Cut off One Head: What if Wahhab Was Beheaded TL

[HerodotosofBerlin]

Good update

 

[Wendell]

Three crosses being on that Central Arabia flag are ASB

 

[A Piece of History]

Three crosses being on that Central Arabia flag are ASB

I know. In my mind, it is more of a British colonial flag than the national flag of Arabia.

 

[Wendell]

I know. In my mind, it is more of a British colonial flag than the national flag of Arabia.

Precisely.

 

[A Piece of History]

Operation Hussein was the name given to the operation in which the Arabian Socialist Republic invaded the British-held Hejaz region of Arabia during the Suez Crisis. Carried out in conjunction with General Abdel al-Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, the seizure had the intended effect of paralysing any military reaction to the move. it was carried out with no casualties on either side, as it was only intended as a show of force and not an act of war, and the prisoners were released unharmed after the conclusion of the crisis.

Prelude​

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the British annexed the Hejaz region and forced the client KIngdom of Central Arabia to agree to it's accession into Egypt. This move gave the British control over the entire Red Sea and allowed better protection of the Suez Canal. The British took great pains in developing the coastal area, with Jeddah becoming a prominent port for the Royal Navy.

In 1936, Egypt was given de facto independence, but the British were allowed to keep ten thousand soldiers on Egyptian soil to protect the Suez Canal and the Hejaz region. In British war plans, the Hejaz region became a de facto fallback point in the event of aggressive Egyptian moves towards the Canal.

While the Suez Canal was prominent in the minds of British imperialists, the people who lived in both the Canal Zone and the Hejaz region were much less so. Towns were created to accommodate the technicians in the Canal and their families, but these towns were segegrated. One side was European in culture with first world housing, the other side retained it's Arabic heritage with bazaars, etc, where poverty was widespread. With the opening of the Canal, foreign businesses tended to restrict their interests to the European half, leaving the Egyptian towns to practically drown in poverty, unemployment and misery. The same state of affairs were repeated in the Hejaz, with Jeddah, for instance, being segregated between Europeans and native. The Hejazis attempted to assimilate into either English or French culture, but this only awarded them with second class status in the eyes of the Europeans.

These conditions would prove to be the spark that lit the bonfires of the independence movements in both countries. Egypt's independence in 1936 was soon followed by the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952. Bashar al-Maliki would follow Nasser's lead in 1955.

As soon as Bashar took power in Arabia, he nationalized all sources of Arabian oil and expelled British servicemen from the country, with the last serviceman leaving for the Hejaz by December 1955. When they were gone, Bashar ordered his Vice President to begi nputting together Hejaz Force - a special group of 15,000 soldiers to liberate the Hejaz.

From the September Revolution onwards, the people of Arabia were the targets of sustained propaganda, promsing the liberation of the Hejaz. Though he downplayed it's religious significance in his manifesto, Bashar, after some encouragement from the Society of Islamic Brothers, who still had influence among the military, highlighted that same significance in speeches printed in the new state-controlled press.

Much as they attempted to do with Nasser in 1952, the British and the Americans began attempts to woo Bashar, with the Americans promising him a place in a proposed Middle East Defence Organization, based on NATO. But at the same time, the Americans were attempting to convince Bashar to stop his claims on the Hejaz, cliaming that since no Arabian state had existed to previously hold that region, then the ASR had no legitimate claim to it. This was in sharp contrast to the American position on the British occupation of the Suez Canal, which they saw as anachronistic. Bashar repeatedly told the Americans that he didn't care if his claims were legitimate, it was the boon to the Arabian economy provided by the Hejaz that he cared about.

In 1956, Secretary of State Dulies reiterated his 1952 declaration that the Arabs believed that the US would support them in a conflict with Israel and that the two sides only cared about their disputes with the British and French. Secretary Dulies's lack of appreciation for the Anglo-American friendship in 1952 had led Eisenhower to support the Egyptian side when it came to the Suez Canal debacle. Their policy of 'even-handedness' had betrayed their seeming disregard for the Anglo-American relationship by openly supporting Arab states in disputes with Israel.

Bashar did not trust the Americans, especially after they began supporting Jordan after the latter's peace treaty with Israel, helping them bear the brunt of the Arab League economic boycott [1]. In response, in March 1956, he made a big show of his intentions to have close relations with the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact in general, declaring his intention to participate in the arms race which had begun between Israel and Egypt. Arabia was soon receiving T-34 tanks and MiG-15 jet fighter planes, starting in April 1956.

In May 1956, the relationship between the Egyptians and the Americans came to ahead when Nasser recognized the People's Republic of China, leading to Eisenhower withdrawing all American financial aid for the Aswan High Dam. Nasser rejected all American attempts to sow peace between himself and Israel in exchange for a return of the financial aid.

While relations with America were breaking down, Nasser sent his ambassador to Arabia to Bashar's palace in Ha'ail. There, the mbassador disclosed Nasser's plan to nationalize the Suez Canal in June and he conveyed Nasser's decision to allow Bashar to do whatever he wanted with the Hejaz. With this permission, Bashar authorized the military to begin prepations for Operation Hussein.

The operation​

In June 1956, Nasser gave a speech in which he pronounced the name ofFerdinand De Losseps, the builder of the Canal, signalling to the Egyptin military that the Canal was to be seized. Nassser also announced that all assets relating to the Suez Canal would be frozen. Egypt closed the Canal to Israeli shipping and blocked the GUlf of Aqaba.

At the same time, Hejaz Force, equipped with bombers and T-34 tanks and consisting of three divisions of 5,000 men each, charged into the Hejaz region, in three separate pincer strikes. Division Aqaba encircled Jeddah while Division Coast encircled Jeddah while Division Jihad encircled Abha, with reserves coming up behind them to sabotage crucial infrastructure such as the roads between the cities.

The British, though substantial in size, were lacking in propper equipment due to post-WWII austerity. The headquarters of the Hejaz Command was in Jeddah and was being helmed by the former head of Egypt Command, Francis Festing. Festing was completely cut off from the other divisions in the Hejaz and there were no Royal Navy ships nearby to render assistance. The Arabian commander, Brigadier General Mustafa Abdullah, promised that his men would be treated humanely if he surrendered. Festing complied and handed over his weapons and ordered all British troops within the region to stand down.

Propaganda crews were keen to record newsreels of British troops throwing their weapons into large piles and being concentrated into large areas in the centre of the major cities, surrounded by barbed wire. A military government in the Hejaz was declared with Brigadier General Abdullah at it's head.

In Ha'ail, Bashar publicly made a speech in which he announced the integration of the Hejaz into the Arabian Socialist Republic. He did admit to taking British servicemen prisoner and pormised that no harm would come to them if the British made no efforts to take back the Hejaz or the Suez Canal. He finished the speech by declaring that Egypt and Arabia were now in a 'blood pact' and an attack on Egypt would be considered an attack on Arabia.

[/CENTER]The response[CENTER}

Britain

"That evening, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden was hosting a formal dinner at Downing Street. After an aide brought in the news from Egypt the meal ended early and Eden held an emergency meeting with a few of his Cabinet ministers which went on until 4 a.m. Nasser’s action was, as The Times phrased it the following morning, “a clear affront and threat to Western interests, besides being a breach of undertakings which Egypt has freely given”. The Egyptian president’s takeover of the canal was a potential threat to Britain’s oil supplies, as the country only had six weeks’ reserves, and it was also a profound embarrassment to the nation which had been joint custodian of the canal since its creation and whose soldiers had, until a few weeks before, been its guardians. The fall of the Hejaz to the Arabians also deeply offended him as a country the British had viewed as inferior had just committed a bloodless act of war against them.

