They called the Ottomans dogs...

Who, you ask?

The Arabs, of course.

Our nation loves the Arabs, right?

But do the Arabs love us?

Throughout history, Arabs have always risen up against the Turks and have constantly been in a state of rebellion. The first Arab Uprising began in 1744 with the Saudis in the Emirate of Diriyah. The rebellion, which started in the middle of the desert on the Arabian Peninsula, grew and turned into looting.

When Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Egypt in 1798, the Saudis did not miss this opportunity, and in 1802, Abdullah bin Saud raided Karbala, that is, the tomb of Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. During the month of mourning, he put more than 2,000 Shiites to the sword. He plundered 200 thousand gold coins from the tomb and looted Najaf.

The Arabs were not satisfied with this. Then they turned to the West; in 1805, they captured Medina. They looted the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi. Meanwhile, the Muhammad Ali dynasty in Egypt had rebelled, and the Arabs saw this as an opportunity as well. A year later, they captured Mecca and closed the Hajj route of the Ottoman Empire. They looted the Turks who were going on the Hajj.

For a long time, the Hajj could not be performed.

However, when Mahmud II ascended to the throne, he sent the sons of Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt to the Hejaz, suppressed the Arab rebellion, and regained control. In 1817, Diriyah was also captured, and the Saudis were eliminated. The Saudi family was captured and sent to Istanbul. The last Saudi Imam was hanged in Istanbul.

But the Arabs did not give up.

They continued their stubbornness and betrayal against the Ottomans. And immediately, they established the Kingdom of Nejd within the borders of present-day Qatar. They captured Riyadh again. They declared that they did not recognize Ottoman rule.

Although the Ottoman State used the Emirate of Jabal Shammar against this rebellion and was initially successful, it could not sustain it. In fact, on the contrary, it caused the Saudi family to lean towards the British, who were occupying Egypt. They formed an alliance.

Subsequently, the Ottoman State appointed Sharif Hussein as the Emir of Mecca.

Later, although Sharif Hussein, the Emir of Mecca, who had been kept under house arrest in Istanbul by Abdul Hamid, was sent to Mecca after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, he did not choose the Ottomans. He chose the British.

He viewed the Constitutionalism that gave him freedom as "infidelity" and the Constitution as a rival to the Quran. The Republic was already a continuation of Constitutionalism.

Immediately after the declaration of the Constitution and the Constitutional Revolution in 1908, a rebellion against the Constitutional Revolution broke out in August in the village of Zliten, Tripoli. Words like "freedom" and "equality" brought by the Constitutional Revolution, which preceded the Republican regime, were not welcomed by the backward Arabs. The Arabs likened the word "freedom" to "anarchy" and did not accept the word "equality" because it included non-Muslims. When tribal leaders also rose up against the state, the young Mustafa Kemal, who was still only at the rank of captain, was assigned to the region alone to suppress the rebellion.

He suppressed that rebellion single-handedly, and that was not all; he also suppressed the rebellion in Benghazi.

In the final period, a rebellion broke out against the crumbling Ottoman Empire, this time in Hejaz-Mecca-Asir. Imam Yahya and Sayyid Idris were the ringleaders of these uprisings. The leader of the region called Asir, between Mecca and Yemen, the Arab Sayyid Idris, went so far as to call the Ottomans "dogs" and was insulting them to such an extent that it was unacceptable.

He expressed that insult in the following letter he wrote to Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti:

"You Italians have descended upon the head of the dog Ottoman as a means of discipline from divine will. (He is referring to the Italian occupation of Tripolitania) These men wanted to bring us new gods that they worship themselves, such as Progress and Civilization. By removing their yoke from our heads, you have done the greatest favor and act of chivalry. All Arabs are with you."

Yes, you heard that right. He says "dog Ottoman," what more can he say.

Now some people have come out and say, "The Republic created Arab hostility," unfortunately. My dear, the Arabs were already hostile to us. They were not friends. They did not like the Ottomans, the Turks, the Republic of Turkey, or the Republican regime.

They always opposed it.

The Turks' love for Arabs is nothing more than one-sided love.

Unrequited Love.

Furthermore, if the Turks think that the Arabs who are currently in our country as immigrants will adapt and assimilate, they are mistaken. Because today, the Arabs even view the National Anthem, which is taught in schools, as a tool of oppression. They express that their own children are being subjected to pressure.

The National Anthem is an Independence Anthem won through the War of Independence and the Republican regime.

Arabs, who have lived in captivity and betrayal throughout history, cannot understand this.

We love and harbor in our midst a group that calls the Ottomans "dogs."

Take it from me; let us be careful...