Review of Ataturk: The Founder of Modern Turkey

[Rokko]

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in Salonika (now the Greek city of Thessaloniki) in 1881 (or 1880, the exact date is unknown). The son of a minor customs official, he lost his father at the age of seven or eight. He was an excellent student and is said to have been named Kemal by his math teacher in recognition of his brilliance. He went on to military school and a career in the Ottoman army. The "new" Ottoman army was a creation of Sultan Mahmud the second and reflected the desire of the crumbling Ottoman Empire to reform and modernize itself. Andrew Mango begins his massive biography of Atatürk with a look at the decrepit edifice of this great empire. Founded in the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire reached the zenith of its power in the 17th when Suleiman the magnificent knocked on the gates of Vienna. But by that time, the balance of power in Europe was already beginning to shift. European advances in science, technology and organization first led to dominance at sea. By the 18th century, the tide was turning on land too and by the beginning of the 19th century it was clear even to the Ottoman rulers that a huge and almost unbridgeable gap had opened between them and their western antagonists. The Ottomans made a series of attempts to improve their position. After the janissaries foiled the first attempt at military reform, Sultan Mahmut the Second succeeded in destroying their power in 1825. Attempts were made to modernize the Ottoman army and administration. Some modern education was introduced, as were telegraph, railways and the rudiments of an industrial base. The power of the ulema was reduced and in 1875 the sultan actually issued a modern constitution (though it was soon suspended). But none of these measures succeeded in converting the Ottoman Empire into a modern state capable of meeting its European rivals as an equal. Slowly but steadily, the Ottoman possessions in Europe were being stripped away from them. Every succeeding treaty imposed new humiliations on the tottering empire. "Capitulations" provided special privileges to Europeans and gave them immunity from Ottoman laws. Greek and Armenian minorities were becoming increasingly bolder in their claims and received support from western countries that magnified all Ottoman persecutions but rarely paid any attention when Turks or Muslims were the victims of massacres or ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

 

Mustafa Kemal grew up in this atmosphere and like many other educated and westernized Turks, he felt these humiliations very keenly. He had links with the young Turks who took control of the empire in a soft coup in 1908. The young Turks, who were trying to save the empire, actually hastened its demise by choosing to enter the First World War on the side of Germany. To Mustafa Kemal’s credit, he was opposed to participation in the war, but he had no role yet at the head of affairs in Istanbul. He was an outstanding young officer though, and had served with distinction in Libya and Syria before he got his big opportunity at Gallipoli in 1915. On the 25th of April, allied forces had landed at Gallipoli, hardly 50 miles from Istanbul. The ragtag Turkish army that faced them included lieutenant colonel Mustafa Kemal, commanding the undermanned and ill-equipped 19th division. He had the high ground and he was determined to hold it. The first regiment he threw into the battle is said to have received the famous order (famous in Turkey, if nowhere else): "I do not order you to attack, I order you to die. By the time we are dead, other units and commanders will have come up to take our place" Thanks to his meticulous research, Mr Mango informs us that the actual order was a little different. According to papers found on a dead Turkish soldier, the actual order was: "I do not expect that any of us would not rather die than repeat the shameful story of the Balkan war. But if there are such men among us, we should at once lay hands upon them and set them up in line to be shot." Against all odds (and contrary to all expectations), the Turks held on at Gallipoli and after 8 months of bloody fighting, the allies withdrew. Mustafa Kemal had proven himself in battle, but he was still an unknown in most of Turkey. He then received a command in eastern Anatolia and again distinguished himself under very difficult conditions. It was here that colonel Ismet and Ali Fuat served under him; both were to be crucial allies and partners after the war.

 

As the war ended, the Ottoman Empire was in tatters. The Balkans and the Arab lands had been lost completely. Allied troops held Istanbul and plans were being drawn up to partition out the remaining Turkish heartland. Greek troops landed in western Anatolia while Armenians were threatening in the east. The sultan was a helpless puppet in allied hands. At this moment of doom, Mustafa Kemal stepped forward to save Turkey. He had never lacked in confidence; during a boozing session in his youth, he told his friend Nuri Conker that one day he would make him Prime Minister. Asked what he himself would be, he answered, "The man who makes Prime Ministers." Turkey’s man of destiny landed at Samsun (Anatolia) in May 1919. He had managed to get himself appointed the inspector of the 9th army in Erzurum. Ostensibly he was on a mission on behalf of the puppet government in Istanbul; in reality, he had already decided to lead the Turkish resistance by setting up operations in Anatolia. Of course he was not alone in this desire. The remnants of the Ottoman army knew him as a genuine war hero and a proven commander. Millions of Turks were stunned and humiliated by the fate of their country and eager for a savior. But his resources were extremely meager. The few troops he had were poorly armed and trained. There was no money and almost no organization. But Mustafa Kemal was not only a very level headed and capable general, he now proved to be an absolutely brilliant tactician and organizer With little more than the Ottoman telegraph, a congress of like minded Turks was held at Erzurum and the "eastern Anatolia society for the defense of national rights" came into being. So meager were its resources that a retired major had to donate his life savings of 900 liras to organize the subsequent national congress in Sivas.

