Viewpoints of late Ottoman and Early Republican elite on Syria

The Arab Spring encouraged the acedemic circles in Turkey to start a retrospective controversy about Early Republican political approach towards the Middle East. Many scholars argued that Turkey had turned its back on the Middle East and decided to remain indifferent to political developments in that region. This study aims to discuss the consistency of these arguments in historical terms by analyzing viewpoints of seven prominent political figures on the region known as Syria or Greater Syria (Bilad-Al-Sham) which was the heartland of Arab provinces in Ottoman Empire. The historical period between 1908-1939 has been chosen in order to understand continuities and changes in viewpoints towards Bilad-Al-Sham at the transition from Ottoman Empire to Turkish Republic. Since there is a lack of historical research presenting comperative analysis of different viewpoints on Bilad-Al-Sham, this study aims to make a contribution to the field of Turkish foreign policy towards Syria from a different perspective. The outstanding political figures of Late Ottoman and Early Republican period are Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın, Falih Rıfkı Atay, Refik Halid Karay, Halide Edib Adıvar, Yusuf Akçura, Mehmed Akif Ersoy and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk whose viewpoints on Bilad-Al-Sham has been elaborated in this study. In order to present their opinions related to that subject, collected data from several newspaper articles, memoirs and biographies have been analyzed within the framework of the political conditions of different historical periods. This study reveals the widespread misreading about Early Republican political approach towards Syria by suggesting the close interest of political elite especially in independence and modernisation of Bilad-Al Sham countries during the Early Republican years.