A determined Eden sent a courteous but clear message across the Atlantic to the White House: “my colleagues and I are convinced that we must be ready, in the last resort, to use force to bring Nasser and his Arabian partner to theirsenses. For our part we are prepared to do so.” The Suez Crisis had begun. Nasser’s seizure of the Suez Canal was not just a shock to politicians in Britain. When Nasser informed his own ministers on the morning of 26 July what he planned to say in his speech that evening, most sat in stunned silence before asking nervous questions."

United States

"Nasser’s action was a shock, but it was not illegal under international law and if the original terms of the de Lesseps canal arrangement were upheld the concession would revert to Egyptian ownership by 1969 in any event. There was outrage in London and Paris, but in Washington, Eisenhower was rather more sanguine. When he first received warning from the chargé d’affaires in London that military action was being considered by Eden’s government he responded that nationalizing the canal “was not the same as nationalizing oil wells” which would run out; rather, the canal was more like a “public utility”. From the outset there was a strong sense in Washington that the response in Britain and France was out of proportion."

Israel

"Nearly 6,000 miles east of Washington, another leader debated how to respond to Nasser’s actions. For David Ben-Gurion, an aggressive, nationalistic Egypt was a much more pressing concern, given that Egypt was on Israel’s southern border. Alongside Ben-Gurion was Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan. Born and raised in the first kibbutz – collective settlement – in Palestine, he was an unflinching personification of the ideals that birthed his homeland through the fires of war. Dayan lost an eye fighting Vichy French forces in Lebanon in 1941 and thereafter wore an eyepatch that gave him a piratical air, although decades later he would become a surprising critic of militaristic Israeli foreign policy. In 1956, both men were concerned above all with the security of their young nation. The State of Israel was less than a decade old and its first act had been to fight for its life against a coalition of Arab armies which included Egypt. Although the 1948 war ended in a victory for Israel, it was not the end of the fighting. Armed struggle against Israel was taken up by Palestinian refugees who had been displaced by the conflict and who organized bands of fedayeen – guerrilla fighters – with aid and support from Egypt."


"The loss to Israel in the war of independence was a cause of deep embarrassment in Egypt and Nasser was ardently and openly hostile to Israel. Following the Czech arms deal, Ben-Gurion’s predecessor as prime minister recorded in his diary he felt a “deep concern to our security, the likes of which I have never experienced since the days preceding the establishment of the State”. Ben-Gurion thus found himself in power facing awkward odds: in 1955 Israel only had fifty jet fighters, none as good as the MiGs the Egyptians had on order. The Israelis turned to France."

"In June 1956, Moshe Dayan flew to a military airfield near Paris in an Israeli Air Force transport plane painted with French insignia. He left having agreed a $100 million cash deal for French Mystère IV fighters, along with tanks and ammunition. The first tranche of arms reached Israel the night before Nasser nationalized the canal, delivered to a deserted beach near Haifa by a French amphibious landing vessel. Ben-Gurion and Dayan were waiting on the sand to meet it and after the thirty tanks, ammunition and spare parts had been unloaded, the pair boarded the ship and drank champagne with the French captain. Even before the Suez Crisis began there was an arms race in the Middle East. War between Egypt and Israel was simply assumed to be an inevitability. The Israelis could not afford for Egypt to gain military superiority, as it was perceived that as soon as it was achieved Egypt would attack and Israeli would again be fighting for its life."

Though the Arabian Socialist Republic had not supported the fedayeen as Egypt did, the Israelis still saw the newly-proclaimed socialist state as a potential enemy. Bashar's affection of Nasser did not help assuage their fears. As soon as the planes were bought, different war plans were drawn up about how to deal with the ASR. Onew ar plan involved using Jordan as a springboard to sweep over Ha'il. Another involved simply levelling the city from the air. But the Israelis perceived Egypt as a bigger threat to their security.

The Arabian Socialist Republic

As soon as the advance into the Hejaz was announced, crowds burst into the streets to celebrate the achievement, with songs praising the President's 'bravery and swiftness' in seizing the region, but behind the scenes, the military didn't believe they could hold their conquest against a Franco-British-Israeli assault, assuming Jordan stayed out of any potential war. Bashar had tapped into the Czech arm deal too late for his military to have the proper equipment necessary to win a prolonged conflict. In 1956, th eewly renamed Revolutionary Arabian Army only included 30,000 enlisted men. Any conflict inv involving the two empires and Arabia was going to result in Arabia's defeat. With this information in hand, Bashar began using the Soviet embassy in Ha'il to seek a olive branch with the British and French. Both refused all offers out of hand, as long as he backed Nasser.

Breakdown with Nasser​

With the two empires once again treating Arabia as a mat, Bashar approached the Americans and asked them to help him find a diplomatic solution to the problem. Secretary of State Dulies, himself a virulent anti-Communist and anti-Nasserite, stated that the American government, while it opposed Anglo-French intervention in the Suez Crisis, would not look kindly on a regime which continued to support a regime that was backed by the Soviet Union. In other words, Bashar had to give up his support of Nassser before the Americans could even consider the arrangement.

Bashar contacted Nasser and informed him of the arrangements, but Nasser's tone during the call not only surprised Bashar, it infuriated him. Nasser demanded that Bashar reject the American offer and stand side by side with Egypt as one Arab nation. Nasser refused to hear Bashar's objections and Bashar slammed the phone down. His Vice President would later write in his diaries.

Before the call, the President was hopeful Nasser would be reasonable and accept that Arabia had to make a compromise to benefit it's own self-interest. After the call, the President was blood red in the face and he was swearing his head off in English. He never spoke English unless he couldn't contain himself

THe next morning, Arabian state run media denounced Nasser as being just another imperialist who was taking advantage of Arabia and Bashar's goodwill. The US Secretary of State was satisfied with this action and invited Bashar to attend a multinational maritime conference in London to discuss a British, French and American plan to establish international authority to operate the canal in accordance with prior agreements of access, while also ensuring Egypt received an “equitable return”. Twenty-four governments were invited, including the Russians, who responded to their invitation through a statement published in Pravda on 10 August. They highlighted the fact that Nasser had already promised to allow freedom of navigation through the canal (for everyone except the Israelis), asserting the conference “cannot in any way be regarded, either in its composition or in character and purposes, as an international meeting authorized to take any decisions whatever on the Suez Canal”. A Russian delegation came to London anyway, but insisted it didn’t commit them to anything, or make the outcome legitimate. Only two countries turned down their invitations to attend: Greece and Egypt. Remarkably, Nasser had considered attending the London conference in person. His first instinct was to go and he had to be talked out of it by his Cabinet; one told Nasser that Egypt should not be a “mere invitee”. After several days of consideration, Nasser came round, concluding that “the Egyptian case would not even be considered”, claiming that the agenda had already been fixed and the decisions already made. Any possibility of his attending was then immediately scuppered when Eden made his BBC televised address, comparing Nasser to the Fascists Britain had fought in the war and condemning him as “not a man who can be trusted to keep an agreement”.


Bashar was somewhat relieved when Nasser refused to attend. He did not want his case to be overshadowed by Nasser's obstinate and in his eyes, offensive, behaviour. To protect his image back home, he pretended to object to the idea of a international authority guarding the Suez and voted against the idea, but behind the scenes, Secretary of State Dulies was greasing the wheels between Bashar and Prime Minister Eden. Both men still loathed each other, but Bashar made it clear unlike Nasser, he wanted to talk. Eden was not and flatly rejected any attempt at contrition, even comparing Bashar to Benito Mussolini.

The conference itself failed, with Nasser flatly rejecting the idea of a international authority in the Suez Canal, denouncing it as colonialism.


#

October 29th came and the Israeli invasion of the Suez Canal began. Jeddah received reports of Israeli paratroopers being dropped near the Mitla Pass, east of the Suez Canal and sent these reports to Ha'll. Bashar and Mohammad Abdullah spent the first days of the operation in Bashar's office, receiving reports of the invasion from Jeddah. Bashar gave strict orders that no Israeli aircraft, soldier or property was to be fired upon unless in retaliation.