 

Within four months, Mustafa Kemal had set up the rudiments of an independent Turkish state in Anatolia. On the 23rd of April 1920 the Grand National assembly convened in Ankara and elected him their leader. The meeting started on a Friday in the hajji Beyram mosque with a hoca leading the way, carrying a Quran (Mustafa Kemal was always crystal clear in his priorities; first there had to BE a Turkish state, THEN he would set about reforming it of what he considered medieval superstition). Mustafa Kemal had received a traditional education in the heavily Persianized and Arabized Ottoman Turkish and was capable of flowery oratory in the language he would soon make extinct. Having secured his position and legitimized his authority, he systematically played off the European powers against each other, reorganized the army and successfully stopped the Greeks at Inönü and Sakarya. Over three years, he slowly but steadily won back the rest of the Turkish heartland. It was touch and go most of the time. Not only was Turkey beset by powerful enemies and lacking in all the resources of a modern state, its people were mostly illiterate and the small elite was fractious and prone to emotional decisions. Atatürk had a rare combination of extreme self-confidence and solidly grounded realism. He won every battle that he fought because he was not prone to jumping into a fight he could not win. He compromised when he had no choice, but never on the essential aim of full independence for Turkey. Though never remotely impressed by communism, at one point he set up an official communist party (with himself as chairman) for the purpose of co-opting local communists and getting some desperately needed help from the soviets. He used irregular militias and local thugs when he had to, and then made sure they were disbanded or destroyed. In the course of the wars in Anatolia, there was tremendous destruction and many massacres of both Greek and Turkish civilians. Mustafa Kemal was never involved in any such action and made every effort to prevent such occurrences.

 

In November 1922, having pushed the Greeks out of Anatolia, he turned his attention to the sultan in Istanbul. A meeting of the national assembly was held to get rid of the sultanate but not the caliphate; the sultan would remain khalifa of the Muslim ummah, but no longer be the temporal ruler of Turkey. The debate was dragging on with some clerics being less than convinced, at which point Mustafa Kemal told the committee:

 

" Sovereignty and kingship are never decided by academic debate. They are seized by force. The Ottoman dynasty appropriated by force the govt. of the Turks…now the Turkish nation has effectively gained possession of its sovereignty ….this is an accomplished fact…if those assembled here see the matter in its natural light, we shall all agree. Otherwise, facts will still prevail, but some heads may roll".

 

Thereupon a cleric said: "sorry, we had approached the matter from a different angle, now you have put us right". There was no further debate.

 

The freedom and integrity of Turkey were finally secured in the treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Having won the war of independence from a position of incredible weakness, Mustafa Kemal now set about the task of force-marching Turkey into the 20th century. He went on tour, speaking to ordinary Turks and asking them to join him in bringing "civilization" to Turkey. At Bursa, he said the nation would put up statues to its heroes. The Islamic ban on human representation was no longer relevant. It had been directed against the worship of idols and it was an insult to imply that educated modern Muslims were capable of worshipping statues of stone. He even preached a Friday sermon in a mosque, saying that Islam was the perfect religion because it was in conformity with reason and truth. But mosques were not only places of worship; they should also be a venue for the discussion of secular affairs. Sermons should therefore be in Turkish and should reflect the requirements of the day. It is important to remember that Mustafa Kemal could not have succeeded in this radical program if the project did not already have many supporters among the Turkish elite. Defeat and humiliation at the hands of the West were a fact of life familiar to all Turks. There was no question of pretending that "we" were somehow better than the infidels; something was clearly wrong and something drastic had to be done to correct it. Several ideas of drastic reform had been in the air for decades. Some were based on pan-Islamism rather than the Turkish nationalism of Atatürk. But Islamic revivalism had not yet developed in the way it has today. Which is one reason why an outright pan-islamist like Iqbal could admire Atatürk. Atatürk himself was not an ignorant and insular army officer. He was well read and intelligent and aware of the larger issues of the world. But temperamentally and intellectually, he was not religious at all. He drank heavily and openly and made frequent disparaging remarks about traditional religion. He was influenced by positivism as a philosophy and adopted the Turkish nationalist ideas of Zia Gokalp, Ahmet Riza and others, as the guiding ideology of the state he was setting up. In this choice he was supported by a significant and dynamic section of Turkish society. In any case, no oil had yet been found in the middle east and the idea of looking to the Arabs as a source of inspiration would have appeared quiet ludicrous not only to Atatürk but also to his more conventionally religious friends like Ismet Inönü.

