convicted war criminal who formed one-third ...

's daughter Turkan Mayatepek. Diplomat and businessman Osman Mayatepek is his grandson.

Career

Mayatepek wrote for years about the civilization of the

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

, after which he was sent to Mexico in 1935 for three years by Atatürk as the new ambassador of Turkey to Mexico. At the request of Atatürk he continued his research and focused on the similarities of the Turkish language and the language of the Maya. When Mayatepek noticed that the Mayan word for 'hill' ('') showed great similarities with the Turkish equivalent ('tepe'), he wrote a report for the Turkish president Atatürk. This report became great news in Turkey and people began to believe in a common ancestor of both the Mexican Maya, and the Central Asian Turks. As a reward, Hasan Tahsin was granted the surname 'Mayatepek' (or 'Maya hill') from Atatürk himself. Afterwards Atatürk asked Mayatepek to also focus on other North American native languages like that of Inca, Aztecs and to see if a common languages was plausible between these languages and Turkish. After the fourteenth report of Mayatepek, Atatürk suspected Mayatepek of sending more of the same arguments to support this theory in order to prolong his stay in Mexico. Mayatepek was soon recalled from Mexico and no new ambassador was appointed until September 29, 1947.

Influence

Mayatepek laid the foundation for Mexican-Turkish relations and had a great influence in the way Mexico, and its indigenous peoples like

Mayans The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...

Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

, and

Incas The Inca Empire (also Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift, known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechuan languages, Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) wa ...

are seen in Turkey.

References

20th-century Turkish diplomats Ambassadors of Turkey to Mexico Year of birth missing Place of birth missing {{Turkey-bio-stub