WHile he was listening to reports of the invasion, he was listening to Egyptian radio too. On the 5th of November, Nasser proclaimed the crisis to be a 'people's war' in which ciivlians were to arm themselves and fight the Israelis. When he heard this, Bashar mused to Abdullah that perhaps Arabia should have a similar system, but that was the only positive thing Bashar had to say about the whole debacle. As he listened to reports of Israeli and now British forces sweeping over the Sinai Peninsula, Bashar loudly asked "How can the fucking Zionists and imperialists fight better than native Arabs!?"

#

The British defeat at home​

The invasion concluded on the 12th of November. By this time, though they had effectively won the conflict, the British were humiliated. Eden's failure to strike the Canal in July had robbed the conflict of any legitimacy from the British public, or perhaps it is more appropriate to say the conflict had been robbed of what little legitimacy it had, as the Eden government had barely explained the reason for the conflict to their own people.

According to public opinion polls at the time, 37% of the British people supported the war while 44% were opposed.[289][290] The Observer newspaper in a leader (editorial) attacked the Eden government for its "folly and crookedness" in attacking Egypt while the Manchester Guardian urged its readers to write letters of protest to their MPs. The Economist spoke of the "strange union of cynicism and hysteria" in the government and The Spectator stated that Eden would soon have to face "a terrible indictment". The majority of letters written to MPs from their constituents were against the Suez attack.[292] Significantly, many of the letters come from voters who identified as th Conservative.

After learning of the public discontent, Bashar decided to finally put the British prisoners to good use. He had a small radio station set up at the Khaibar prisoner of war camp, which consisted of a collection of hastily-constructed huts and several holes dug into the ground for urination, and he had the British prisoners address the Arab world, condemning the British aggression against Egypt and claiming that they did not sign up to shoot at Arabs for British imperialism.

On the 2nd of November, the United Nations General Assembly passed the US-proposed Resolution 997 which...

1. Urges as a matter of priority that all parties now involved in hostilities in the area agree to an immediate cease-fire and, as part thereof, halt the movement of military forces and arms into the area;

2. Urges the parties to the armistice agreements promptly to withdraw all forces behind the armistice lines, to desist from raids across the armistice lines into neighbouring territory, and to observe scrupulously the provisions of the armistice agreements;

3. Recommends that all Member States refrain from introducing military goods in the area of hostilities and in general refrain from any acts which would delay or prevent the implementation of the present resolution;

4. Urges that, upon the cease-fire being effective, steps be taken to reopen the Suez Canal and restore secure freedom of navigation;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to observe and report promptly on the compliance with the present resolution to the Security Council and to the General Assembly, for such further action as they may deem appropriate in accordance with the Charter

Subsequent emergency sessions would lead to the creation of the first UN peacekeeping force. The British withdrew in November. However, the Israelis refused to host any UN force on Israeli controlled territory and left the Sinai in March 1957. Before the withdrawal the Israeli forces systematically destroyed infrastructure in Sinai peninsula, such as roads, railroads and telephone lines, and all houses in the villages of Abu Agelia and El Queseima. In January of that year, Anthony Eden had resigned as Prime Minister.

Eden's resignaton had opened a door for Bashar to again, request the official handover of the Hejaz to Arabia. Harold Macmillian, a more pragmatic and in Bashar's eyes, sensible Prime Minister finally conceded to the demand in exchange for the return of the 3,000 British prisoners, who were swiftly handed over over the course of a month.

On the 15th of Feburary 1957, Bashar addressed his people. He crowed

"The tyrant Anthony Eden, to my face, compared President Nasser to Hitler and me personally to Mussolini. Well, just as Mussolini did in Ethiopia, we have emerged victorious and I shall paraphrase Mussolini: The Hejaz is Arabian!"

to the mass adulation of the crowd.

Aftermath​

The Arabian Socialist Republic engaged in the Hejazi adventure, ocnfident of a strong alliance between it and Egypt. As a result of the stoush between the two leaders, the trust between the two nations was shattered, with one side seeing the other as a potential foe and accusing the other of betrayal.

The Arabian High Command studied the war in depth and determined that in desert warfare, fast and fluid operations were key, along with air supremacy. With this in mind, Bashar instituted the Ales-Gaith (The Sheath), the first ever Arabian special forces unit and permitted the Spetsnaz to train them. Bashar also used his country's oil funds and zakat taxes to heavily invest in an air force.

Following a debate with the Society, Bashar allowed Mecca and Medina to retain their autonomous status, but effectively tore up the Treaty of Hejaz as a practical document as Egypt was no longer in control of the Hejaz.

The liberation of the Hejaz gave Arabia a land border with Israel. While Bashar, unlike Nasser, was not anti-Semitic, he still loathed Israel for it's ejection of the region's Arab inhabitants and refused to even consider diplomatic relations with it. The Arabian-Israeli border was militarized with Soviet-issued landmines and barbed wire

Operation Hussein would be the last time the Arabian Army would use it's British style khaki uniforms. Towards the end of the '50s, this uniform would be phased out in favour of lizard camouflage fatigues. Soldiers fighting as members of the Ales-Gaith would wear the woodland pattern, with both forces using SSH-40-style helmets. .

[1] I will definitely explain this in a future post.

 

[haider najib]

Surely bashar in trouble the fact he didn't help egypt against Israel and nasser victory is massive failure, arab leadership stood back and allowed fellow arabs to be attacked by 'zionist invaders'. Nasser would be very popular now.

 

[A Piece of History]

(I'm taking a little break from the history to do some worldbuilding, because I love worldbuilding. Shout out if you want more of these posts)

The Arabian Socialist Republic is a strange creature. It openly espouses socialism as a way to solve society's woes and yet, it protects the heritage of the land it calls home. When Ramadan comes around, you always see promotion for the latest movie or television series inspired by either Islamic history or the politics that surround it. There was never a Cultural Revolution-esque event where it's history and culture were eradicated for no reason other than ideological purity.

Technically, Mecca and Medina are not part of the Republic. At the end of World War I, they were given a status similar to Vatican City. Both cities are in one microstate, insulated by the ASR. The microstate continues to be run by a Sharif, descendant from the Prophet Mohammad. It has it's own border control which prevents non-Muslims from entering the city and in extreme cases, it openly practices sharia, whereas in the Republic, sharia law is only used for dispute resolution and in minor disputes at that.

I don't think it'd be crazy to see that Mecca and Medina, in part thanks to the ASR, are the last remnants of the 7th Century in the world. Who in the 7th Century would've thought that the Prophet Mohammad's house would still exist in the 1980s, to be subsidized by the Meccan government?[1] The only tall building in Mecca is the Grand Mosque. There exists no trace of Western consumerism anywhere in the city. All of the low-bearing buildings, I must say, make me homesick for the skyscrapers of the West, though some say that skyscrapers are a blot on the skyline of certain cities[2]

The Grand Mosque during the Ottoman era

In Medina, both men and women flock to the Al-Baqi cemetary to see the graves of the Prophet's family and companions. Some say that the presence of tombstones in the city is un-Islamic and so, they should be destroyed, but the people I've talked to don't seem to mind them. It reminds them of their history, they say[3].

The mausoleums of Fatimah, Abbas, Hasan ibn Ali, Ali as-Sajjad, Muhammad al-Baqir and Ja'far as-Sadiq in the Al-Baqi Cemetary in Mecca

Of course, not everything is perfect. Some historical sites, such as the school where the Prophet first taught Islam, have been destroyed in recent years, but the Meccan government has said this is a necessary measure to expand the Grand Mosque of Mecca and accommodate ever-increasing numbers of pilgrim. According to the Sharif's spokesman, Osama bin Laden[4], the Sharif has said that expanding the Grand Mosque shall be the only permissible excuse for the destruction fo culture. He has vowed to keep Mecca clean of Western commercialism and so far, he has achieved this and kept his promise.