 

On March 3rd 1924 the Grand National Assembly abolished the caliphate. At the same time, the old system of medressas was abolished and education was secularized. The ministry of sharaee law was also abolished. The proposals were presented to the assembly by a religious cleric with hardly a murmur of dissent. One member of the assembly proclaimed his hatred of the Ottomans by saying that even the bones of their dead should be dug up and scattered. Members of the clerical establishment not only failed to resist, they competed with each other in revolutionary fervor. One hoca rushed into Mustafa Kemal’s office crying: "Pasha, if it is your intention to do away with the holy book, say so and we will find a way to do it but please do not let the deputies talk the way they do"…presumably the deputies were being less than kind in the way they talked about the clerics. After the justice minister, Seyit (himself a cleric) had presented the bill abolishing the caliphate; Atatürk remarked that he had done his last duty. He was duly removed from his ministry three days later. A Turkish delegation went to India to thank the Indian Muslims for their support. The leader of the delegation informed Mustafa Kemal that the Indian Muslims wanted him to become the new caliph. Atatürk rejected the idea as ridiculous because: "A caliph was a head of state and foreign Muslims had their own governments and were in no position to implement the orders of a caliph residing outside their borders"

 

The Kurds proved a tougher problem than the clerics. Mustafa Kemal subscribed to a Turkish nationalism, which regarded the Kurds as "mountain Turks". In his modern Turkey, they would all live as Turks and and that was end of it. The Kurds were a tribal people and had many internal divisions. Turkish army officers were used to treating them with a paternalistic policy of divide and rule. There was a rebellion in the Kurdish area and it was put down with great harshness. In this policy too, Atatürk had the full support of the Turkish ruling elite. He left the day-to-day management of affairs to his able deputy Ismet Inönü and took little interest in the "Kurdish problem". That problem continues to this day and the Turkish state has not yet been able to work out a generous and peaceful method of integrating the Kurds into Turkey.

 

The reforming Ottoman, Mahmut the Second, had introduced the fez as a "new" headgear to replace traditional turbans. A hundred years later, Mustafa Kemal decided that the fez itself had become a symbol of medieval times. Addressing a crowd in the most conservative corner of Anatolia, Atatürk said: "Internationally accepted civilized dress suits us too. Shoes or boots on your feet, trousers on your legs, shirt collar and tie, waistcoat, jacket and to complete it all, headgear with a sun shield, which I want to call by its proper name, its called a hat". In a later speech, he said: "Gentlemen, it was necessary to abolish the fez, which sat on the heads of our nation as an emblem of ignorance, negligence, fanaticism and hatred of progress and civilization."

 

He also spoke out against the veil: "Friends, our women have minds too…so teach them morals and then stop being selfish…let them show their face to the world and see it with their eyes…don’t be afraid..change is essential and we are prepared to sacrifice lives for its sake" Along with abolishing the fez and discouraging the veil (it was not abolished, but prohibited in official premises), Atatürk went after the dervishes and sheikhs. On 2nd September 1925, all dervish lodges were closed down. While senior clerics obeyed 1300 years of clerical tradition and maintained a prudent silence, some provincial khojas came out in open protest and were harshly dealt with. According to Mr Mango’s research a total of 20 people were hanged in connection with protests against the hat law. That’s 20 too many, but certainly not in the league of the millions who died to create the new utopias of Russia, China and Nazi Germany. A larger number have probably had their head cut off in Taleban led Afghanistan for crimes against a different kind of dress code.

 

On the 2nd of December 1925, the assembly adopted the modern calendar (the Ottomans had introduced the solar calendar but dated it from the hijrah and failed to correct the dates in accordance with the Gregorian reform). A new civil code based on the Swiss model was adopted in 1926. A penal code based on the Italian model soon followed. These efforts are not much different from the earlier Japanese attempt to import western models wholesale in these matters. In most other Muslim countries, colonial occupiers carried out the corresponding change to modern penal and civil codes. Saudi Arabia being almost the only exception.

 

The next and most drastic and far-reaching reform of them all was the reform of the language. In 1928, Mustafa Kemal set up a committee to look into reform of the script and language. The committee produced a proposal for reforming the script with a completely phonetic 29 letter modified Latin alphabet. They recommended that the change be phased in over 5 to 15 years. Atatürk overruled them with the remark that it will be done in 3 months or it will never be done. Time has proved him right. The change was drastic and took time to settle in, but by now it is clear that this is one reform that cannot be undone. One thousand years of Arabic and Persian influence has been cut off, but a modern Turkish language has developed which can hold its own in any application. No other reform did as much to reorient Turkey towards European civilization or had a more lasting impact.

 

With his trusted lieutenant Ismet Inönü as prime minister, Atatürk became less and less involved in day-to-day affairs. He spent some time promoting racist theories of Turkish superiority but this never took the virulent forms that contemporary theories were taking in Germany. Drinking and carousing with friends took up more of his time and led to the cirrhosis of the liver that killed him in 1938. He was unimpressed with Nazism and gave refuge to many Jews escaping the holocaust. While Armenian and Greek extremists hate him because of his success in the Turkish war of independence (which dashed the hopes of Armenians and Greeks in mainland Anatolia), the charges of ethnic cleansing and bigotry are unfair. Once he had his Turkish state, he was not interested in new pan-turanian adventures and gladly made peace with all his neighbors. Small Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities continue to live in Turkey and after the hatreds and massacres of the war years; they have always enjoyed equal rights. The Kurds may have more cause for complaint, as may the communists who were ruthlessly hunted down during the cold war years. A sclerotic and inflexible “kemalism” continues to hold sway in the Turkish army. But the real achievements of Mustafa Kemal’s Turkey should not be underestimated. Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world. Istanbul is the largest city in Europe. A modern Turkish middle class outnumbers the entire population of some European countries. Democracy continues to be shadowed by the rigidly kemalist army, but is more real than any that exists in the Middle East. Turkey has a higher percentage of university graduates than any other Muslim county. One of these days, Orhan Pamuk will win the Nobel Prize for literature, and it will be for literature written in Turkish, not in English or French. Atatürk's legacy is more secure than many people realize.

