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
Mulla Effendi 1924 and June 1931, King Faisal I visited Mulla Effendi in his house in Badawa in Arbil and thanked him for his efforts and his calls for reconciliation and peace to the different groups in the region. King Faisal I was quoted as describing Mulla Effendi to his brother by saying: In the early 1920s, a few groups threatened to take over the lands of the indigenous Christian inhabitants of Ankawa. The Archbishop and town chiefs went to meet Mulla Effendi at the Great Mosque to explain the situation to him and make him aware of rising tensions in Ankawa.