ARABIAN AWAKENING

TURKISH RULE REJECTED

Reuter’s Agency learns from an authoritative source that it is now quite clear that the Arab race is beginning, not only to awake, but to coalesce. It seems more than likely that we are on the verge of one of those great Arab intellectual movements which have been turning-points in history, both in Asia and in Europe. The Arabs cannot be expected, after being the victims of studied disintegration for 600 years, to have a strong national sense according to European standards, but a sense of race and desire for independence is growing into a menacing factor from the standpoint of the Central Powers, and an immense asset for the Allies. For 600 years it has been the policy of the Turkish tyrants of the Arab people to stimulate tribal, municipal, and political feuds, to support one faction against another, and thus hold the people in subjection. During this period, while Arab vitality and intellect has remained undamaged, the lands inhabited by the Arabs – once countries of civilisation, progress, and culture – have become wastes and an agglomeration of ruins.

But the situation is changing, and old religious and tribal feuds are dying down rapidly, in Syria there is a sense of unity and brotherhood among Arab-speaking peoples such as has not existed since Turkish domination was first inflicted on that now unhappy, but once prosperous, country. Two occurrences have tended to promote this feeling of unity. One is Djemal’s reign of terror at Damascus, where he executed, without mercy, the noblest of the members of the princely families, and, secondly, when the people of Hedjaz, stung to fury by this brutal assault on distant members of their race, proclaimed their independence, and prevailed on the Sherif of Mecca to accept the title of King of the Hedjaz. The Sherif has taken the title of King, and not of Sultan, as Sultan is one of the few Turkish words which the Turks have inflicted on the Arab language. Since the proclamation, King Hussan has formed alliance with other independent rulers of Arabia.