 

Talking to a French writer, Mustafa Kemal asked: "Can one name a single nation that has not turned to the west in its quest for civilization?" The answer would naturally depend on what one regards as civilization. But Atatürk was never interested in splitting hairs on this matter. He wanted to make Turkey into a modern, dynamic European country because modern, dynamic, European countries were clearly capable of humiliating and colonizing the rest of the world. Those who condemn him in Kabul or Teheran have yet to show that they can do better. Those who laugh at his presumptions in post-modern universities and cafés are unwilling to forego the benefits of the very civilization that Mustafa Kemal thought his country could join. Has his project succeeded? To quote what zhou en lai said about another famous revolution, "it is too soon to tell".

 

Mustafa Kemal married once in 1923 and divorced his wife in 1925. He used the peremptory and drastic method of divorce granted to him by the Ottoman Islamic culture he was about to destroy. He had several affairs and has been accused of immoral activities with some young ladies he adopted as his daughters. Mr Mango tells all that is documented and recorded about these matters, but is clearly uninterested in scandalous gossip. Atatürk aroused a very passionate hatred in certain Greek and Armenian extremists; more recently, he is also a favorite target of Islamic radicals. These enemies have assured that such scandals have had wide circulation, but they have undermined their own credibility by their exaggerations and willingness to believe the wildest possible stories. Still, there is little doubt that Atatürk was an old-fashioned male chauvinist in his personal life. He may also have been looser in his morals than his admirers want to admit, but the scandalous picture painted in "gray wolf" and other such books is definitely unfair and exaggerated.

 

Mr Mango was born in Istanbul and used to be the BBC’s director for Turkey and the Near East. He has written several books and articles on Turkey and is a sympathetic and fair observer. He clearly regards the kemalist project’s equation of Europe and progress as understandable even if it is not as simple as Atatürk sometimes liked to portray it. His book is a very thorough and balanced, but entirely conventional account of Atatürk and his times. It is easy to imagine someone writing a book on Atatürk that focuses on the drama and pathos of a life which involved (like the lives of all other "great men") episodes of falling out with old friends, the ordering of executions, the loneliness and sorrows of a young wife etc. or, someone could write about what goes on in the head of a man when he has such power and glory. Mr mango has not written those books. But he has written an authoritative and definitive biography of one of the most fascinating and important personalities of the last century.

 

Book quote:

"Atatürk’s message is that East and West can meet on the ground of universal secular values and mutual respect, that nationalism is compatible with peace, that human reason is the only true guide in life. It is an optimistic message and its validity will always be in doubt. But it is an ideal that commands respect."

[bilan]

A larger number have probably had their head cut off in Taleban led Afghanistan for crimes against a different kind of dress code.

i do not think so

Those who condemn him in Kabul or Teheran have yet to show that they can do better. Those who laugh at his presumptions in post-modern universities and cafés are unwilling to forego the benefits of the very civilization that Mustafa Kemal thought his country could join. Has his project succeeded? To quote what zhou en lai said about another famous revolution, "it is too soon to tell".

Book quote:

"Atatürk’s message is that East and West can meet on the ground of universal secular values and mutual respect, that nationalism is compatible with peace, that human reason is the only true guide in life. It is an optimistic message and its validity will always be in doubt. But it is an ideal that commands respect."

i think he was proved wrong, russians are killing chechayans for nationalism,hitler killed millions of people for the sake of nationalism, and even isreal are murdering palestinians for nationalism, so in my opinion nationalism and peace are not compatible

[/QB]

i never liked him but i think the author liked ataturk,do not you think so

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

Ooooh, baliis.

 

This man, If my memory of him serves better, is one of the worst internal enemy Muslim world had ever produced itself. He really hated Islaam and anything associated with it. He publicly said he wasn't sure if he was a Muslim, or a Christian either. But, he knew was Turkish to the bone. Loved it. Worshipped it much. He completely tried to uproot Islaam from Turkey and its surrounding areas. Luckily, it didn't really affected that much. And thank Allah for that. But, we do now know how he really changed Turkey forever. At least since then.

 

Two possitive things I heard about him are that he saved {whatever it means} Turkey from completely sliced by then powerful houses of Europe, particularly from the thirstly and bloody Greeks who desperately wanted to recapture Istanbul {Constantinople to them}. And second good thing about him is he outlawed much of other sects, who barely resembled about Islaam in any way. Especially, the Alawite sect who somehow incorporated fire in their prayers. Muslims worshipping FIRE!!!

 

Oh, this man really disliked Islaam and I don't personally like to read his biography or any book to do with him. He is a man who thought dressing like a European would make you a very EDUCATED person. He is a man who shamely changed the whole name system of Turkey, especially erasing the title Pasha mostly used by Cusmaaniyiintii and its officials at that time.

