Zaro Aga

About

Zaro Aga (Turkish: Zaro Ağa; Kurdish: زارۆ ئاغا, romanized: Zaro Axa) was a Kurdish man who claimed to be one of the longest-living persons ever. He claimed birth on 16 February 1774 in Mutki, and died on 29 June 1934 in Istanbul, Turkey. He was allegedly aged 160 when he died, and thus claimed to be one of the longest-living persons ever.

There is ongoing debate as to his actual age when he died. According to the death certificate provided by his Turkish doctor, Zaro Aga’s age was 157. He died in Istanbul, although some confusion about the place of death exists, likely due to the fact that the body was sent to the US right after his death. However, an investigative report published by Walter Bowerman in 1939 indicated that Zaro Aga was around 97, not 157.

Aga was born in Medan village (present-day Meydan) in Mutki (then in the Ottoman Empire), worked as a construction worker when he was young, and then moved to Istanbul, where he worked as a porter and finally retired as a janitor. He was a major attraction to popular press during his last years as allegedly the world’s oldest living man and one who had travelled to many countries, including the United…