Evening star., 1941-10-01
Arabs See Salvation
In British Victory
Writer Tells How Peoples
Of Near Eost Countries
Favor Democracy
By PHILIP w. IRELAND.

University. He has an intimate
knowledge OF the Near East, hauinq
taught at the University OF Beirut,
and haping travelled extensively in
the East during the past Is years)
The growing battle for control of the
Near East is of major Importance, al
most as important as the battle for
Britain and the battle for the Atlantic
phases in the larger battle for democ-
racy. The areas-Turkey, Syria, Pales-
tine, Iraq-aTe vital, not merely because
of their wealth of oil and raw materials
but also because they are the land and
air bridges to the Suez Canal. to the
Persian Gulf and to India. How do the
peoples of the Near East stand in re-
gard to this desperate battle for democ-
racy?
The aim of the Turkish Republic has
been democracy. Never, as under the
Nazis or the Fascists, has democracy
been ridiculed. Mustafa Kemal, or
Ataturk, as he was best known to the
Turks, once declared, mo country is
free unless 1t Is democratic; and, de-
spite the fact that he gathered most of
the reins of government into his own
hands, Ataturk worked for democracy.
Turkey has trained for democracy and
for democratic methods-in the schools.
in the elections. where peasants and
townspeople alike have been taught the
how and why of voting, in the govern
ment newspapers and moving pictures.
OF course, democracy is far from real
lied in Turkey. Ataturk said. "Democ-
racy does not ripen overnight. Never
theleSs, we must move in that direc-
tion." In spite Of his impatience, in
spite of his contempt for incompetence,
in spite of his assumption of all power
he never lost his original objective. And
therein lies the difference between
Ataturk and the other dictators: he
recognized the eventual ability of the
masses to direct their own destinies
He said on more than one occasion,
Give me a little more time and then
you can manage affairs for yourselves" ="
1t is precisely because the democratic
system and all that it implies has not
yet been achieved in Turkey that most
Turks are opposed to the Nazis and their
system.
Among all classes in Turkey the
alliance with Great Britain was gen.
timely popular when it was signed. To-
day, Notwithstanding the difficulties
which face Great Britain, it is to Eng
land and America that Turkey turns.
The United States is becoming more
and more the hope of Turkey. This
country, for a number of reasons, has
always had special and high place in
Turkish opinion
The outcome of the present diplo-
matte battle for Turkey is unpredictable.
A group friendly to the Nazis does exist
in Turkey, in the army, foreign service,
and civil service. The debacle in Yugo-
slavia and Greece has strengthened that
party. Germanys Ambassador to Tur-
key is Won Papen, German saboteur in
the United States during the last war,
who since has assisted in the destruction
| of the Weimar Republic and the Aus
| trian Republic. Won Papen has not been
idle. Turkey is essential to Nazi Ger
many If it is to consolidate Its drive to
the East. Yet, if the wishes of the rank
and file of the Turkish people are con-
suited, Turkey will remain true to her
/ ties with Great Britain.
To turn to the Arabs: How do they
stand in this battle for democracy?
| Divergent currents are apparent among
these 100000 people of the Arabian
| peninsula. Yet most of them stand in
nf tho for tIh.nIo
| Britain is fighting.
The Arabs essentially are individual
lists, feeling the call of custom, tradi-
! ton and ideas more strongly than the
authority of single leaders, although
! they never have been immune to power
and leadership. Within limits they are
democratic. When the muezzin gives
the call to prayer from minaret, shaikh
| and Bedouin, merchant and beggar,
scholar and water-carrier rub elbows as
| they perform the prescribed rites.
| Tribal disputes are settled in time
| honored councils. The linking of in
| dependence and the democratic system
| by Woodrow Wilson was accepted as
natural by Arab nationalists at the end
| of the last war.
Neither Hitler nor Mussolini appeal
to the Arabs. Their records are against
them. Arabs remember that in Libya,
where Mussolini proclaimed himself
Protector of Islam" Moslems decreased
from 100000 to 100000 in less than a
| generation of Italian rule Arabs can
not forget Ethiopia and Albania Nor
can they be blind to the Nazi record in
| ho-Slovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia.
They cannot forget the low place as
signed to the Arabs in "Mein Kampf"
Basically, the Arabs, and least of all
the extreme nationalists, have no desire
to acquire the heavy hand of the Axis
in exchange for British or French over
lordship A number of leaders, however,
as in Iraq, believing that independence
is never granted but always taken, see
in the present difficulties of Great Brit
ain the opportunities to achieve full in
dependence. They argue, as do many of
their counterparts in America and Eu-
rope, that Germany is far away and in
any case has no designs on them. They
are willing to accept any help, German
help, even help from the devil himself,
as some have expressed it, if such aid
will rid Arab lands of the last vestiges
of foreign control. Their past griev-
ances against Great Britain, France and
| the Zionists loom SO large in their minds
that they forget that the cure may be
worse than the disease.
| These sentiments as has already heen