TNT History Archives: The Paper Trail from China to Europe Via Andalusia

türkçe links to original Turkish article by Prof. Dr. Ural Akbulut

(Milliyet Newspaper, 28 June 2019)

Prof. Bloom's PDF click here for the entire story.

BBC History  click here for Muslim Spain (711-1492)

                                          The Paper Trail

Paper - one of the most important discoveries that accelerated
knowledge accumulation and diffusion and technology development
by facilitating the sharing of information.

It is known that paper was invented in China but most sources relate
that it spread first from China to Europe and from there to the rest
of the world.  However, there is no source that confirms when and
by whom paper was transferred to Europe.  Prof. J.M. Bloom's
research proves that the secret of paper went from China to Baghdad
during the Abbasid period, and from there accross the Mediterranean
Sea to the Umayyads in Andalusia, in today's southern Spain.



So paper reached Europe a few hundred years after paper books had
been written in Samarkand, Baghdad, Damascus and Andalusia.
The first paper archeologists found was a map drawn on paper in
China in the period 179-141 B.C., but the first document that revealed
the making of paper was written by Cai Lun in 105 A.D.  Cai Lun
was an inventor who was a chief eunuch in the palace in China. He
explained that paper was made from the bark of mulberry trees,
old cloth, hemp remnants and old fish nets.  The wet material was
beaten for days with a mallet and the result was paper.

Before paper, writing in China was done on wood, bamboo or white
silk.  But wood and bamboo were cumbersome to work with, while
silk was expensive.  Consequently, not many books were written
in China until the disovery of paper, after which China had more
books than all of the countries in the West. 


The battle between the Abbasids and Chinese at Talas, center.

In the year 751 A.D. the Abbasids won a battle against the Chinese
Emperor Xuanzong's army at the Talas River in today's Kyrgyzstan.
It is known that the Abbasids learned about the secret of paper-making
from two Chinese prisoners and that paper had reached Korea and
Japan 150 years earlier.  Paper production by the Abbasids began in
Baghdad and subsequently in Damascus in 800 A.D., in Cairo in 950
A.D., Carthage in 1050 and then in Andalusia.

As of the year 800 A.D., the Abbasids had Syriac and Jewish
translators translate the works of Greek philosophers.  The best known
scholars came together in Baghdad and, thanks to paper, thousands of
scientific books were written.  In Europe at that time, physics,
chemistry, mathematics and medicine were still undeveloped.  Later,
the books of scholars like İbn-i Sina, El Jabir and El Harezmi were
translated into Latin and European languages over the centuries and
used in European universities.

The number of books written by scientists supported by the Abbasids
and the Andalusian Umayyads surpassed the number of books in
China by 1150 A.D.  The technique for producing paper passed
from the Andalusian Umayyads  to Europe via Spain.  Paper began
to be produced in Italy in 1268, in France in 1328, in Poland in 1491,
in England in 1494, in Russia in 1578 and in America in 1690.

The number of scientific books in Europe increased dramatically
after the invention of the printing press.  The works of scholars like
W. Gilbert,  Galileo, Newton and Lavoisier gave direction to science
the world over.  The first science academy was established in
Germany in 1652 and after the first scientific journals began to be
published in Germany and France in 1665, European countries
became the center for science and technology.

 
              Andalusia is on the Iberian peninsula, at far left.
 

'Honor Killing' Exposed 7 Years Later

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 30 June 2019)


                          

On 5 January 2013, a shepherd's dog found a human foot sticking out
of the ground at the Çataltaş location near the entrance to Taburlar
village in Ankara's Elmadağ district.  The Gendarmerie determined
that the body was that of a 25-year-old woman and had been buried 8
months before.  There were 8 stab wounds in the body, from which
DNA samples were taken before the body was buried in a potter's
field.

Seven years later, in April 2019, a conscience-stricken witness came
to the Serinyol Gendarmerie Outpost in Hatay and was given the
codename "elma" (apple).  The secret witness related that "by order
of a family council, in 2012 Halime Akça was stabbed to death by
her older brothers Abdulşükür and Abdulmelik Akça, along with
cousins Burhan and Kasım Akça.  Halime's body was brought to
a place in Elmadağ that I didn't know about and buried there.  I've
been tortured by my conscience for 7 years.  She's in my dreams
every night. Halime's last moments won't ever leave me."

After "Elma"'s deposition, Halime's father Abdulrezzak Akça, her
brother Abdulmelik and cousins Burhan and Kasım Akça were
taken into custody, while her other brother Abdulşükür fled. DNA
samples taken from Halime's parents provided a match that
confirmed Halime's identity. 

