Did the Arab press also lament "200 000 women, girls and children ...forcibly converted to Islam" by al-itihadiyuun?

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Aug 4, 2012 at 11:45

Hi, dhimmi no more !

As always your input is valuable and highly appreciated by me and not only in itself but also because it leads to further interesting questions and insights.

You wrote :

"the trend in the press in Egypt at the time was to blame the German government as being supportive of the Turks"

I just wonder if they remember who had been supportive of the Turks before the Germans assumed that thankless position , say during and after the Bulgarian horrors.

"and it is just an opinion you can take it or you can refuse it but the text really says the following:

1. The Germans (unidentified) were the teachers/sponsors of the Turks in this crime

2. The ones that committed such crime were al-itihadiyuun or الاتحاديون (read this as the Turks) and not the Germans"

If I am not mistaken the term 'al-itihadiyuun' refers to 'members of the Committe for Union and Progress" (in the Osmanic language "İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti") or roughly "Unionists" and as such is far from being synonymous with "the Turks". How many men from the "İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti" were among the peasants that robbed and slaughtered the Armenians in their villages in 1915 or among the savage Kurdish tribes that swooped like hugry vultures upon the wretched treks of the Armenian deportees ?

" 3. That the Turks did not solve the Armenian's problem by creating a state for them

4. But the plan of the Turks was to mahw or محو (and this word means http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&lang_name=%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A&word=%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%88 and here in the meaning in English http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&word=%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%88&lang_name=English which means destruction, expulsion, getting rid of, elimination etc.. and this must have being the word used instead of the Arabic word for genocide which it is http://www.almaany.com/home.php?word=genocide or ibada or ابادة so the author is saying that the Turks were the ones that committed this genocide and it is clear as it can get"

An interesting question that arises here is that of the Arabs' attitude towards the caliph who after all stood behind the 'al-itihadiyuun' and the genocide? Didn't they blame "Allah's shadow on earth" by blaming his faithful servants who were waging formal jihad against the infidels and were Islamizing Turkey by exterminating non-Moslems ? And who did they blame - if they did - for the Greek genocide that was taking place during Kemal's jihad with no "al-itihadiyuun", who had fled the country in a German submarine, any longer ruling the country?

" 5. Then he tells us that there were neutral eye witnesses that witnessed this crime unfolding

I hope I made it clear"

Well, do the Arabs also report what the neutral sources do , e.g. that as of 1918 "200 000 women, girls and children ...forcibly converted to Islam" by al-itihadiyuun" and do they shed any tears over that ? I mean it has always puzzled me when I considered what Moslems had to say about other Moslems , especially when it turns out that it is exactly what they used to do themselves or would gladly do/have done under more favorable conditions (like now in Egypt ). Sorry for this note of incredulous curiosity (and/or cynicism ) on my part but I am a bit wary of Moslem sources on anything. Lying, concealment and half-truths in dar al-Islam are , alas, such a natural and conspicuous thing there which is not limited only to the history of early Islam, you know. ;( It doesn't mean though that the Arab sources on the Armenian genocide are not important to expose the official Turkish lie and denials. Quite the contrary!

Best regards

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