Political Quotes

“I am not sure whether we are here to set foreign policy or we are here to have a history lesson, but we are getting quite a history lesson today. Others will talk about the negatives of the Ottoman Empire, without question, but there are some other things that are left out in the discussion. For example, when we are told about the Nazi regime and the current German Government, if we looked at a map of Germany before and after the war, it would look fairly similar. If we looked at the Ottoman Empire before and after, we would not see anything that was even close. The Ottoman Empire included Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and many other territories. The Ottomans chose the wrong allies in World War I. Their enemies, who were our allies, were not just in the war to defeat the Ottomans, they were also in the war to possess the Ottoman lands. Italy, Greece, France, England, Russia, and others eyed the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Russia wanted Constantinople, which was the key to controlling access to the Black Sea. France wanted, and got, Syria and Lebanon. England wanted Iraq and the Persian coast to protect their interests in India. With the defeat in World War I, Mr. Chairman, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. It was not just one government following another. The empire ceased to exist, just as the Byzantine Empire before them no longer existed.”