Abdulrezzak Akça and his son Abdulmelik were indicted, along
with Burhan and Kasım Akça, who are still underage, for "killing,
with extreme suffering, a relative for the sake of 'family honor'."
Another witness, A.A., testified that "thinking that Halime had
gone astray, her older brothers killed her.  Everyone in the family
knew about it but would not talk about it." 

Witness N.S. testified that "Halime was in a relationship that her
family did not approve of so, based on her father's order, her
older brothers killed her.  I know that after killing and burying
Halime, her brother Abdulrezak said to his father 'it's over, I've
done it.'  Father Abdulrezzak then bemoaned tearfully that 'I
would have dressed my daughter in a wedding gown.'"

TNT History Archives: American Scolds Britain's Islam Policy (1921)/Part II

//Ed. Note: In this part, the unnamed American official 
expresses his outrage at Britain's policies and 
machinations vis-a-vis the Arabs and the Jews.//



The Arabs and the English

An article was published in Egypt in the pro-English 

newspaper “El-muazzam” on 7 October 1920, in which it was 

stated that when Turkey entered the Great War the English 

saw the chance to separate the Arabs from the Caliphate and 

realize this long-held goal of theirs.  As a consequence, Mr. 

Lawrence, one of the English Orientalists, was sent to Mecca 

with a significant amount of materials.  Based on a secret 

agreement made between Lawrence and Şerif Hüseyin, it 

was promised that Şerif Hüseyin would become the Arab 

sultan, prompting Şerif Hüseyin and his son Faisal to revolt 

to achieve the Arabs’ separation from the Turks. 

                        British soldiers in Iraq

Propagandists were sent  secretly to Syria and Iraq  to 

ostensibly promote independence but subconsciously to 

induce the populations to favor dependence on, and 

occupation by, the English.  These propagandists were placed 

in the assemblies and among the people in both Syria and Iraq 

and made pronouncements favoring the English.  In this way, 

under the pretext that the English were the Arabs’ friend, a 

portion of the Arabs were seduced to this idea.  The English 

had a number of influential individuals in Syria and Iraq write 

letters to England filled with praise for the English and 

concocted pleas to have England help the people in their quest 

for  independence.  

Yet, similar promises of independence have been made to the 

people of Egypt and India for years without realization.  In 

truth, those in the pro-English shadow administrations may 

promise the people independence but not even in Ireland, 

where the English and the Irish are both Christians and white, 

has this come to pass because of the distinction over 

Protestantism and Catholicism that has put them at odds. 

Nevertheless, forgetting all the historical examples of 

England’s famous tricks and deceits, the Arabs have broken 

off their long-time ties of religion and relations with the Turks, 

letting the English succeed in breaking up the world of Islam!  

In addition, in return for billions the English government 

received from the Jews during the Great War, they made a 

second secret agreement with the European Jews to give them 

Palestine for a Jewish homeland.  A third secret agreement was 

signed to allow the French to have Syria.  Yet, despite all these 

dishonest and underhanded actions, the English are not the 

least bit ashamed!   

 The Partition of Arabia

After the English won the Great War and achieved their goals 

and aims, in accordance with the agreement they signed with 

the Jews, they turned over sacred Moslem areas like Jerusalem, 

Nablus, Haifa, Jaffa, Akka, Nasiriye, Safed, Gaza and Arbeş to 

the Jews.  Then they gave Damascus, Aleppo and Beirut to the 

French.  Iraq became an English colony and special possession.  

As a result of the English giving Jerusalem to the Jews in 

connivance with the Christians, the Moslems have staged a 

number of uprisings against the English and the Jews.  And all 

the newspapers in Arabia and the Arab countries have begun to 

denounce these deceitful acts aimed at the break-up of Arabia.  

Right now, Arabia has become a place of hell and an ocean of 

blood!!

The War in the Arabian Peninsula

According to an issue of the “El Hakike” newspaper in Beirut, 

Şerif Hüseyin was completely aware of what happened to Syria, 

Iraq and Palestine, which were sacrificed to the English 

government’s  tricks and deceitful acts.    Hüseyin realized that 

besides Mecca and Medine, where he held sway, he had nothing 

else so he nourished hopes of secret initiatives against the 

English in Arabia.  However, the English became aware of 

Hüseyin’s plans and incited İbn ul Suad of Necd to destroy 

Hüseyin’s goal.  Emir İbn ul Suad defeatd İbnurReşid’s forces 

near Medain Salih and El Juni and subsequently defeated Şerif 

Hüseyin’s men in a battle around Ta’if.   Seeing his 

predicament and fearing the loss of all of his remaining lands, 

Şerif Hüseyin sought support from the English.  But now that 

all of the Arabian peninsula has become an English colony the 

Arabs all long for the past.                              

