Description:
Historical conditions, in one way or another, have made the fates of Arabs and Turks common for more than a thousand years. In this article, rather than discussing how this partnership has developed over time or under what conditions it has emerged, I aim to shed light on the complexities of Arab-Turkish relations by looking at how Arabs perceived Turks at different stages of this relationship.
We cannot say that the changes in the structure of the relationship over time are always shaped according to the balance of power. Sometimes they are seen as "partners" on equal footing, sometimes as "rulers and subjects", and sometimes as "enemy brothers" separated by extremely distant and irreconcilable interests, although history and fate bind them. Especially 1. As a result of the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire after World War II, the rising voices from the Arab lands [Turks] formed the last and most interesting link of this ambivalent relationship.
Let's start with an example from 1291. This is the date when the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil cleared the last Crusaders in Damascus. The poet Shibabu'd-Din Mahmud of Damascus wrote a poem that began with the following verses to this event, which he welcomed with joy:
Alhamdulillah, the flag of the Crusaders fell to the ground,
[Muhammad] El Mustafa's religion was strengthened thanks to the Turks.