Between Empire and Nation-State
his depression, he is on a mission, and does not have much time. He
writes as quickly as he can in Ottoman script, explaining how after he
fell prisoner with his battalion at Yenice Vardar [Gianitsa, thirty miles
west of Salonika] during the Balkan War, he could not stomach the
newspapers that came into his hands, because they were full of disastrous
and sorrowful news. Accordingly, he stopped reading them. After he was
released and returned to Istanbul, he retired and withdrew from society,
not unlike a Sufi withdrawing into seclusion. He had hoped to pass his
time free of anxiety and care, “but in accordance with the saying of the
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, ‘there is no peace
on earth.’ Even when a person retires and withdraws from the world, he is
never spared from the sorrow, pain, and gloom which he carries within.”^60
But all the anguish he and his fellow soldiers suffered was only part of
the danger of his empire being destroyed. He explains how for someone
like him, such a possibility was even more troubling. What had pained
him most during his imprisonment “was seeing the enemy violate Islam’s
holiness by planting its flag on the dome of the tomb of the [fourteenth-
century] Ottoman warrior Evrenos” in Gianitsa.
“I was overwhelmed thinking of the dagger of defeat that struck the
breast of the mother of the fatherland and the chains of slavery that had
been placed on the neck of her children. I was purposely not reading the
newspapers and completely unaware of events” ( 5 ). But then a few days
ago, “a careless treatise [Dönmeler: Hunyos, Kavayeros, Sazan] concerning
the morals, customs, and piety of the Salonikan Dönme, written with a
poison pen, came into my possession. I was very stunned and saddened
by what I read. As is known, it is necessary that treatises presented to
public opinion and other works serve the public interest and benefit the
fatherland. But it is obvious that a work that hurtfully accuses others of
atheism and immorality brings about harm instead of benefit.”
Humbly, as a loyal officer, he stops and considers again whether it is
appropriate to enter a political debate. He has never enjoyed mixing in
affairs that are partisan or beyond his official duties, he says. Although
he knows that it is not suitable for someone like him, who is only
accustomed to military service, to be thrown into the position of writing
to the public, he also knows that “love of the fatherland arises from faith.”
Without asking anyone’s opinion on this topic, and in order to benefit
all, he decides to write a “modest, measured treatise in order to defend
this group. I hope that my treatise, which explains the group’s devotion
to Islam and excellent moral qualities, will help dispel and remove the
baseless accusations directed at my wronged and injured brothers. With
God’s help.”