Dr Oz, Meryl Streep related through Ottoman harem

[rick murphy]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/dr-oz-meryl-streep-related-through-ottoman-harem.aspx?pageID=238&nID=24884&NewsCatID=381

Dr Oz, Meryl Streep related through Ottoman harem

ISTANBUL

July/06/2012

Famed Turkish-American doctor Mehmet Oz has said he is related to
Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep through a common ancestor who was a
concubine in the Ottoman harem.

Oz told Türkan Yılmazer of daily Akşam that he learned about the fact
after Streep walked up to him during an event and said "What's up
cousin?"

"My mother is Circassian, her great grandmother was brought from the
Caucasus to Istanbul as a concubine in Sultan Mahmud II's harem," Oz
said. "The concubines were removed from the Ottoman court after Mahmud
II's death in 1839 and she was married to the imam of a local
mosque."

Oz said Streep told him that she was a descendant of the relatives of
that concubine. He said a DNA test confirmed that two shared a common
lineage.