Siyonist Liderin Günlüğünden

Sultan Abdülhamid Han'ın başarılarından biri de İsrail'in kuruluşunu belki 50 sene kadar erteleyen siyasetidir. Siyonist lider Theodor Herzl (m.1860-1904) Filistin'de bir yahudi devletinin kurulması için çok çalıştı. Theodor Herzl, bir çok defa Osmanlı Sarayı'na ve Bab-ı ali hükümetine mektuplar gönderdi. II.Abdulhamid Han ile görüşmesi ve arabuluculuk yapması için Polonyalı aristokrat Newlinski'yi gönderdi. Filistin'de bir cumhuriyet kurmak için izin istedi ve bazı tekliflerde bulundu. Hatta, Osmanlı Devleti'nin bütün borçlarını ödemeyi taahhüd ettiler. Abdülhamid Han, Newlinski'ye şu cevabı verir:

''Eger Bay Herzl, senin, benim arkadaşım olduğun gibi arkadaşın ise, ona söyle bu meselede ikinci bir adım atmasın. Ben bir karış da olsa toprak satmam. Zira bu vatan bana değil milletime aittir. Milletim bu toprakları kanlarını dökerek kazanmışlar ve yine kanlarıyla mahsüldar kılmışlardır. O bizden ayrılıp uzaklaşmadan tekrar kanlarımızla örteriz. Benim Suriye ve Filistin alaylarımın efradı birer birer Plevne'de şehid düşmüşlerdir. Bir tanesi dahi geri dönmemek üzere hepsi muharebe meydanında kalmışlardır. Bu vatan benim değil milletimindir ve onun hiç bir parçasını veremem. Bırakalım yahudiler milyarlarını saklasınlar. Ancak benim imparatorluğum parçalandığı zaman onlar Filistin'i karşılıksız ele geçirebilirler. Fakat bizim cesedlerimiz taksim edilebilir. Ben, canlı bir beden üzerinde ameliyat yapılmasına müsaade etmem.''

Aşağıda Theodor Herzl'in günlüğünden bazı parçalar bulacaksınız. Abdülhamid Han'ın (rahmetullahi aleyh) yukarıdaki sözleri de burada yazılıdır. Fırsat bulunca bunları tercüme etmek niyetindeyim.

***

''The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl, Edited by:Raphael Patai, Translated by: Harry Zohn, New York, 1960''

Önsözünde, Raphael Patai şöyle yazmış:

A hundred years after his birth, fifty-six years after his death,
and twelve years after the realization of his dream in the State of
Israel, Theodor Herzl is universally recognized in Jewish history, and,
in fact, in world history, as the founder of political Zionizm and the
father of the Jewish State. (volume 1, page v)

Herzl'in 1895'den baslayarak 1904'de ölene kadar tuttuğu günlük notları ihtiva eden 4 ciltlik kitapdan bazı parçalar:

March 10, 1896

The Rev. William H.Hechler, chaplin to the British Embassy in Vienna,
called on me.

A likable, sensitive man with the long grey beard of a prophet.
He waxed enthusiastic over my solution. He, too, regards my movement
as a ''prophetic crisis''---one he foretold two years ago. For he had
calculated in accordance with a prophecy dating from Omar's reign(637-638)
that after 42 prophetical months, that is, 1260 years, Palestine would be
restored to the Jews. This would make it 1897-1898.(v.1, p.310)

April 21, 1896

...Thinking of Newlinsky, I said that someone had already offered
to speak with the Sultan.

At that point I set forth the advantages which the project would
bring to the Orient. If Turkey were partitioned in the foreseeable
future, an etat tampon [buffer state] could be created in Palestine.
However, we could contribute a great deal toward the preservation of
Turkey. We could straighten out the Sultan's finances once and for all,
in return for this territory which is not of great value to him.(p.338)

Budapest, May 3, 1896

Dionys Rosenfield, editor of the Osmanische Post of Constantinople,
called on me here.

He offered his services as an intermediary. (...) I told him in a
few words what it was all about. We shall bestow enormous benefits upon
Turkey and confer big gifts upon the intermediaries, if we obtain
Palestine. This means nothing less than its cession as an independent
country. In return we shall thoroughly straighten out Turkey's finances.
(volume 1, page 344)

Vienna, May 7, 1896

Newlinsky came to see me after I had telephoned him.
In a few words I brought him au courant [up to date]. He told me
he had read my pamphlet before his last trip to Constantinople and
discussed it with the Sultan. The latter had declared that he would
never part with Jerusalem. The Mosque of Omar must always remain in
the posession of Islam.