     

The English Goal With Regard to Islam

This is taken from the last issue in February of the “İslam” 

newspaper published in Calcutta, India:  Hey, Moslems. Hey, 

easterners and Indian citizens, Gladstone,  one of the most 

famous proponents of the goal the English are pursuing against 

us, gave a speech in the House of Lords, saying that “as long as 

the Kur’an is on the face of the Earth, there will be no peace in 

the world.”  Gladstone’s goal was the destruction of the Islamic 

world and the great mosque.   But Muhammed Ali Jinnah

and Gandhi, along with similar stalwart jihadis, perceived the 

English goal and put up a wall against it.  And the Califate in 

Istanbul, Islam’s greatest point of support, has not stinted in 

providing help.  Let us see, when will the English statesmen 

will be able to correct this crooked policy?

Islam and Eastern Revolts

Whoever examines the newspapers published in Europe, 

Egypt, India, Anatolia, Afghanistan and Turkistan, will see 

there is a great revolt underway in those countries, as well as 

in Arabia and in the Moslem countries of Russia.  By 

threatening England and the West, these flames found in 

the Kur’an will liberate Islam.  We are seeing that: in Egypt

the Coptics and the Moslems are united in their revolts and 

uprisings to rid their country of the English.  Similarly, all 

over Palestine the Moslems and Christians have joined 

together to free themselves from the English and the European 

Jews.  In India, the Hindus and Moslems have united for the 

first time in India’s history by rising up and fighting against 

the English in the north and east of the country.   And with 

one voice the clergy is saying “İndependence! The Great 

Mosque!, Islam!, the Caliphate!”  Together they want to free 

themselves from the hands of darkness that are pulling the 

East and their countries towards tragedy, by attacking the 

English! 

I offer this sentence  from an article in the New York Times 

entitled “The Islamic Nation and English Policy”, written by 

Dr. (name left blank), a former American cabinet secretary:  

“As the result of the outrage and uprisings in Egypt, India, 

Anatolia and Russia, along with the rest of the East, the East 

and Islam will be liberated.  When that happens justice will 

have found its place and mankind will be saved from 

servitude.”

      

Istanbul and Lloyd George

In issue number 13533 of the Paris newspaper “Sefudupari”, 

dated 5 September 1921,  an article entitled “Lloyd George’s 

Policy” was published: “With the idea of having the entire 

world submit to their will through their avarice and 

covetousness, the English, in the aftermath of the Great War 

even subjected their ally France to their tricks and deceits. 

They have put their feet up on their islands to take a rest while 

they watch everyone else weaken and exhaust themselves in 

endless wars.  The English want to erase all the Moslems from 

the face of the Earth and, in thier voracious greed, even want 

to acquire Istanbul and the Straits.  Lloyd George invented this  

intrigue of pursuing the idea of giving Istanbul to Greece, and 

by having his puppet “Dwarf” Greeks there he would bring it 

under his sway.”  

In another sentence, though, it is stated that “Lloyd George 

will never succeed with the occupation of Istanbul because 

300 million Moslems cannot be destroyed by Istanbul’s 

occupation.  On the contrary, if Lloyd George continues in 

being insistant and obstinate, the flames that rise from 

Üsküdar to the waters of Australia and envelope all his 

colonies will reach his own doorstep and we won’t send our 

firemen to put out the blaze!!"

//END of PART II//

TNT Father's Day Edition II: The Forgettable Dad

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 28 June 2019)

one worth remembering...another, not so much :(



                                Dr. Gülnar Yılmaz, R.I.P.


In Balıkesir, Mustafa Ali Yılmaz (67) put a GPS device in the car of
his daughter Dr. Gülnar Yılmaz (28), tracked her down and when she
wouldn't tell him where her mother (his estranged wife) was, Yılmaz
shot Gülnar hanım 11 times, killing her.

The incident occurred yesterday at the Hamasçakılı location in
Balikesir's Havran district.  Dr. Gülnar hanım, who works in the
emergency room at Akdeniz University in Antalya, drove her car
to Balikesir to prepare for a medical exam.  Her father Mustafa Ali
Yılmaz has a market shop in Izmir, where he lives apart from his
wife, and he had previously put the GPS device in his daughter's
car.


                Fellow inmates should make him a mummy.

After tracking Dr. Gülnar hanım to Havran, Yılmaz rear-ended her
car, which then hit a road barrier and stopped.  Yılmaz took his
daughter to his own car and demanded to know where his wife
was.  When Dr. Gülnar wouldn't tell him Yılmaz shot her 11 times.
Yılmaz fled but was captured by the Gendarmerie and brought to
court.


Havran district is near Edremit in far western Balıkesir 
province.

TNT POW Reports: Turks in Greek Hands (1920-1923)/Part XIV

//Ed. Note. This POW vividly relates the brutal torture he
experienced at Kütahya for 10 months, before being sent
to the White Fortress in Salonica, court martial in Greek-
occupied Edirn and on to Athens and the island of Crete.//

a similar report click here for Part X of this series, about
an Ottoman Gendarmerie officer imprisoned by the Greek
army in Gemlik.


