'The Turkish and Pan-Turkish Ideal by Tekin Alp' [‎23r] (50/58)

43
During the last few years the prisons of Salonica and Monastir have
been filled with a curious class of men. The dark dungeon cells do not
hide thieves or ordinary criminals, but chiefly doctors, lawyers, professors,
and similar idealists.
The mountains and fields of Macedonia hold hundreds of graves of
such men as these. The rivers Vardar and Struma have been reddened
by the blood of thousands of these idealists. The men may die, but the
ideal is immortal. It is ever brought closer to realization by the death
of these men.
Will the Young Turks emulate the self-sacrifice of these men ? Or
will they rather, on leaving the University, seek as their one object in life
an official or similar position in Constantinople or Smyrna or one of the
larger towns in the kingdom, without troubling about the needs of their
Fatherland, which demands so many young lives ? They know the
road, and the goal towards which it leads. They know also that this
goal cannot be reached but by sacrifice of blood and fortune. But they
know best of all that the Fatherland needs them and that the nation is
calling.
CHAPTER VIII
THE TURKS OF AZERBAIJAN
There are many different kinds of countries which form a fruitful
ground for the development of the national ideal. In some places ordinary
propaganda is sufficient, but in hotly contested territory recourse is
made to the more violent measures which were used in Macedonia.
The neighbouring land of Persia is without doubt the best of all
countries with Turkish population for spreading the new ideas, and it
has been found that simple propaganda is amply sufficient to produce
a satisfactory effect on this fruitful soil. One-third of the whole popula
tion of about ten millions is of Turkish blood.
It can quite clearly be seen to-day that the destiny of the Persian
State is closely bound up with that of Turkey. Russia and England, who
saw the decline of Turkey, and tried to bring about her final downfall
as quickly as possible, were also united on the subject of the complete
partition of Persia. They did not even take the trouble to hide this
intention. A victory for the Triple Entente would seal Turkey’s fate,
and the inevitable result would be the fall of Persia.
The material interests of these two countries, which are exposed to
the same danger, are therefore closely bound together; indeed, they are
almost identical. The maintenance of Turkey is a guarantee for that of
Persia, just as, in the opposite case, the strengthening of Persia is a pro
tection against a Russian invasion of Turkey.
These two Mohammedan States are obliged to defend their lives against
Russian attack. It is true that this natural, and indeed necessary,
F 2