Unfortunately, this means that Mecca is not very popular with tourists who come to Mecca outside of the Hajj. Most of that activity is directed towards the more metropolitan cities such as Jeddah, where there is such gaudy architecture as shopping centres and the like. But the Sharif doesn't care. "Muslims come to Mecca to pray and to meet hteir obligations, not to shop and commit themselves to sin", Mr. Bin Laden said.

Outside of the city, due to the lack of hotels and the like, there are columns upon columns of pilgrims setting up in tents and congregating in large open areas, with each column of tents separated by a flag of the pilgrims' hoem country. Unsurprisingly, the largest amount of pilgrims is from Pakistan. I asked a Pakistani pilgrim what he thought of the lack of modernization in the icty. "It's good", he said. "People in the West are too obsessed with putting dollar signs on everything and making a quick buck. Muslims don' do that. We respect our history and our culture",

However, there are some, who see the preservation of history itself as being against Islam. Every now and again, there are protestors in Mecca calling for the cemeteries and historic buildings to be destroyed, calling them 'idols' which encourage worship of earthly individuals, rather than Allah. Vandalism of historical sites are becoming a common occurrence, necessitating a strong police presence.

But aside form that, the air is quite harmonious. I have seen first hand, Sunnis and Shi'ites from different lands, embracing each other and discussing both their personal lives and their religious obligations. This ancient land means something to 1.4 billion people all across the world and they will come from all corners of the world to pray here, when they are not praying to it from far distances. The government of Mecca has done a excellent job in preserving both cities' historical heritage and if non-Muslims were not forbidden from the cities, I would highly encourage people to come visit these places.


[1] As opposed to OTL, where the Saudis first used Mohammad's house as a cattle market and then a non-public library.

[2] In OTL's Mecca, there is a clocktower right next to the Grand Mosque.

[3] In OTL, the Saudis destroyed all of the tombstones and mausoleums in the Al-Baqi cemetary in 1926.

[4] In OTL, one of Bin Laden's motivations for forming Al-Qaeda was the presence of US troops in the same country as the Holy Cities, so I decided to put him in a position, relating to those cities. This Bin Laden is a Islamic modernist, like the rest of Arabia.

 

[Whiteshore]

Who is the Sharif of Arabia? A historical figure or a fictional one?

 

[A Piece of History]

Who is the Sharif of Arabia? A historical figure or a fictional one?

I didn't think it was important to mention, but now that you ask, the Sharif of Mecca is Ra'ad bin Zeid, who in OTL, is the pretender to the throne of Iraq.

Ra'ad bin Zeid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[haider najib]

Oh please give more world this is really great, can you give us some more insight on how this socialist state has effected the rest of the muslim world such as Pakistan, also has islamic socialism become more prominent?

 

[A Piece of History]

(More worldbuilding material)

Hareetz: The Agreement that Blackened Jordan's Name​

In 1948, Jordan, alongside Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, invaded Israel in an attempt to crush the upstart Jewish state, having in it's possession the strongest Arab army involved in the war. Though the Jordanians lost, they did have some gains in the war, however, capturing East Jerusalem and the West Bank and instituting laws which banned Jews from entering the area surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque, despite promising unrestricted access to Jews in the 1948 Armistice.

But East Jerusalem and the West Bank were little solace given the fact that Israel still existed, swallowing up the land allotted to the Arabs by the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Before the war, while the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was attempting to seek the independence of the Arabs in Palestine, Abdullah had attempted to negotiate with the Jewish Agency a partition plan in which he could take over the Arab areas of Palestine, which would've consisted of 39% of the region. But the Jewish Agency turned him down in favour of partioining Palestine with the Grand Mufti, who was promptly sent into exile when the Arabs revolted after learning about the UN Partition Plan.

In April 1950, Abdullah, after his Arab Legions gave the Israelis a pasting, entered into secret negotiations with Israeli dignitaries for a permanent peace treaty. Abdullah had always set himself apart from his fellow Arab leaders and this was only the latest example of this. He had attempted such a thing in 1949, but the news had gotten out and he was forced to back off. Now, he continued his peace overtures in secret.[1]

The Israelis, needless to say, did not trust Abdullah's peace overtures and were suspicious of him. They emphatically stated that they wanted East Jerusalem. Some within the government laid claim to the West Bank. For Jordan, to give up the West Bank willingly would be national suicide, as the West Bank contained half of Jordan's already limited agricultural land. Arab terrorists were striking at Israel from across the 1949 Armistice Line and were posing a threat to the newly-founded state's security. Even during the 1948 war, Ben-Gurion himself wasn't sure if Israel should claim the West Bank. The agricultural land within would be a boon to Israel, but he believed that the Jews should focus on populating areas of the Negev, but he agreed with the rest of his colleagues that Jerusalem should be united. Eventually, the Israeli government did agree to concede the West Bank[2] and Abdullah agreed to concede East Jerusalem with the condition that Jordan could retain dominion over the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, with Grand Mufti Hussam ad-din Jarallah returning to his position. This arrangement continues to this day, though Israeli archaeological excavations continue to provoke controversy.

Two breakdowns of East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount​

The peace treaty, which was signed in secret on 15th April 1950[3], also included a clause which the now-permanent border between Israel and Jordan would be completely demilitarized and free of threats to Israel's security. Jordan followed through on this clause, cracking down heavily on fedayeen cells in Palestinian villages, desperate to avoid a repeat of Operation Shoshana[4]

When the treaty was made public, it incensed the Arab world. Already furious with Jordan for annexing the West Bank, the Arab League officially voted to expel Jordan from the organization. The Arab League imposed a economic blockade on the country as well.

At first, the blockade hampered Jordan's economic growth, but this burden was lifted by a lifeline provided by the West through Israel. King Abdullah had become David Ben Gurion's man in Anan. The West Bank also helped offset the downturn, with 7% of Jordan's Gross National Product being made from the agriculture industry, backed up by the fact that 80% of Jordan's fruit-growing regions laid within that area. Israel, in a effort to further woo the Jordanian masses, helped Jordan develop the area, leading to the West Bank's contribution to Jordan growing to 40% by the '60s.

This development was backed up by Abdullah's continuance of policies which were intended to destroy all traces of Palestinian nationalism. Unlike in the rest of the occupied territories by the Arab states, Arabs living within the West Bank possessed citizenship in the occupying state. Police within the West Bank wore Jordanian uniforms and Jordanian postage stamps were used instead of the British stamps previously used. Radio stations within the territory were banned from making references to 'Palestine'.

After surviving many assassination attempts, Abdullah would die at the age of 80 of old age. Nayif would take his father's place on the throne after his brother, Talal, was consigned to a mental institution. He would continue his father's pro-Israeli policies, which would lead to the Syrian/fedayeen invasion of Jordan during the Six Day War in a effort to reach the River Jordan.

Syrian bombs fall on Anan during the Six Day War [5]​

As with everything else in the Six-Day War, the Syrian invasion of Jordan was poorly-planned and poorly executed and was easily dispatched by a Jordanian/Israeli task force. Israeli veterans of the Jordanian front still recall the bizarre sight of Arabs, who two generations ago had been their enemies, waving Israeli flags.

