wow, gr8 pics
btw i agree that the movement of young turks and secularization of ottoman empire was the turning point, and this is one reason why the arabs revolted against them, so actually, it was the fault of both the sides which resulted in the bloody war between the brothers.
There is no secularisation of Ottoman Empire. There is secularisation of Turkish Republic. And this is not a "there is no religion" thing. At the same time withj secularism many academical level researches and wokrings started about Qur-an. For example first Turkish "meal(translation is not a effective word here)" and tefsir(explanation) is written and these works are paid by Ataturk's own personal savings. 10000 meal of Qur-an and tefsir copies pressed at the first stage and sent to imams of many mosques all over the country. Then hadis workings started, kuttub-i sitte and buhari is translated into Turkish.(elhamdurillah)
I can say many things about these, but that is enough i think: "Dont believe everything you heard about us." I cannot say there no faults done, but what is need to be done is done. Those were very hard times.
If we talk about Arabs; this incident is not about religion. English spies worked on them, paid to them and Arabs joined their cause. They fought against us.
There were no secularation at that time. And this is not about Islam. Arab's betrayal is not acceptable in Islam, because Dar-ul Islam was invaded by western(christians) powers, England was the leader and Arabs were became best allies of England.
How can you explain a muslim community is helping invasion of Dar-ul Islam by christians? (secularism? there were no secularism at that time. And if secularism was accepted at tose days, would it make a differance? It doesnt change these territories are dar-ul islam.)
I dont blame Arabs, but some leaders are to be blamed in them. They said "Khalif(halife we say) is imprisoned, England will help us to save the khalif." Many of them believed that, unfortunatly. This is a simple example, there are hundreds of examples. (What is done is done, both we Turks and Arabs, even all muslims must learn something from these faults.)
By the way; there is a very important thing i have to say:
Ottoman Empire never collapsed. Its regieme is changed. Turkish Republic
is OTTOMAN EMPIRE! All debts are accepted as our debt and paid by TR, all pacts and agreements are continued.
In international politics only our name changed, in internal politics only our regieme changed. Yes, this is a huge change but still the same country, still the same people. (A tip: Think about why the real "black flag(siyah sancak)" is protected by Turkish Armed Forces, and what is it!)
Exactly .The ottoman empire was the last muslim empire.The period between the 10th century and 1900 was the golden period of Islam.
But its natures rule that every thing that goes up will come down one day.
Golden period was the "asr-i saadet", time of Hz. Muhammed Mustafa(sav). Not our time.