Local Diyarbakır woman with 450 grandchildren is believed to be 130 years old

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

A 97-year-old woman in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır claims to have had 450 grandchildren from her past three marriages, while her relatives say she is 130 years old.

Şahi Tayurak, who lives in the Sur district of Diyarbakır, says she has around 450 grandchildren based on a calculation made three years ago. 

If she is indeed 130 years old, it would make her the oldest woman in the world by far.

Tayurak’s daughter Telliye Tayurak said her mother’s date of birth on her ID was 1919 but said a mistake was possibly made because her own date of birth was 1926. As a result, her 90-year-old daughter said the family estimates that the woman is 130 years old.
 
“When I chat with my mom and she talks about the past I get very emotional. My mom talks about her years of poverty, the times when people could not afford to buy clothes or shoes to wear. Now, in order to count my mother’s total number of grandchildren I have to make a list by calling all my siblings, cousins, nieces and grandchildren,” said Tayurak’s daughter.     

Relatives of Tayurak, who now resides with one of her sons in the restive Sur district, which has seen fierce clashes over the past year between Turkish security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), say she has only ever undergone one operation, which was to remove stones from her gallbladder. They also claim that she had a bone scan 15 years ago in which her bone age was calculated as 97. 

Her children now want her to have another bone examination to determine her real age.