Turkey to the Rescue

Remembering Gaza: Right or left, this is what Israel Delivers:


Turkey Comes to the Rescue Again
Turkey Has Done it Before

The role of Turkey in Islamic history is perhaps unequalled by any other Moslem countries. It is the only non-Arab nation which took on the caliphate and ardently defended the nation against unbelievable odds throughout its history. Under the Seljuks, the Turks became a prominent member of nations that stood up for the defense of Islam and were able to contain the Crusades considerably. Even Saladin, who was responsible for liberating Jerusalem from the Crusades and defeating King Richard the Lion-Hearted after teaching him some etiquette and a few other features of Islamic civilization, was far closer to the Turks than to the Arabs. Actually he was a Kurd, but then most of the Turcomen trace themselves to a Kurdish ancestry anyway. Whatever the case, the important thing to remember is that Islam and Turkey are inseparable and the efforts by the West to have Turkey keep its face turned toward the West proved futile, especially as the Europeans continue to give Turkey the runaround about joining the European Union.
It is really high time we give credit when it is due and for sure the Turks have a lot of credit to be given when considering the millions of lives they gave to the defense of Islam, especially in the four hundred years history of the Ottoman Empire. For sure, the Arabs and most Moslems do not do the Turks justice for not studying the magnificent history of the Ottoman Turks, who not only proved to be superior to most of the European powers throughout most of the period of Ottoman history, when quite often they were able to repel substantial forces of more than one European power as they tried to bring down the caliphate in Istanbul. I have often tried to convince many of the Turkish brothers that, although they have a right to complain about the lack of gratitude, the fact of the matter is that most Arabs do not even know their own history, let alone the glorious history of their brothers. If they did, they would really not be in the hopeless situation they are in now, with Israel thinking it can step on them and treat them anyway it wants to without them raising a whimper. One should recall that the Turks had come just at the right time to rescue the Arab World after the loss of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. While Spain itself could not be saved, the Turks surely were instrumental in keeping the conquistadores from North Africa and the Holy Land, not to mention being able to take Istanbul, whereas the Arabs have never succeeded despite a long history of sieges and assaults.
This observer has taken notice of the current Prime Minister of Turkey when Prime Minister Tayyib (meaning "kind") Erdogan came to Sana'a in late October 2005 (http://www.yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=890&p=opinion&a=1) and the humanitarian gesture he displayed to a sick Sana'ani citizen, during his tour of the Old City of Sana'a then in Ramadan. Needless to say, the history of Yemen and Turkey was not a pleasant one, with Yemen being called the graveyard of the Turks. However, Yemen refused to join with the Allies in World War to fight against the already overtaxed Ottoman Porte. The Imam of Yemen then (Imam Yahya Hamid Al-Din was given a thank you letter from the last Sultan Abdul Hamid for remembering that Moslems should not ally themselves against non-Moslems who are seeking to eliminate Islam.
Back to the present. The importance of recent developments in the Moslem World and elsewhere are beginning to show some important signs of positive developments that simply cannot be ignored. This observer once noted in CS that of all the Moslem countries that are showing rapid development, Turkey, Iran and Malaysia stand out as the leading hope. Iran has just sent out its own built and engineered communications satellite, which it takes all the credit for manufacturing and propelling into space, under the auspices of its very own scientists. This column also predicted long ago that Iran would certainly be a nation to reckon with and should not be viewed as some moronic mullahs as the pro-Israeli western press likes to paint them. As for Turkey, not until the kind Erdogan took the helms have we realized Turkish leaders taking a true fraternal stand against ongoing Zionist aggression. These are indeed refreshing signs after having seen Islam smeared by the extremist elements, who have not shown any favorable stand or even accomplishment for the sake of the Moslem World, except to bring on factional and sectarian strife amongst Moslems throughout the world, which the Moslem World could do well without, not to mention the misrepresentation of real Moslem conduct and practice by their backward and unsubstantiated behavior.