Today, Israel and Jordan enjoy peaceful relations, with the two sides singing a defence pact in 1965, two years before the Six Day War. As it has done in the West Bank, Jordan has gradually assimilated the former refugee population and has said it will remain neutral on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

[1] In OTL, King Abdullah did indeed try to secretly negotiate a treaty with Israel in 1949, only to be found out and be forced to back off. In 1950, he was suspected of attempting to once again negotiate peace with Israel, so he was assassinated by a Palestinian affiliated with the Husseini clan. In TTL, without Amin al-Husseinei becoming the Grand Mufti, he never has the influence to provoke violent action within the Palestinian community.
[2} In OTL, David-Ben Gurion believed that Israel should've given up the West Bank after the Six Day War.
[3} This is the OTL date for the annexation of the West Bank into Jordan.
[4] Operation Shoshana is the name given to a 1953 Israeli attack on a Palestinian village in retaliation for the murder of a Israeli mother and her children in their sleep. Sixty nine Palestinians in the village of Qibya were killed during Operation Shoshana.
[5] Actually, this is a photo from Black September.

 

[A Piece of History]

On the 11th of September 2001, the Arabian Outreach Project registered as an agent of a foreign government, specifically the government of the Arabian Socialist Republic, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act 1933.

While there is no evidence the group, which presents itself as a charity and educational program rolled into one, is of any threat to the United States, there is no logical reason as to why it's historical activties shoudl not be documented and that documentation archived for use in future investigations against the group.

What is the Arabian Outreach Project?​

Officially, the Arabian Outreach Project is both a charity and a educational institution, sponsored by the government of the Arabian Socialist Republic. It's American headquarters is in Dearborn Michigan, effectively the capital of Islam in the United States due to the high amount of Arab-Americans living within the city, and it's presence influences mosques in the local area.

What is the Arabian Outreach Project's ideology?​

The Arabian Outreach Project preaches Islamic socialism, a intriguing amalgamation of Islamic scripture and socialism. Much like the government it represents, the Project preaches that it is the responsibility of Muslims to push for social progress and contribute to the betterment of their individual societies by regularly contributing to charity and pushing for equal relations between the government and the people it serves. In other words, it is a revolutionary movement disguised as religious scripture. There are two versions of Islamic socialism involving both the right and left wings of the political spectrum, but it seems that the Project is pushing a consistently left-wing interpretation of Islam, which reduces the presence of sharia in their lives.

The Project's preachings of 'jihad' may be concerning for those with a basic knowledge of Islam, but the Project's website describes it's version of jihad as the following

• Jihad of the heart (jihad bil qalb/nafs) is concerned with combatting the devil and in the attempt to escape his persuasion to evil. This type of Jihad was regarded as the greater jihad (al-jihad al-akbar).
• Jihad by the tongue (jihad bil lisan) (also Jihad by the word, jihad al-qalam) is concerned with speaking the truth and spreading the word of Islam with one's tongue.
• Jihad by the hand (jihad bil yad) refers to choosing to do what is right and to combat injustice and what is wrong with action.

The Project explicitly rejects violent jihad and says it has nothing to do with Islam, or perhaps it should be more appropriate to say, the Project's interpretations of Islam.

The Project also pushes a positive view of the State of Israel, describing it as a permanent mainstay of the Middle East which the Islamic world will have to get used to. Again, this is consistent with the Arabian government's ideology. As a result, numerous Republicans have praised the Project, despite it's left-wing stances.

Is the Arabian Outreach Project a solely American organization?​

No. Not in the slightest. I refer you to the following table which discusses the AOP's place in Arabian foreign policy and the most significant nations it has involved itself in

Country	Effect
Afghanistan	Arabian-sponsored mosques and madrassas were mostly found in majority Pashtun areas, but any efforts to inculcate Islamic socialism in the populace were ruined by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, a effort which President Maliki did not support and even condemned publicly.
Bahrain	Arabia provided economic support to the National Liberation Front-Bahrain just before the 1973 elections, the results of which were annulled by Emir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. In response, Arabia staged a military intervention to overthrow the Emir and replace him with a socialist republic.
Brunei	Brunei's small size and high levet of development made it a easy target for Islamic socialist teachings, which resulted in the overthrow of the Sultanin the mid-1970s and the rise of a socialist republic, not long after Brunei was given it's independence
Iraq	The 1963 Ba'athist coup effectively ruined any attempt to spread Islamic socialism within the country
Iran	Islamic socialism already existed in Iran, with the Movement of God-Fearing Socialists having existed in the country since 1943. However, Islamic socialism never struck a chord with the people of Iran, who either remained loyal to secular Communism, extreme Islamism or moderate Islam.
Somalia	Arabia supported Siad Barre's attempts to modernize Somalia through the implementation of a national writing system and the elimination of Somalia's clan system. This support continued even as Somalia and the Soviet Union severed ties in the '70s. However, Arabia grew concerned with Siad Barre's increasing grip on power. In March 1973, Arabia, the Soviet Union and Cuba supported Mohammad Sheikh Osman's coup de'tat against Barre, which succeeded with the assistance of Arabian special forces. President Osman peeled back on Barre's aggressively anti-tribal rhetoric and backed off on plans for a war with Ethiopia.

The Arabian Outreach Project is not just a educational charity, it is a engine through which the Arabian regime lays the groundwork for regime change in particular countries. In some ways, Arabia has proven to be a unstable element in the region, but in other ways, it is eradicating what it sees as outdated views of Islam or potential unstable elements, such as in Somalia, which in some ways, saves the United States the trouble of involving itself in foreign conflicts and allows us to focus on issues closer to home, such as the rise of China in the Pacific.

Why was it forced to register as a Foreign Agent?​

As we've just discussed, the Arabian Outreach Project claims to be a educational charity, but it is definitely a agent of the Arabian government and it involves itself in political activity. As we've said, Republicans have praised the Project for it's conciliatory stance towards the State of Israel and said Republicans have been more than willing to accept money from the organization to push a pro-Arabian stance within the halls of the US government. The Project has also been willing to delegate funds towards both the American Israeli Political Action Conference, a pro-Israeli advocacy group supported by a majority of Republicans and Democrats.

Despite it being clear that the Muslim Brotherhood, or at least a faction of it, controls a large portion of the Arabian government, the FBI cannot find any evidence to link the Arabian Outreach Project to entities associated with terrorism. The Project is quite insulated within the Islamic community and does not openly have any relations with charities within the United States, with most of it's income coming from fundraising or the Arabian government itself.

Conclusion​

The Arabian Outreach Project is clearly a foreign agent of the Arabian Socialist Republic's Islamic socialist regime as it has participated in foreign adventurism in the past, but as of yet, it does not pose a threat to the United States and has regularly participated in the American political process. Contrary to accusations that it is a detriment to the United States, the Project's influence has contributed to the United States not having to expend resources in conflict zones such as Africa. But, the Project must be watched regardless of possible benefit in the event that it does turn against US interests.

 

[Whiteshore]

On the 11th of September 2001, the Arabian Outreach Project registered as an agent of a foreign government, specifically the government of the Arabian Socialist Republic, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act 1933.

What an unrelated coincidence, right?

 

[A Piece of History]

What an unrelated coincidence, right?

Yeah, I put that in as little in-joke. I just couldn't resist the opportunity. I'll get to talking about the alternate 21st Century at a later date.

 

[A Piece of History]

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Arabian Socialist Republic seemed to be enjoying a long period of prosperity. Government-backed social programs had reduced poverty by a considerable degree and for the first time in Arabian history, every child received an education, both secular and religious in nature, with the curriculum strictly bent towards a emphasis on Islamic modernism.

The Republic was closer than ever with the Soviet Union and had joined the United Nations. It was still stuck in a frozen relationship with Egypt as a result of Arabia’s perceived betrayal of the former during the Suez Crisis. Bashar’s fallout with Nasser won him many friends in Damascus, after Nasser’s geopolitical project known as the United Arab Republic fell apart due to Nasser’s obsession with power.

However, it would be one of Nasser’s schemes that would end this epoch of peace.

