Does a photo show Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov holding a flag that is the symbol of the old Bulgarian Dulo clan, implying that Chechens and Bulgarian Muslims are from the same racial origin? No, that's not true: The photo shared is from a visit to Turkey in 2018 when the Chechen President visited the set of his favorite Turkish TV drama show Resurrection: Ertugrul about the Ottoman Empire. Kadyrov is seen with actors from the drama holding a movie prop - the flag of the Turkic Kayi tribe, whose chief is the main character in the Resurrection: Ertuğrul series.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on June 27 with a caption reading:
Ramzan Kadyrov with the symbol of the Bulgarians. Chechens and Bulgarians are of the same race. Our clan is the Dulo clan. History has separated us thousands of kilometers apart, but we are of the same clan, the clan of Khan Dulo ✊.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jul 25 18:37:08 2023 UTC)
A series of photos featuring a group of men, including Kadyrov, show the Chechen leader holding a flag, which websites and social media sharing since 2021 have claimed is the flag of the Khan Dulo clan. The posts falsely claim that the men were Chechens who identified themselves as descendants of the Dulo clan, a dynasty descending from the rulers of Old Great Bulgaria. The symbol on the flag, the trident tamga, is also found on some archaeological artifacts found in Bulgaria, but its meaning and origin are still uncertain and there is no firm evidence that it is related to the Dulo clan.
Some social media posts also suggested that Kadyrov affiliated the Chechen people with the Bulgarian Muslims who recognized Putin as their leader, including this one, which claims:
We, the Chechens, are Bulgarian Muslim, the heirs of the Dulo clan, and Putin is our president." Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Jul 25 19:06:05 2023 UTC)
However, the photos shared are from Kadyrov's trip to Turkey in 2018, when he visited the set of the Turkish TV show Resurrection: Ertuğrul. The images show Turkish actors who play roles in the historical drama with Kadyrov in the center holding a movie prop - the flag of the Turkic Kayi tribe, whose chief is the main character in the Resurrection: Ertuğrul series.
Ertuğrul was a Turkish leader in the 13th century who is regarded as the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. His biography is shrouded in mystery and legend, and there are few reliable historical sources about him. The TV series that depicts his life and adventures is based on some of the available facts, but it also adds many fictional elements and characters. The series does not claim to be a faithful representation of history, but rather a dramatized version of it.
