Istanbul
deceived the Turkish nation for three centuries by “not revealing the ex-
tent to which we were separate and different in public and private in our
social relations and actions, acting fanatically to continue our existence
as Dönme.” Because Ottoman society never compelled them to abandon
their separate identity, they never mixed with other Muslims, retaining
their foreignness. Rüştü avoids the subject of Dönme religious belief, but
asserts that following Turkey’s independence, “the hearts and conscience
of people living in the lands that this honored Turkish nation rules from
Edirne to Kars beat in unison and desire only to be composed of those
bearing the ideal of Turkishness.” He asks whether they think it is enough
that five or ten Dönme “publicly mix with Turks, considering it a reli-
gious duty that is incumbent upon them; but as for the remaining ten to
fifteen thousand of you, do you think Turks will endure and suffer a [one
or two words censored by the newspaper] foreigner remaining in the body
of the homeland?” To Rüştü, they are mistaken, for “truly only Turks
have the right to live in this country, no other groups are included in the
discussion.” The reason is clear: “it is the Turks who defended this soil by
irrigating and mixing it with their blood.” Yet during recent events, when
everyone’s hopes were dashed, “sponging parasites like you were occupied
with hoarding your wealth, not even sacrificing a tiny drop of your blood,
nor an insignificant part of your wealth and fortune for the sake of the
homeland and nation.”
Unlike the parasitical Dönme, Rüştü argues, the Turks put their trust
in God, resisting the attack against them from all sides, and defended the
fatherland. Rüştü is outraged that faced with such a lofty scene, Dönme
“are still indifferent, keeping your old traditions and just as in former eras
living as a sponging parasite. But do you still imagine retaining your afflu-
ence and ease without being subjected to any objections being raised and
voiced?” Rüştü then explains why he had traveled to Ankara, the new na-
tion’s capital. Ever since he arrived, he had realized that the representatives
in the Grand National Assembly would be able to fulfill the wish he had
nurtured since he was fifteen years old, namely, the dissolution of Dönme
separateness. He notes how the Grand National Assembly even made a
law concerning wild boars that damage cultivable lands. Consequently,
“do you think that the leaders of the nation, who pay attention to such
minute details, will be able to retain in its breast a mass of foreigners? No
individual who is able to tolerate this any longer has been found or will
be found.” The phrase, “a mass of foreigners in its breast,” is an image of