'The Turkish and Pan-Turkish Ideal by Tekin Alp' [‎22v] (49/58)

42
CHAPTER VII
THE IDEALISTS
It is indeed no easy (but therefore all the more noble) task to give
a common spirit and common national soul to all Turks. An ideal is
an idea which may come to fulfilment at any moment. The ideal is the
most distant point on the mental horizon of a nation, and every step
taken towards it means a very real progress.
The raising, of a nation depends not only upon the presence of an
ideal, but also upon the co-operation of idealists who are ready to devote
all their strength, and even their lives and fortunes, to its attainment.
As we have seen before, the Turkish nation is in no wise lacking in such
idealists. A convincing proof of this may be gained by a close study of
the persons holding the highest positions in the Government. These men
have never ceased for a moment to work with utter self-abnegation for
the good of the nation. The life of these men is a shining and encouraging
example to the youth of the country. Observers who, like myself, are
Macedonians, and, like myself, had ample opportunity of gaining an
intimate knowledge of the Irredentist propaganda of the Bulgarians
Greeks, Serbians, and Vlachs, are able to judge the significance of this
striving after a national ideal, and how sweet and inspiring it is to go
through the greatest dangers for such a cause. This is best illustrated
by a few living examples.
First let us take the case of a young Bulgarian. He came of a wealthy
amily and was therefore pampered and indulged in every possible way
y his parents. Up to the age of 30 he studies at the University. Does
he then move to a luxuriously appointed laywer’s office in Salonica
surrounded by all the most modern comforts ? No ! His office is in the
mountains, his desk is a rock, his pen a gun and dagger, and his clients
urkish gendarmes and Greek robber bands upon whom he passes sen
tence of death without much ceremony.
Another illustration. The young man has studied medicine in a
European University, and returns home with his doctor’s degree Will
he now declare war on the microbes and the thousands of diseases which
assail human life ? No, indeed ! He wanders, armed to the teeth, from
village to village, from mountain to mountain, dispensing out his only
medicine, those death-dealing blue pills, to all the opponents of his ideal,
and even to those of his own countrymen who do not share his ideas.
A third picture is afforded by a professor of the highest philosophical
attainments. Does he establish a centre of training in Athens, Bucharest
Sofia or Belgrade ? No, again ! In secluded villages such as Grebena
an Dikvesh, &c., he instils the Irredenta principles into the minds of
the village children, and prepares them to sacrifice life and fortune for
this ideal.