________________

 

Macsalaama!!

[Medley of extemporanea]

He was an extremist nationalist revolutionary is the true sense of the word. Kind of like Hitler.

 

I think his ideas were unsuitable for any muslim nation. He changed the world.

[Samafal]

ooooh taturk??? a man who shamed and shunned islam? he ended the islamic khilah on his hands and instead established and aimed for turkey free from islam. May allah curse him forever for what he done to muslims. Bulo yes ithink the author liked him, coz simply he hates muslims.

[Armstrong]

Salaams,

 

Ata Turk --------> Wimp

Ata Turk --------> Puppet

Ata Turk --------> Nationalist

Ata Turk --------> Loser

 

W/Salaam

 

MJ

[Nuruddin]

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Biography Of Sultan Abdul Hameed The Second

And The Fall Of The Islamic Khilafa

 

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Sultan Abdul Hameed The Second was born on Wednesday, the 21st of September 1842. His full name is Abdul Hameed Khan The Second Bin Abdul Majeed Khan. He was the son of Sultan Abdul Majeed (from his second wife.) His mother died when he was seven. Abdul Hameed spoke Turkish, Arabic and Persian and he studied several books in literature and poetry. When his father Abdul Majeed died, his uncle, Abdul Aziz became the Khalifa. Abdul Aziz did last long in power. He was forced out of power and then assasinated by the political enemies of the Ottomans. His successor was Sultan Murad, the son of Sultan Abdul Aziz, but he was also removed from power after a short period because he was not fit for office.

 

On the 31st of August, 1876 (1293 H) Sultan Abdul Hameed was given the Khilafaship, the people pledged allegiance and loyalty to him. He was at that time aged 34. Abdul Hameed realised, as he explaines in his diary, that at the time of the assasination of his uncle, and the constant change in leadership was some sort of a conspiracy against the Islamic state.

 

Abdul Hameed had a character historians looked deeply into. He was given the leadership of a huge state that was in a tense and critical situation. He spent more than thirty years full of interior and exterior conspiracies, wars, revolutions, events and constant changes. Abdul Hameed himself expressed these feelings in his writings and poetry. Here is a sample of his handwritten poetry, which was taken from the book "My Father Abdul Hameed," written by his daughter Aisha.

 

The poetry translates,

My lord I know you are the Dear One (Al-Aziz) ... and no one but you is the Dear One

You are the One, and noting else

My God take my hand in these hard times

My God be my helper in this critical hour

The first trouble Abdul Hameed ran into was Midhat Pasha. Midhat Pasha was secretely involved in the removal of Abdul Hameed's uncle. When Abdul Hameed came into power he assigned Midhat Pasha as The Head of The Ministers council because Midhat was very popular at that time and Abdul Hameed needed any kind of insurance to stay in power. Midhat Pasha was a good governor but he was opinionated. Midhat Pasha was supported by a strong stream in the Shora council (parliament). With the help of these people he was successful in passing the resolutions to go into war against Russia. Abdul Hameed could not stop that stream. Had he tried to he would have porbably been removed from office. Still the stream wanted to blame him for all the losses that resulted from these missclaculated wars. Abdul Hameed did not want any wars at that time. The Islamic state was too exhausted to engage in warfare. Abdul Hameed was able to use the differences between him and Midhat Pasha to decrease Midhat's popularity. He finally was able to break lose from his chains and he exiled him to Europe. The people and polticians welcomed that move greatly.

 

Afterwards, Abdul Hameed turned to the foreign enemies of the Islamic Ottoman State. He was able to somehow predict the Communist Revolution in Russia, and that it will make Russia stronger and therefore more and more dangerous. At that time, the Bulkan parts of the state faced two dangers, Russia and Austria. Abdul Hameed tried to awaken the Bulkans and make them realise the coming danger. He came close to an agreement with the Bulkans, but when the agreement was in the final stages, four Bulkan states made a separate agreement and excluded the Otoman state. Western and Russian influence was the reason for that change.

 

Abdul Hameed realised that the consperacy to destroy the Ottoman state was bigger than anyone thought. It was both interior and exterior. He thought he got rid of Midhat Pasha and his likes for good, but he was faced with Awni Pasha, head Of the Ministers Council (Alsadr Alazam) and one of the leaders of the army. Later Abdul Hameed discovered that Awni Pasha took money and presents from the English, and his role in the removal of Abdul Aziz (Abdul Hameed's uncle) was exposed to Abdul Hameed. Awni Pasha pushed the Ottoman state into the wars of Bosnia against the will of Abdul Hameed. Abdul Hameed knew that if the war took place Russia, England, Austria- Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy and France will all attack the Ottoman state and make sure Bosnia is snatched. Awni misinformed Abdul Hameed about the size of the Ottoman army in Bosnia. He claimed to have 200,000 soldiers ready. However, Abdul Hameed checked with other generals of the army and discovered he had only 30,000 soldiers, faced by more than 300,000 soldiers. The people at that time loved Awni and Abdul Hameed couldn't remove him from office because that would endanger the interior stability of the state. The western powers, realising that they had outnumbered the Ottomans attacked under the cover of four Bulkan states (Romania, Montenegro, Serbia, Austria-Hungary). As a result, Bosnia and Greece were lost and seperated from the Otoman state. Abdul Hameed exposed Awni and his mistakes afterwards and got rid of him. The public accepted this move. The court found him guilty of the charges of conspiracy against the Ottoman state and aiding foreign powers, such as England.

