TNT History Archives: Rendition From Antep to Egypt (1919)/Part IX

 //Ed. note: As the Turkish nationalist movement 

gained strength in Anatolia and met with some 

success there in the summer of 1919, Eyüb Sabri 

Bey took note of the impact this had on the local 

Egyptian  rebels rising up against their English 

occupiers and the effect it had on the English

themselves.//

The ‘Mustafa Kemal’ Effect & Egyptian Rebellion

This made me think that no monster other than the Armenians could 

do such a thing without any pangs of conscience.  I was speechless 

and amazed that heretofore I hadn’t realized the excessive degree of 

the English enmity toward Moslems, despite their persistent talk of 

justice and civilization.  But there can be no stronger lesson for us 

than this and no doubt that the English did these things out of revenge.   

The statements above are evidence enough of this atrocity.  However, 

once Mustafa Kemal Paşa’s organization in Anatolia began, suddenly 

these eye operations ceased and after that anyone who went to the 

hospital came back with both his eyes.  So it was clear that these 

‘operations’ had all been done for vengeance.

Mustafa Kemal Paşa’s organization started in the area of Sivas and 

grew day by day, spreading throughout Anatolia.  This movement had 

the effect of mobilizing the Moslem world, especially in light of the 

attacks and aggression in Izmir.  The Kuva-yı Milliye (National 

Independence Army) created by Mustafa Kemal Paşa to defend 

Turkish territory was widening its purview in both Asia Minor and 

the rest of Anatolia.  In Egypt, the newspapers El-Mukattam and 

Vel-Ahbâr began publishing articles about how this would be deadly 

for English forces in the future.  In fact, El-Mukattam newspaper 

published an article with my picture and noted that this was 

republished in Tan newspaper in Turkey.

Later on we were able to get El-Efkâr newspaper, which defiantly 

published laudatory articles about Mustafa Kemal Paşa and the 

Kuva-yı Milliye.   Each day there were at least a few lines in this 

paper about the heroic actions of the Anatolian organization, Mustafa 

Kemal Paşa, Rauf Bey and others who were known to us.  El-Efkâr 

wrote about how a few train wagons of weapons and ammunition 

being transported away by the English around Erzurum were seized 

by the local populace and put back where they belonged.  The 

English were shocked by this development and the Egyptians were 

enthused by the Turkish courage and bravery, giving them a morale 

boost to their own efforts vis-a-vis the English in Egypt.   The 

Egyptians knew well  the ways of the English after so many years 

bearing up under their treatment and orders and that, in reality, the 

English government was cowardly and merely had the facade of 

power.

The Egyptians were essentially toying with the English.  Despite the 

cannon and airplanes and the machine guns surrounding Cairo, with 

English armies inside and outside the city, the Arab fighters dismissed 

all these threats and kept on working, never taking a step back.  Every 

day they held meetings, gathering and demonstrating at various places 

in the streets, with all the buildings decorated with Ottoman flags.  In 

response, the English roared and lost their composure, raiding houses 

and jailing those who hung the flags. 

Nevertheless, the Egyptians pressed on more determined than before 

to have their voices heard.  The English soldiers in Egypt became very 

fearful of the Arabs, even rebelling a number of times, saying they 

would refuse to fight and demanding their discharges.  The shaken 

English generals sought to, on the one hand, mollify their soldiers, and 

on the other to suppress the Arabs’ ever-expanding and ever-increasing 

activities.  In fact, General Simpson, the commander of all prisoners, 

visited the outposts a number of times to counsel the English soldiers 

and he tried to assuage their concerns by talking of their return to their 

homelands and even promising rewards for some of them.

The Egyptian newspapers wrote about the threats the English were 

feeling from the Egyptian uprising, from the activities of the Anatolian 

organization in our country and from the heroic Afghan Army going as 

far as Baluchistan to pressure the English in India, which was already 

roiling with the Indian Moslems’ independence and Islamic Caliphate 

movements.  The El-Efkâr newspaper came under censorship but this 

was lifted after demonstrations.  At the time I left there, the English 

were trying to appease the Egyptians, giving them more freedoms and 

making promises about the future of the country. 

But given the English history of duplicity, no one trusted these 

proposals and pressed on for nothing less than independence, shouting

“Either Independence or Ottomanism.  Long Live Egypt, Long Live 

Ottomanism, Damnation to Captivity, Damnation to England”.  The 

uprising within Egypt swelled and the flames of the passionate 

movement singed the wings of the English airplanes that fell from the 

sky untouched by cannonballs or rifle fire.  The Egyptians did all this 

without weapons and thanks to their belief in God, they feared nothing.  

//END of PART NINE//