The Yemen Crisis​

In January 1962, the Egyptian government gave safe harbor to the Free Yemen Movement, a nationalist political movement within Arabia’s neighbor of North Yemen. Similarly to Nasser and Bashar’s own movements, the Free Yemen Movement was in opposition to an autocratic and hated monarch in the form of Imam Muhammad al-Badr. Nasser intended the Movement to serve as a vehicle to reassert leadership over the Arab world. Rejecting a proposal to encourage Arab volunteers to fight in Yemen, Nasser believed that his army alone would be enough to topple the Imam

In Ha’ll, Bashar himself was being kept aware of the Yemeni situation. Bashar had long opposed the British presence in South Yemen, but after seizing the Hejaz, he had been trying to form a amicable relationship with the United Kingdom. He also loathed the medieval conditions that al-Badr had been keeping his people in, so much so that he had propaganda speakers set up to broadcast Islamic socialist propaganda into the country, as part of his strategy to spread Islamic socialism worldwide.

However, he was not as egotistical as Nasser was and had no intention of allowing a war to break out on Arabia’s southern border. Arabia and Yemen had long been at odds, dating back to a border war in 1934. In Bashar’s eyes, if North Yemen sneezed, then Arabia would get the flu.

At 11:45 PM on 26th September 1962, army units loyal to Abdullah as-Sallal shelled the palace in Sanaa. The Iman escaped Sanaa and to a hideout near the Arabian border. It was there that the Arabians executed him.

On September 27th, Bashar openly admitted to the act in a speech to the Arabian Parliament. He declared the iman a ‘threat to the stability of the region’ and said ‘The Yemeni people should be thankful that we intervened in this manner. Nasser would rather see Yemen fall into civil war than prosper under a government of the people’. In that same speech, Bashar recognized the existence of the Yemen Arab Republic. By December, 34 nations, including the USA, the USSR and the entire communist bloc would recognize the Republic.

Arabia then took advantage of the ties between tribes in Southern Arabia and Northern Yemen by allowing said tribes to cross the border freely. This allowed Islamic socialism to spread through the republican tribes while at the same time, Yemenis were allowed to work within Arabian territory.

On September 29th, Egyptian general Ali Abduli Hameed was dispatched to Yemen, with a battalion of Special Forces arriving on October 5th. Bashar objected to the Egyptian presence in Yemen, calling it a ‘infringement on Arabian sovereignty’.

Bashar chose to show the Yemenis that he could do what the Egyptians could not: crush the remaining royalists, which he did by ordering air strikes on royalist targets. Egyptian soldiers reported seeing Arabian MIGs soaring over Sanaa towards the rebel capital of Hajjah. Some of the MiGs even dropped leaflets, denouncing Nasser as a ‘imperialist in Arab clothing’. In public, the Yemeni Revolutionary Command Council denounced this ‘intrusion into Yemeni territory’. In private, as-Sallal was now regretting soliciting Nasser’s support.

Despite Prince Hassan, Muhammad’s uncle, taking over command of the royalist forces in Hajjah, he could see that fighting the Arabians would be a lost cause without foreign assistance., especially with Arabian airstrikes pummeling what little supplies they had. Mercenaries were coming in from France, Belgium and England, but they didn’t bring anything of worth to the royalist cause.

In December, Prince Hassan surrendered what remained of his forces to the Republic. Both Bashar and Nasser took credit for the event, with Bashar demanding the withdrawal of all Egyptian forces from North Yemen, moving Arabian troops to the Yemeni border. To provoke a response from the Egyptians, Bashar ordered the occupation of the city of Sa’dah, 200 kilometres from the Arabian city of Najran. The UN objected to the occupation, but Syria and surprisingly, Israel, supported Arabia, seeing Nasser as the bigger threat than Bashar.

Arabian and Egyptian troops briefly exchanged fire in the following days, with the Egyptians unable to eject the trenched in Arabians.

In January, the United States Department of State urged the United Nations to implement a observer mission in North Yemen. Syria threatened to send troops into North Yemen to support the Arabians with the Syrian Ambassador to the UN declaring “The Arabian Socialist Republic has the right of a sovereign nation to feel safety when it looks towards it’s southern border. Egypt must remove itself from North Yemen”,

It took a UN Security Council resolution, which involved sanctions against Egypt, to convince Nasser to back off and order his troops to vacate Egypt in February of 1963. North Yemen now belonged to Bashar al-Maliki and the Arabian Socialist Republic.

The Enemy Within​

In 1964, Arabia was once again drawn into conflict with Egypt, but not over territory, but rather ideology. Since the ‘50s, the Egyptian branch of the Society of Muslim Brothers had gone underground after being pushed out of the post-1953 Revolution government, even attempting to assassinate Nasser on several occasions. One of it’s rising stars was Sayyid Qutb, a scholar who rejected modern political systems in favor of a world-wide Islamic society that follows sharia. In his mind, the world of the 1960s was in ‘jahilliyah’-ignorance, so a vanguard was needed to lead the Islamic community into battle against states afflicted by jahiliyah. In Qutb’s eyes, the goal of making Islam the dominant religion in the world was the duty of all Muslims. After he served a stint in prison, Qutb published his manifesto, Milestones, which was immediately banned by the Arabian government.

Bashar was disturbed by the book and called together the leadership of the Society of Islamic Brothers’s Arabian branch, including his Vice President. According to the Vice President.

The President called the Islamic Guiding Council, of which there were five men including myself as it’s representative to the government, and he asked us quite bluntly. ‘Do you or any of your followers support the work of the leech Sayyid Qutb?’ We all said ‘No, Mr. President’, but the President was very skeptical. He made it clear that he was buckling under the arrangement which led to the creation of the Republic, immediately before the September Revolution, that he was unsure if he could trust the Society any further’. He held his copy of the Man from Jamouf in his hand and said ‘Worship the Qu'ran if you must, but you will conduct your activities in line with this book. There will be no talk of jihad, no talk of Arabia being in some period of ignorance, none of that rubbish’. He then kicked us out

Bashar had made it clear. If the Society stepped out of line, then there would be consequences.

The 'line' which Bashar wanted to enforce was the so-called 'Riyadh Agreement' in which the government and the Society had divided responsibilities. THe secular government was allowed control of the legislature, , military and legal system while the Society was allowed to maintain control of the nation's charities, infrastructure of mosques and the country's religious education system, with sharia law only being used for questions of family and inheritance law.

Bashar was determined that none of the factions would cross over into each other

To prevent nay type of uprisings, Bashar used his executive authority as President to dismiss several generals within the Arabian Army, which he thought were too close to the Society, and replaced them with secularist officers. He especially focused on revamping the command structure of units around Ha’ail and units surrounding of the Sharifate of Mecca. Unlike other tyrants, Bashar invited them into his office, explained the reasons for their dismissals and offered to contineu giving them their pensions as long as they stayed out of politics. Most chose to accept the deal. The minority that refused the deal were sent to Bashar’s new prison.

Those who refused to accept Bashar’s clemency were sent to al’Ha’ir prison, a detention facility located just 25 miles south of Riyadh, specially built for the purpose of detaining Islamic extremists where four detainees were expected to share the same two-bedroom cell and where torture was commonplace

Bashar tightened his control over information coming into the country. While the Arabian press was somewhat free before 1964, that all changed with the proclamation of the Media Proclamation Law, which read as follows

The government of the Arabian Socialist Republic shall have the final approval on information which has the potential to provoke feelings of sedition and discontent

In other words, Bashar's government now had total control of the country's media and this turned the Arabian news arena into a propaganda outlet for the regime.

A separate law was put into place which allowed the Arabian police to spy on citizens and enter their properties without the need for warrants. Special courts were also set up to deal with terrorism.

No terrorist attacks ever took place in the 1960s and government propaganda has attributed this to the government's swift response to the publication of Milestones. When Sayyid Qutb was hanged the next year, a government publication crowed

"This evil snake shall not terrorize good Muslims anymore!"

[1]

Arabia's relationship with Israel​

In 1964, Syria began braying for a re-match with Israel, but the other Arab states felt it was not the right moment to strike.