The writer battled pro-Greek bandits around Keles, southeast
of Bursa, and was imprisoned at Kütahya.

The statement of Firuz Bey, who was at the Keles area command:

From the time I was assigned to the Keles area command I endeavored to 
perform my leadership duties and with my team I worked in the Kocaeli region.
  
I was engaged in a clash with about 300 rebels who had been assembled by 
Tavşanlılı Kabakçı Salih Efe, who served Greek interests, and Topal Saaduddin, 
a well-known bandit from Işıklar village in Orhaneli.  An 8-hour battle ended 
with me being taken prisoner.  Our arms were bound as the rebels took us to 
Kütahya.  

On 26 September 1921 they delivered me to the Greek occupation command.  
After we were all thoroughly beaten with rifle butts  they stripped me and put 
me in jail.  On the second night of my incarceration I was brought to the HQS 
and beaten non-stop for 3 hours.  From where I was I could hear bitter cries of 
“God help me!” from someone being beaten with a club.  I began to count the 
number of blows and after reaching 700, I asked who was that was being 
beaten by watch-stander Kurşunlulu Petro.  My friends told me they were 
Dağıstanlı Mehmed and Bursalı Osman.  


After Kütahya, this POW was sent to Salonica (Thessaloniki), left,
Dedeağaç (Alexandroupoli), right - on the shore, and then to Edirne,
upper right.


Every night I was beaten by the guards to the point where I could neither stand 
nor sit.  All I could do was lean against the wall and accommodate myself to the 
cold of the stone dungeon.  Midnight passed.  Following the sound of the bat 
blows, I heard a very bitter and soul-rending voice.  Even as the voice gradually 
diminished and became silent, the blows continued with all their violence.  A 
little later the hatch of the dungeon opened and something was thrown onto 
the  floor.  Then the hatch closed again.   My marrow froze and my jaw locked 
from fright. I couldn’t see who it was in the dark but I assumed that the poor 
fellow was dead.  Two hours later this unfortunate came to and began to moan 
deeply.  I later found out that he was Kütahyalı Değirmenci Bekir.  Both he and 
his son-in-law had been beaten all night.  

As the light seeping in through the spaces in the corridors  signaled  the happy 
news that there was a break in the torture, I was able to see the blood from 
Bekir collecting on the ground.  He could not speak. He could only moan.  I 
dragged  myself over to him.  Battered in front and back, this victim of cruelty 
had been cut up all over.  The blood that flowed continually from a cut on his 
foot made by a ‘kasatura’ knife, began to coagulate.  My efforts to stem the 
bleeding with my depleted body went for nought.  Soon, 4 Greek soldiers came 
down to the cellar and took poor Bekir out by his bloody arms.  Since there 
were no beatings during the day, our agitation diminished until evening but, 
with the darkness, the time of calamity for us came again.  

The nights seemed to stretch on like years, with the deathly silence broken 
only by the moans of the tortured.   The dawn that awakened everything 
allowed the bodies battered by blows  to lie upon the broken up stone floor 
that was soiled with blood.   One night a dead victim was thrown down next to 
me and I learned that it was Raiders Commmander Captain Osman.  After lying 
next to me for half an hour, his body was moved to an unknown place.   I 
remained in this torture chamber for 60 days.  I must mention my companions 
in this tragedy, Hoca Ahmed Hulusi Efendi from Turgut and Halil Efendi from 
Crete.  Hulusi Efendi was blinded in one eye from a blow and both of Halil 
Efendi’s arms were left crippled.  


  The POW's horrific journey continued to Athens and Crete.


During the 10 months I stayed in Kütahya the situation for my co-religionists was 
quite horrific, as our bodies were continually ripped from being beaten with barb 
wire.   Subsequently, I was transported to Bursa and 2 months later to Salonica.  
I cannot describe the torture I experienced along the way and in Beyaz Kale 
(White Fortress) up until 25 September.  While I was being transported to court 
martial in Edirne, I was attacked by deserters and guards who wanted to kill me.  
I was only saved because of the intervention of a Bulgarian soldier.  At the 
Dedeağaç station they killed a Moslem and at the Sofulu station beat one of 
our co-religionists to death as they looted two wagons of melons.  In Edirne I 
was held for 5 days with 84 people in a 10-person room, without light or air. 
Nor were we given food or water.  There were two gas cans for us to relieve 
ourselves but the putrid smell caused many, many to pass out.  On the sixth 
day we were taken to Mora Yenişehir and after staying there for a while we 
went to Lucia camp (Athens), and subsequently we were transported to Kandia 
town on Crete.  

//END of PART XIV//