 

The fall of the sick man of Europe appeared to be eminent. everyone wanted a part of it and that doesn't exclude the Jews. In 1901 the Jewish banker Mizray Qrasow and two other Jewish influential leaders came to visit Abdul Hameed, they offered to give him :

 

1) Paying ALL the debts of the Ottoman state.

2) Building the Navy of the Ottoman state.

3) 35 Million Golden Leeras without interest to support the prosperity of the Ottoman state.

 

In Exchange for

 

1) Allowing Jews to visit Palestine anytime they please, and to stay as long as they want "to visit the holy sites."

2) Allowing the Jews to build settlements where they live, and they wanted them to be located near Jerusalem.

 

Abdul Hameed refused to even meet them, he sent his answer to them through Tahsin Pasha, and the answer was "Tell those impolite Jews that the debts of the Ottoman state are not a shame, France has debts and that doesn't effect it. Jerusalem became a part of the Islamic land when Omar Bin Alkhattab took the city and I am not going to carry the historical shame of selling the holy lands to the Jews and betraying the responsibility and trust of my people. May the Jews keep their money, the Ottoman's will not hide in castles built with the money of the enemies of Islam." He also told them to leave and never come back to meet him again. With the Jews and Zionists in the game the set was complete, and the play of the end of the Ottoman state was about to start. The Jewish money was an important asset to finance the destruction of the Ottoman state to build the Zionist state in Palestine, the state that Jews wanted so badly they were willing to risk anything for.

 

The Jews did not give up on Abdul Hameed, later in the same year, 1901, the founder of the Zionist movement, Theodor Hertzil, visited Istanbul and tried to meet Abdul Hameed. Abdul Hameed refused to meet him and he told his Head Of The Ministers Council "Advise Dr. Herzil not to take any further steps in his project. I can not give away a handful of the soil of this land for it is not my own, it is for all the Islamic Nation. The Islamic Nation that fought Jihad for the sake of this land and they have watered it with their blood. The Jews may keep their money and millions. If the Islamic Kalifah State is one day destroyed then they will be able to take Palestine without a price! But while I am alive, I would rather push a sword into my body than see the land of Palestine cut and given away from the Islamic State. This is something that will not be, I will not start cutting owr bodies while we are alive." After this, the Jews turned to the British to turn their dreams into reality.

 

The British and French were ready to finish the Ottoman State, still the word "Jihad" was powerful enough to make all Europe tremble. Europe still feared the Sick Man Of Europe. The British decided to use its most important foreign policy, devide and conquer. It supported new groups like Young Turkey and Young Arabia. When Young Turkey became strong in the Ottoman state, Britain did not need to do anything anymore, Young Turks did the rest, they started a national and prejidice stream withen the Turkish citiziens of the Islamic State. In resonse, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and other races developed their own national brand. People started feeling a part of their race not a part of the state, and that was the beggining of the end of the Islamic state. Later in WWI, Arabs collaborated with the Bristish and French and revolted against the Ottoman State. They were betrayed by the British and French and later invaded.

 

Abdul Hamid did not forget the development of his state, he built many institutions and services to the public like Hamedi market, Alazm palace in Damascus. He also built many mosques, public bathes, markets and hospitals in Cairo, Demscus, Sana, Baghdad and the rest of the Islamic cities. He also worked on the development of the educational system. The Ottomans tried to imitate the European educational system but they failed, except in two areas, Medicine and Military. The Ottoman army was not as weak as people today think it was. The Ottoman artillary was the strongest in the world. The Ottoman Navy was very well organized and was ranked the world's third most powerful fleet after the English and French. Many industries such as weapons manufacturing, weaving and Sugar appeared. The road system was updated,and seaports were expanded. Many new newsprints were established and before the first world war Egypt, Iraq and Great Syria had more than 1300 newspapers and magazines.

 

For a little time it appeared like the Sick Man of Europe will finally stand up, but the western allies were determined to destroy the Islamic Unity at any cost. The non-muslim minorities in the Ottoman state were used by the West to create trouble and instability, especially the Christian citiziens of the state. The western states always interfered in the Ottoman domestic policy under the excuse of "protecting the Christian minorities." The west also launched a campaign of Christian preaching in the Islamic world by building Christian schools and churches. The target was snatching muslims away from Islam and spreading un-islamic social habits and ideas. Many newsprints were also established for the same reason, to poison the minds of the muslims and spread destructive ideas and misconceptions between them. The west also wanted to make the Ottoman state busy and for that it used the minorities again. The west encouraged the Armenians and financed their revolution against the Ottoman state. England helped the Druz and France helped the Maronites in Lebanon and they both engaged in a big battle that was solved by the interference of the Ottoman army. More troubles between Muslims and Christians took place, and at some time the Muslim population of Damascus was about to wipe the Christian population of the city. The Ottoman army interfered in the last moments and prevented a massacre from taking place. That era was a constant battle between the conspiracies of the west and the defence of Abdul Hameed and the rest of the faithful Muslims.

