Turkish delight form of "lokum" made with starch and sugar. The family business, now in its fifth generation, still operates under the founder's name. Tim Richardson, a historian of sweets, has questioned the popular attribution of Hacı Bekir as the inventor of Turkish Delight, writing that "specific names and dates are often erroneously associated with the invention of particular sweets, not least for commercial reasons". Similar Arab and Persian recipes, including the use of starch and sugar, predate Bekir by several centuries. The Oxford Companion to Food states that although Bekir is often credited with the invention, there is no hard evidence
Bekir Sami Kunduh Bekir Sami Kunduh Bekir Sami Kunduh (; 1867 – January 16, 1933) was a Turkish politician of Ossetian origin. He served as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. He was in office during 1920–1921. Bekir Sami Kunduh was born in Saniba, Ossetia. He was a son of Musa Kunduh Pasha (Musa Kundukhov; (1818–1889)), a Tagaur Ossetian chieftain and major-general in the Russian Imperial Army, who then defected to the Ottoman Empire. He earned his Baccalaureate from Galatasaray High School and went to Paris to study political science. He worked at the Turkish embassy at St. Petersburg and then