Nasser instead supported the idea of diverting the Jordan River away from the Sea of Galilee. Nasser’s idea received support after Israel completed the National Water Carrier scheme, which had the purpose of transferring water from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the highly populated south, with 80% of the water being earmarked for agriculture and 20% being earmarked for drinking, to meet the needs mandated by rapid population growth in the centre of the country and by the rising standard of living within Israel.

The Arab League was concerned that if Israel received more water, then Israel would receive more Jewish settlers.

However, only Syria contributed to this scheme, building a canal from the Banias River to the Yamouk River within their own territory. Lebanon refused to abandon it’s peace treaty with Israel.

Regardless, Israel saw the Syrian attempt as a violation of their sovereignty, with three border clashes occurring in 1965, resulting in Syria backing off.

Bashar watched these events unfold. He had urged the Syrian government to avoid provoking Israel, but they had ignored him. He privately called the Syrian government a ‘bunch of fools’ for attempting to provoke a conflict with Israel.

In June 1967, the third war in 30 years would break out between Israel and it’s Arab neighbors, again leading to the Arab forces’ defeat in only six days and leading to the conquest of the Golan Heights from Syria and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, Israel made the ‘land for peace’ deal in which they offered to give their conquests back to the Arabs if they agreed to peace.

In September 1967, the Arab League met in Khartoum, Sudan to vote on their response, which became known as the Khartoum Resolution or otherwise, the Three No’s – no recognition, no peace and no negotiation. Arabia refused to sign the resolution. When asked for a explanation by a member of the press, Bashar explained

“As far as I am concerned, Israel is here to stay. With the coming of President Kennedy in America, Israel now virtually has unlimited support from the Western world. You cannot ignore reality because you want to sate some millennia old blood-lust”,

[2]

When asked about the Palestinians, Bashar asked

“Who are the Palestinians? Tell me that. I reject the PLO’s assessment that anyone born to someone expelled in 1947 is a ‘Palestinian’. If they were born in Jordan, Egypt or Syria, then they are Jordanians, Egyptians and Syrians. You cannot claim to be a refugee just because you are born to a refugee. Those who reject reality and continue to push for a Palestinian state are just troublemakers. At least Israel is evolving and opening up to the world. Most of the Arab world is stuck in the hysteria that there exists a Jewish state. Contrary to popular belief, the Jews do have a historical basis for their claims to Palestine. They accepted the UN Partition Plan in 1947, but the Arab League wnted to wipe the Jews off the face of the Earth. In my opinion, the Arabs are the ones responsible for the ongoing conflict, not the Jews”,

This did not receive a positive reception in the Arab world. The Arab League promptly expelled Arabia from it’s ranks and ordered a economic boycott of the country. However, the Israeli government was so pleased with Bashar's statement that they reached out and offered to sign a treaty of friendship with him. Cut off from the rest of the Arab world and desiring a closer relationship with the United States, Bashar signed the agreement. In the agreement, Arabia agreed to recognize Israel's right to exist and it's status as a Jewish state. Much like with Jordan, the Arab League's boycott of Arabia was offset by the benefits of trade with the West.

Photos from 1960s Arabia [3]

Car washing in Riyadh

Street scene in Jeddah

A typical shopping scene in Khobar [4]


[1] Let's say the Arabians have spoken too soon.

[2] In OTL, President Kennedy was the one who formalized the strong ties between the US and Israel, rescinding the Truman-Eisenhower arms embargo

[3] Before you ask, yes, these are photos from Saudi Arabia.

[4] I will reiterate. Yes, this is a photo from Saudi Arabia. And also, I'm cheating with this one since it's from the 70s', not the '60s.

 

[A Piece of History]

Does anyone want me to make any updates for the Sultanate of Turkey or are you fine with focusing on the Arabian Socialist Republic? I'm good either way, I just want some opinions.

 

[Whiteshore]

Does anyone want me to make any updates for the Sultanate of Turkey or are you fine with focusing on the Arabian Socialist Republic? I'm good either way, I just want some opinions.

I am interested in what the Sultanate of Turkey looks like and major differences between it and OTL's Republic of Turkey aside from being a constitutional monarchy.

 

[A Piece of History]

Introduction

The formative years of the Sultanate of Turkey began with the end of World War I. After surrendering to the Entente in 1918, the Ottoman State was beset by a unofficial occupation of the country by the Entente.

The new military government under self-appointed Grand Vizier Ahmed Izaat Pasha chose not to overly oppose the occupation, believing that it was better to protect the Turkish people by cooperating with the Entente when the need arose, rather than fight. However, Ahmed, a former Minister of War, looked the other way when it came to the Ottoman Army maintaining stores of ammunition and weapons. There was nothing in the Armistice forbidding this and it kept the military, particularly Mustafa Kemal, on side. The British and French both made a point of not occupying Constantinople and allowing the new Turkish regime to function almost freely.

The first challenge of the new government was the Smyma War, in which Greece attempted to expand their territorial borders into Anatolia. Kemal retook Smyma and as per the Treaty of Smyma in 1920, expelled all of it's Greek descendant inhabitants. The second challenge was the Turkish-Armenian War, which ended in the Soviets conquering Armenia.

Post-War (1920-1937)

With the Entente out of Turkey, the Turkish government could begin to actually govern. Officially, Turkey was to be a constitutional monarchy with Sultan Mehmed VI still on the throne, though with almost no powers. Mehmed VI had also given up the position of Caliph.

The pre-war Grand Assembly was consecrated as a permanent bicameral legislature, with a singular national political bloc called the New Way controlling the government. In practice, the influence of Mustafa Kemal loomed large over the government. He spent most of the 1920s putting down Kurdish revolts and consecrating the Sultanate's hold over Anatolia, using methods which didn't sit very well with Izaat, but he turned a blind eye to it as long as Kemal was out of Istanbul.

Izaat was not blind to the influence Kemal's prestige had over the military. While the Sultan was a constitutional monarch, the Vizier attempted to continue the Turkish people's devotion for him by creating a personality cult around the man in an attempt to ward off Kemal's influence. The Sultan used this as a opportunity to convince the Vizier to slow down on particular reforms spearheaded by Kemal.

Social policies such as the eradication of superstitious medical treatments in favor of medical treatments were carried out, with the first Turkish Medical Congress spearheaded by 1925.

Policies regarding women were half-hearted. Women were allowed to vote and stand for election, but women were still disadvantaged financially, as their inheritance still remained half of that of a man's. Polygamy remained legal. The Turkish language remained the same, never transitioning to a proposed Latin alphabet as Kemal wanted. Surnames were introduced into mainstream Turkish society.

Kemal chafed under these lackluster policies. With the public supporting the Sultan, a coup against him would be very unpopular and could possibly have caused a civil war at a time when Turkey was trying to get back onto it's feet, especially with Soviet Russia to the north. Kemal spent his time, modernizing Turkey's army along German lines and pushing for the Assembly to legalize conscription to increase Turkey's manpower, which they did.

The biggest reform, however, would be in Turkey's relationship with the Kurds. In an attempt to earn their loyalty, Izmaat issued a proclamation in which the provinces of Van, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Hakkâri, Bitlis, Sirrt, Diyarbakir and Agri would be grouped into one autonomous Kurdish province[1]. Kemal was furious when he heard about this and he complained to Izmaat personally, threatening a military coup if any further ground was given to what Kemal called 'non-Turkic elements'. The province remained, but Izmaat retained bans on the Kurdish language and culture.

Both Kemal and Izaat would die in the 1930s, though they were preceded by Sultan Mehmed VI in 1926. Suleiman Sefik Pasha would become Grand Vizier and dissolve the war ministry, anointing himself Commander of Turkey's Armed Forces, beginning a tradition in which the Grand Vizier was almost always someone with a high rank in the Turkish Army, effectively giving the military a place in the government.