 

It is important to mention that the debts of the Ottoman state, when Abdul Hameed came to power, were 2,528 Million Ottoman golden Leeras. When he was removed from power they were only 106 Million Leera. Which means he cut the debt to about 1/20 of its original value. The Young Turks, who came after Abdul Hameed, raised it back by 1300%. Such an achivement of Abdul Hameed would give the impression that he could not spend on development, but that is untrue. Abdul Hameed established fax lines between Yemen, Hijaz, Great Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Then he connected it to the fax lines of Iran and India. He managaed to earn back the cost of the project withen only two years because of the extensive use of these lines by the Hujjaj (the people who go to Mecca to do the pilgramage).

 

Abdul Hameed realised that the only hope for Muslims is a form of a strong Islamic Unity. Abdul Hameed was able to see that the West will try to seperate the Islamic state and then deal with each part seperately. The only way to prevent that is through Islamic Unity. Abdul Hameed decided to present the Ottoman Khilafaship as a leadership to the Islamic World. Abdul Hameed was able to touch and effect the Muslims of India and Pakistan and he caused many troubles to the British in these areas. Similar results were established with the Muslims of Russia and the southern USSR republics. Abdul Hameed also used these Muslims to pressure Russia. At this time, Abdul Hameed mentions in his diary that he feels the walls falling on him, and that he feels he is alone and he can not fight the enemies of the Islamic Nation alone. He later started an alliance with Germany, but that too seemed to be insufficient, because the Germans wanted a part of the Ottoman state as well. Sultan Abdul Hameed felt at that time that the big war is very close. And it was obvious that the remains of the Ottoman state is what the fighting factions will fight for.

 

Abdul Hameed needed something big, something strong, something to awaken the feelings of the Islamic unity in the hearts of the muslims all arround the Islamic world. Abdul Hameed searched and searched and finnaly decided to establish the Hijaz rial road(1900). The rail road ran from Demscus to Madina, and from Aqaba to Maan, the line symbolized the Islamic Unity, all the muslims who used to do the pilgrimage felt that the Ottoman Khalifa was trying to bring them closer, with a new rail road system and one of the most sophisticaed fax systems. Muslim started getting the feeling of gratitude and appreciation to the Ottoman State. The rail road payed for its expences in a couple of years and it functioned as an important tool to connect the parts of the Islamic state, it also was to be used as a fast line to transport and deploy military units. Abdul Hameed also launched a campagin to spread the idea of islamic untiy and islamic support in southern Russi, India, Pakistan and Africa. He started inviting many muslim scholars from Indonesia, Africa and India to the Otoman state, and he established a program to build mosques and Islamic Institutions all arround the Islamic world.

 

The western teeth reacted quickly and encouraged the Bay of Tunessia to revolt against the Ottoman state in 1877 and so he did. In 1881 france occupied Tunessia, in 1882 Britain occupied Egypt. Later the netherlands invaded indonesia, Russia invaded central Asia, Britain expanded deeper into india and Sudan .. it appeared like the west is about to crush the Islamic World.

 

Finally, on Tuesday the 27th of April 1909, the 240 members of the Otoman senate agreed under the pressure of the National Young Turks to remove Abdul Hameed from power. Senator Sheikh Hamdi Afandi Mali wrote the Fatwa of the removal. The Otoman Senate approved it. Here is the translation of that Fatwa :

 

"If the Imam of the Muslims took the important religous issues from the legislative books and collected those books, wasted the money of the state and engaed in agreements that contradicted the Islamic Law, killed, arrested, exiled the people for no reason, then promised not to do it again and still did it to harm the conditions of muslims all around the Islamic world then this leader is to be removed from office. If his removal will bring better conditions than his staying, then he has the choice of resigning or being removed from office."

 

The Sheikh Of Islam Mohammad Dia' Aldin Afandi

 

The Fatwa is very strange and any person can see that the conditions set in it do not fit Abdul Hameed's deeds and actions. Afterwards the Head Of The Ministers Council, Tawfiq Pasha was called to tell Abdul Hameed about the decision. He refused to do so. So they sent him a group of four people : Aref Hikmat, Aram Afandi (Armenian), As'ad Tobatani and Emanuel Qrasow (Jewish). As they entered his office, they found him standing calmly, Aref Hikmat read the Fatwa to him, then As'ad Tobatani came forward and said "The nation has removed you from your office.", Abdul Hameed became angry and said "The nation has removed me from my office, that is okay ... but why did you bring the Jew to the Quarters of the Khilafa?" and he pointed to Qrasow. Obviously that was the point of payback, Abdul Hameed rejected selling Palestine to the Jews, and now they show him that they were a part of his removal. A chalenge in the face of Abdul Hameed and the face of the Islamic Nation.

