IS OLDEST MAN A TURK?

Grey River Argus, 5 January 1948, Page 8

IS OLDEST MAN A TURK?

Turkey claims the oldest._ living man in the world. He is Vali Sahiboglu. He lives in Erzinjan, and is said to be 139. He is reported to. be in excellent, health, except for blindness and savs that he remembers the battle of ezib, fought in 1839, between Turkey and Egypt. “The Times,’’ in a leading article, says: “It is remarkable how regularly' the Balkans manage to produce a gentleman who is not merely older but much older than anybody else. It is only 13 years since the death of Zara Aga, whose claim to be 160 few had the heart and none the means to disprove. . “It is an exacting position to. be the oldest human in the world, since he can not more escape from pettifogging spoilsports who say he can not possibly be as old as. he claims than an owl can avoid being mobbed by small birds. '“The oldest human really needs a public relations ollicer to deal with the press. Altogether, being the oldest man alive is not nearly such a comfortable position as it ought to be. It is a lonely eminence. You have for one thing, no contemporaries, and cannot swap reminscences ( with a mere cub of a centenarian.’