The Eastern Question and imperialism-driven terrorism

For many years, Turkey has been waging a struggle against three terrorist organizations, all of which receive open support from imperialism, primarily from the USA. These are the PKK, FETÖ, and ISIS terrorist organizations. All three are under the guidance of imperialism and are fully open to the influence of foreign intelligence services. They are against Turkey's independence, integrity, sovereignty, political unity, and regime, and are in the service of imperialist powers. Even if there are some political and ideological differences between these three terrorist organizations, their strings are held by imperialist centers.

To better grasp the scale of the terrorist attacks against Turkey, one must look back, understand the Eastern Question (Şark Meselesi) well, and never forget that imperialism has never been able to stomach the War of Independence and the subsequent Republic.

We know that the Eastern Question is a term used in the 19th century regarding the fate of the Ottoman Empire. The great powers most interested in the Ottoman Empire at that time stand out as Russia, Britain, France, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After 1871, Germany and Italy were added to these states.

It must be stated that the European diplomatic method, diplomatic understanding, and diplomatic institutions that the Ottoman Empire began to use with a delay in the second half of the 19th century were adopted not only by the compulsion of internal dynamics but also by the pressure of external dynamics. With steps such as the 1839 Edict of Tanzimat, the 1856 Edict of Reform, and the 1876 First Constitutional Era, the Ottoman Empire, which aimed to establish a European-style order, a constitutional monarchy, and a foundation for law, pursued two main goals while taking these steps: The first of these goals was to put an end to the bad course of events within the country, to create an Ottoman nation, to prevent disintegration, and to regain strength. The second was to be accepted as an equal member of the European state system outside the country.

Despite all these efforts, the Ottoman Empire did not achieve the result it hoped for in the steps it took. It could not escape from defeats, from falling into a semi-colonial state, and ultimately from being occupied, partitioned, and erased from the stage of history.

Defeats in wars, poor governance, increasing foreign debts, the high influence of great powers over the state, the weakening of central authority, corruption in the bureaucracy, and increasing central and feudal pressures on the public further weakened the state. Nationalist movements developing among Arabs and non-Muslim subjects in the Ottoman Empire, and demands for independence, grew even stronger. The idea of Ottoman Union (İttihadı Osmanî), the thought of fusing all elements into an Ottoman Nation regardless of their religious, ethnic, or sectarian origins, failed. Some well-intentioned steps taken in this direction did not find a response either. Yet, the Ottoman administrators were truly sincere about this. There were even those who thought of taking extremely radical steps. So much so that Mithat Pasha even considered adding a cross next to the crescent and star on the Ottoman flag to increase the loyalty of the Christian subjects to the state. In addition to all these factors, objective conditions were also against the state.

Therefore, in a process where on one hand a new constitution is being discussed, and on the other hand steps that were not even thought of in past opening processes are being voiced, one must never lose sight of the never-ending games of imperialism over Turkey and the dream of Sèvres that it has never given up.