 

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After Abdul Hameed's removal from office many writers started attacking him and his person, one of these people was John Haslib, his book "The Red Sultan" became very famious, and was treanslated into many languages such as Arabic and Turkish. A Turkish book titled "iki me vrin perde arkasi - yazan : nafiz tansu" by Ararat Yayinevi was also a part of hateful propaganda that drawes the Ottoman state sinking deeper and deeper only to be saved by the Young Turks who removed Abdul Hameed. Another one is by the famous Arab Christian writter Georgy Zaydan in his book "Stories Of The Islamic History - The Ottoman revolution". These books are nothing but a bunch of lies written by people who hate Islam and muslims deeply. It presents Sultan Abdul Hameed as a man sunk into pleasures of life such as women and alcohol, and a vicious merciless tyrant towards his political enemies and his people. These lies did not stand because the truth always prevails.

 

Finally, after Abdul Hameed came a bunch of weak leaders. They couldn't maintain the state and they lost their powers easily. As Sultan Abdul Hameed predicted, WWI took place and the Ottoman state was divided. Arabs revolted in Hijaz with the help of the British and French, who later on betrayed them and put them under occupation, and gave Islamic Palestine to the Jews. If only they had listened to Abdul Hameed.

 

The National Young Turks got power and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk canceled the Islamic Khilafa in 1924. That was the end of a united leadership for Muslims for 1300 years. The West had succeded fully.

 

Today Muslims started to wake up from the ashes of the Arab-Isreali war of 1967, from the ashes of the Bosnian war, the Chechnian war, the Kashmir wars. Muslims are starting to realise that they will not stand unless they are united and attached to the bond of Islam. Muslims are starting to return to Islam and the West is alarmed again, after several years of Turkish Athan the mosques of Istanbul retruned to declare "Allah Akbar" in clear Arabic. A sign of the coming back of a great civilization.

 

We kindly ask the Muslim reader to read Alfatiha on the soul of Sultan Abdul Hameed and the Muslims who dedicated their lives for the well being of Islam and the whole Islamic Nation. We hope we have been able to present you with something that will make you see things more clearly and strengthen your belief in the Islamic Dream and remove any misunderstandings or misconceptions if you have had any. Unite to the bond of Islam, may God bless the Islamic Nation and have mercy on the soul of Sultan Abdul Hameed and the rest of the sincere Muslims.

 

The Sun May Have Set, But It Will, God Willing, Rise Again.

[DraGon]

I think i like his visionary/idea for his country....what can i say quite a revolutionary and pragmatic.

I wish Somalia will produce his like.

 

my 2cents.

[Haashim]

I surprised when i saw some somalis who don't know who is attaturk? its really very sad to hear words like i hope somalia will produce like him etc.

Do you know guys we are really misleaded for many reasons we were teached many targeted teachings and we were hided many realities like this one for some reasons.

We were targeted and we lost everything. Do you know guys that our enemies have used and still using many tricks, they use not only orientation but keeping quiet from our most important issues.

If you tell me something i may investigate or may accept without investigation (Like many somalis), but if i never about that subject you may never know what is in my heart or you may think that i am in same position as you.

So, the SUKUUT or keeping quiet is the worst trick of the enemies and also the sign of an agreement (ASSUKUUTU CALAAMATU RIDHAA). they concentrate what is irrelevant to us and covered our hottest issue like this man attaturk, indeed all muslim primary and secondary schools should teach their pupils that this man is responsible most of our suffering because of his khilaafah cancellation, but many others were contributed publicly and secretly and many others are happy our situation today because of small kingdoms or places etc. but why they didn't mention him? because what they would say, if they say he was a hero everybody would know that they are same group so that's why they kept quiet about this subject and create us irrelevant or self intrest subjects, and that's the most dangerous trick, they are always shining some individuals and dumping others, but not dumping attaturk who destroys our khilaafah.

Anyhow guys I ask ALLAAH to show us the reality and to show us the right to right and wrong to wrong AAMMIIN.

[Khayr]

Salaamz,

I just saw this old posted and wanted to bring it back to attention b/c the cylce repeats itself

on every level.

Now, similiar events are occuring in Iran where the Young iranians who were born after the Islamic Revolution, don't see the purpose of having an Islamic State anymore.

Thanks to other Ulama who have their own personal agendas, they will eventually get support from them to re-align themselves with the U.S. again.

Wait and see, inshallah!

History has repeats itself over and over again!!!

[ZOLA]

MOBB ...THIS REMINDS ME OF MY 20TH CENTURY GLOBAL CONFLICT CLASS OF LAST SEMESTER.....FOR SOME REASON MY TEACHER LIKED BRINGING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE( INCLUDING THE YOUNG TURKS, KAMAL ATTURK AND THE CREATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY).....IN EVERY TEST....THIS GUY WANTED ALL THE DETAILS...EVEN INCLUDING THE MANDATES AFTER TURKEY WAS CREATED...THE WHOLE NINE YARDS....

 

STILL CANT BELIEVE I PASSED THE CLASS WITH A GOOD GRADE.....MY TEACHER WAS SOMETHING I TELL U ..

..BUT I LEARNED A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

[Gabbal]

Sultan Hameed..may he rest in Allah's paradise. What a Muslim. I swear tears came to eyes as I read about him. Muslims need to produce a man of this caliber soon if Islam is to survive!