(...) Newlinsky thought that the Sultan would sooner give us Anatolia.
Money was no consideration to him; he had absolutely no understanding
of its value... (v.1, pages 345-346)

June 9, 1896

Newlinsky described his English impressions. People there believe
in the impending downfall of Turkey. No English prime minister can dare
to declare his support of the Sultan because he would have public opinion
against him. There is some thought of making the Bulgarian Prince
Ferdinand, because he is a Coburg, heir to the Turkish Empire. If this
is no diceria [rumor], it is most interesting. Newlinsky thinks the only
salvation for the Sultan would be to make an alliance with the Young Turks
---who in their part are on good terms with the Macedonians, Cretans,
Armenians, etc.---and to carry out the reforms with their help. He said
he had given this advice to the Sultan in a report. Now I said he should
add to this program the fact that he was bringing the Sultan the means
to carry this out, in the form of Jewish aid. Let the Sultan give us that
piece of land, and in return we shall set his house in order, straighten
out his finances, and influence public opinion all over the world in his
favor. (v.1, p.362-363)

June 15, 1896

He came to Baden at nine o'clock, and I asked him to brief me on the
Turkish National debt. While he was explaining to me the status of the
dette publique [public debt], I worked out the financial scheme.
We spend twenty million Turkish pounds to straighten out the Turkish
finances. Of that sum we give two millions in exchange for Palestine,
this amount being based on the capitalization of its present revenue
of eighty thousand Turkish pounds per annum. With the remaining 18 millions
we free Turkey from the European Control Commission. The bond-holders
of Classes A, B, C and D will be induced by direct privileges we shall
grant them---increased rate of interest, extension of the amortization
period, etc.---to agree to the abolition of the Commission.(p.365)

June 18, 1896, Istanbul

Newlinsky is extremely valuable to our cause. His skill and devotion
are beyond all praise. He will have to be given an extraordinary reward.
(...) We arrived in Constantinople yesterday afternoon... (p.370)

June 19, 1896, Istanbul

In the evening Newlinsky returned from Yildiz Kiosk with a long face
and bad news.

He ordered only half a bottle of champagne --- en signe de deuil
[as a sign of mourning] ---and told me in two words: ''Nothing doing.
The great lord won't hear of it!''

I took the blow stout-heartedly.

''The Sultan [Abdulhamid Han] said:

'If Mr.Herzl is as much your friend as you are mine, then advise
him not to take another step in this matter. I cannot sell even
a foot of land, for it does not belong to me, but to my people.
My people have won this empire by fighting for it with their blood
and have fertilized it with their blood. We will again cover it
with our blood before we allow it to be wrested away from us. The
men of two of my regiments from Syria and Palestine let themselves
be killed one by one at Plevna. Not one of them yielded; they all
gave their lives on that battlefield. The Turkish Empire belongs
not to me, but to the Turkish people. I cannot give away any part
of it. Let the Jews save their billions. When my Empire is
partitioned, they may get Palestine for nothing. But only our corpse
will be divided. I will not agree to vivisection.' ''

(...) I was touched and shaken by the truly lofty words of the Sultan,
although for the time being they dashed all my hopes. There is a tragic
beauty in this fatalism which will bear death and dismemberment, yet will
fight to the last breath, even if only through passive resistance.
(vol.1, page 378-379)

Sultan Abdulhamid Han'dan bu cevabı alan Theodor Herzl, gayretlerinden asla vazgeçmeyecek ve 8 sene sonra ölene kadar İstanbul'a defalarca gelecek, çeşitli teklifler yapacak, fakat maksadına kavuşamadan ölecektir.

October 14, 1896; Vienna

Today, I went to see Mahmud Nedim Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador.(...)
I said there is only one salvation for Turkey: an agreement with the
Jews regarding Palestine. In this way the finances could be straightened
out, reforms carried out, and after a restoration of orderly conditions
any foreign intervention could be permanently forbidden...(v.2, p.482)

July 1, 1897

I am thinking of giving the movement a closer territorial goal,
preserving Zion as the final goal.

The poor masses need immediate help, and Turkey is not yet so desperate
as to accede to our wishes.

In fact, there will probably be hostile demonstrations against us
in Turkey in the immediate future. They will say that they have no
intentions of giving us Palestine.

Thus we must organize ourselves for a goal attainable soon, under
the Zion flag and maintaining all of our historic claims.
Perhaps we can demand Cyprus from England, and even keep an eye on
South Africa or America---until Turkey is dissolved...(v.2, p.644)

November 7, 1899; Vienna

[Letter to Nuri Bey, Chief Secretary of Foreign Affairs in Istanbul:]
...It is up to the statesmen of Turkey to understand in time the
advantages that would slip through your fingers. You would not have
the Jewish establishment in Palestine that would have brought you
a great deal of money immediately, then the ordering of your entire
financial situation, a modern fleet, industrial and commercial life,
finally the well-being of the Empire. (v.3, p.884)

November 25, 1899; Vienna

Yesterday Carl Herbst of Sofia was here and made the good suggestion
of having the Young Turks work on the Sultan. In the papers of the
Young Turks we should have the government censured for its carelessness
in not taking up the advantageous offers of the Zionists.(v.3, p.889)

December 27, 1899; Vienna

Nothing from Constantinople, nothing, nothing.
Je me desespere [I am in despair]... (p.898)

Telegram: Galata to Vienna, June 4, 1900

Schlesinger [Herzl's nickname for Arminius Vambery] tried Sultan
day before yesterday, flatly refused....(v.3 p.959)

However, now I am medidating on what our next step could be.
Partir en guerre contre la Turquie [Go off to war against Turkey]?
We are not strong enough in public opinion, either, and have too
many weak spots. (...)

At present I can see only one more plan: See to it that Turkey's
difficulties increase; wage a personal campaign against the Sultan,
possibly seek contact with the exiled princes and the Young Turks;
and, at the same time, by intensifying Jewish Socialist activities
stir up the desire among the European governments to exert pressure
on Turkey to take in the Jews. (volume 3, page 960)

February 17, 1902; Istanbul

...The Sultan [Abdulhamid Han] is willing to open his Empire to all
Jews who become Turkish subjects, but the regions to be settled are to be
decided each time by the government, and Palestine is to be excluded.
The Comp. Ott.-Juive is to be allowed to colonize in Mesopotamia, Syria,
Anatolia, anywhere at all, with the sole exception of Palestine!
A Charter without Palestine! ..(v.3, p.1222)

August 3, 1902; Istanbul

...Their Excellencies Tahsin Bey, H.I.M.'s First Secretary, and
Ibrahim Bey, Dragoman of the Imperial Divan, have done me the honor
of transmitting the following communication:
''The Israelites can be received and settled in the Ottoman Empire
under the condition that they be installed, not together, that is,
dispersed, in the places adjudged suitable by the government, and that
their numbers be fixed in advance by the government. They will be invested
with Ottoman citizenship and charged with all the civic duties, including
military service, as well as being subject to all the laws of the land
like Ottomans.'' ... (v.4, p.1340)

February 24, 1904; Vienna

Yesterday I had a most curious visitor: ''Ali Nuri Bey, Ex-Consul
General de Turquie,'' it said on his card. (....)

His proposal, which he made me in my house between 9:30 and 12:30
yesterday, comes to this: Sail into the Bosporus with two cruisers,
bombard Yildiz, let the Sultan flee or capture him, put in another Sultan
(Murad or Reshad), but first form a provisional government---which is
to give us the Charter for Palestine.

A novel or an adventure?

The two cruisers will cost 400,000 pounds, the rest 100,000 pounds.
The whole stroke would cost half a million pounds. If it fails, we would
have lost the money and the participants their lives.

All this presented quite coolly and calmly, like an offer to buy a
load of wheat. He said he would make the voyage and go ashore himself.
The scheme could be carried out with a thousand men. Preferably
during the Selamlik.

The cruisers would pass through the Dardanelles at night and could
bombard Yildiz by morning. (v.4, p.1615)

March 22, 1904; Vienna

I have sent Kahn [a rabbi and Zionist] and Levontin [a Russian Zionist]
to Constantinople.

If they return bredouille [empty-handed], there will follow Tell's
second arrow: Ali Nuri. (v.4, p.1619)


Hazırlayan: Murat Yazıcı