World War II

(1937-1945)

Turkey became a ideological ally of the Nazis just before World War II, with the Sultan cultivating anti-Communist sympathy in mosques by reciting Hitler's speeches against Communism. Suleiman Pasha would address the Grand Assembly, denoucning calls for a multi-party system as leaving TUrkey open to Communist influence. The Turkish Army would become the premier force representing Turkish values, just as the Wehrmacht did in Germany.

However, Turkey would never join World War II. TUrkey would not join the Allies either, as Hitler's ally, Mussolini, had just conquered Greece (an act which many Turks publicly celebrated) and to join the Allies would mean putting Istanbul in danger. Despite the Sultan's best attempts, the government rejected any proposals to join in on Operation Barbarossa, still haunted by the nightmare that was the Caucasus campaign in the previous war.

Sultan Abulmejid II would die in August 1944, to be succeeded by Sultan Ahmed IV, though he would die in 1954.

Mustafa Kemal's funeral in November 1938.

Sultan Mehmed VI's funeral in August 1926


Cold War

(1945-1989)

In August 1946, Turkey and the Soviet Union entered into a diplomatic stoush over Turkey's refusal to allow Soviet vessels free passage through the Black Sea, eventually ending in 1953 with the death of Joseph Stalin. Turkey had made the decision to join NATO the previous year, allowing for a large US military presence.

As part of a plan to fight a potential Soviet occupation and subvert Communist influences in Turkey, NATO established the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio in 1955, called the the Tactical Mobilization Unit, officially a special forces unit of the Turkish military. TMU supported the Turkish government's policy of Turkification through encouraging pogroms against the country's Greek minority after falsely accusing a Greek of planning to bomb the Turkish consulate in Thessalonki. This pogrom happened with the consent and support of the Turkish military, but the democracy-minded Sultan Osman IV was kept completely in the dark. Declassified CIA documents describe the Sultan as a 'useful tool' but he was later described as a 'ineffectual relic of a bygone era'. TMU would go on to stage dozens of attacks against communist elements in Turkey, becoming the Special Warfare Command in 1965, collaborating with the CIA in both incarnations.

From 1961 to 1963, one squadron of 15 PGM-19 Jupiter missiles was deployed at five sites around Izmir. The placement of these missiles would provoke the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. However, when they were placed, they were already obsolete and vulnerable to Soviet attack. As part of a backdoor trade to resolve the Crisis, the missiles were removed.

The Kurds (70s-80s)

The 1950s-60s marked a period of liberalization for the Kurdish people in Turkey. Under US pressure, the Turkish government repealed many laws which oppressed the Kurds, including bans on their language and their schools. Kurdish was even allowed to be taught in schools and the government encouraged the Kurds to travel throughout the country to mix with the other ethnic groups of the country, in an attempt to defuse separatist tendencies. The Turks' attempts at reconciliation only went so far, however. They officially banned the mention of 'Kurdistan' and heavily controlled Kurdish media.

One of the most famous avatars of change in the Kurdish world was a man named Abdullah Ocalam[2]. He became leaderof the only other legitimate politcal party in Turkey, aside from the New Way. called The Kurdish People's Party. Ocalam spearheaded the introduction of conscription into the Kurdish regions. There were attempts by Kurdish leftists to establish armed groups, but these were crushed by the Turkish military.

Democratization (1990s)

The Cold War had to end eventually and it did so in 1991. The USSR disintegrated and so, at least for the duration of the '90s, the US saw no need to keep a presence in Turkey. it eventually left, though Turkey remained a part of NATO, maintaining a stockpile of nuclear weapons.

In 1994, after a Kurdish teenager was shot while supposedly resisting arrest, the Kurdish regions of Turkey, even those outside of the Kurdish Autonomous Region, rose in protest. The protests spread across the country to Istanbul itself. While the Kurdish protests were calling for a investigation into the shooting, the protests in Istanbul and soon, across the country, were calling for the regime's downfall. Turkish troops responded violently to the protests, using live bullets against crowds which included old men and children.

During the protests, a mother's group displays portraits of family members killed by the government

It was at this point that the Sultan, Osman V, did the one thing his father never had the oppurtunity to do - demand the Grand Vizier Mehmet Golan's resignation, and that of the entire New Way Party. Through a sympathetic advisor's leak to a opposition newspaper, the Sultan made a effort to inform the people that he was behind them.Having lost the iwll of the people, Golan and the entire New Way Party resigned, ending the military government.

From 1995 - 2001, a transitional government was formed led by the secularist Ahmed Necdet Sezer. The government repealed the bans on political parties and free speech and declassified many of the old regime's files, allowing the Turkish people to witness the full scope of the regime's terror, including how the Turkish military were trained in torture methods by the CIA. In January 2001, a new constitution was accepted in a referendum, thereby officially bringing democracy to Turkey.

Politics​

In some ways, the Sultanate of Turkey has retained some elements of the old Ottoman Empire. It's bicameral legislature is the Grand Assembly, which is made up of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) and the Senate (Upper House), both of which have separate elections at different times of the year.

The Grand Vizier is the head of government. His duty is to appoint members of his cabinet, present bills to the Grand Assembly on behalf of the cabinet and approve members of the Turkish Supreme Court. There are no term limits on the position.

The Sultan is the overall head of state. He has the power to convene and dismiss the Grand Assembly, holds the position of Commander in Chief of Turkey's military and has the power to dismiss the Grand Vizier. It is also the duty of the Grand Vizier to call for elections for the Grand Vizier.

Turkey's only autonomous region is in the southeast of the country, along the border with Iran, Iraq and Syria. Established in the 1920s, it is mostly populated by the Kurdish ethnic group, which makes up 20% of the Turkish population, though bans on the Kurdish language and culture were only lifted in the 1960s. The region, according to the Kurdish Autonomy Law, is a a democratic parliamentary republic and has a presidential system wherein the President is elected by Parliament for a five-year term. It possesses it's own court system, though the Turkish Supreme Court does have the power to override laws passed by the KAR's governing body and a strict ban on separatist rhetoric remains in place.

Turkey is one of the few countries in the world not to have a proper national anthem. Instead, a song in the reigning Sultan's honour is sung at official occasions and sporting events, though there is a growing movement to change this.

Military​

The Turkish Armed Forces consist of the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Force. The Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard operate as parts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in peacetime, although they are subordinated to the Army and Navy Commands respectively in wartime, during which they have both internal law-enforcement and military functions. The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the Grand Vizier. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Parliament for matters of national security and the adequate preparation of the armed forces to defend the country. However, the authority to declare war and to deploy the Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries or to allow foreign armed forces to be stationed in Turkey rests solely with the Assembly.



[1] Inspired by the failed Armenian reform package of 1914

[2] In OTL, Ocalam was one of the founders of the PKK. In this world, with the existence of the KAR and the repeal of bans on the Kurdish language and culture in the 60s, the PKK doesn't exist.

 

[Ski-U-Mahdi]

So what script would the kurdish language be in this timeline? Or I guess a better question would be what would be the one primarily used? I know that there currently exists a Latin, Arabic, as well as a completely separate script that opposing folks use. Seeing as how the Turkish language in this timeline never stopped using the Arabic script, I have a feeling that the kurdish language would also primarily be in the Arabic script as well. Also would you say that this continuing use of the Arabic script would create warmer relations between the Sultanate of Turkey and its southern Arab neighbors?

Some more questions, seeing the differences in this TL, would this Turkey have a lot colder relations with the Israelis? Regardless of the secularist government in power, i feel like opening relations with the Israelis would be seen as problematic by the populous and lessen the prestige of the sultan.

 

[A Piece of History]

So what script would the kurdish language be in this timeline? Or I guess a better question would be what would be the one primarily used? I know that there currently exists a Latin, Arabic, as well as a completely separate script that opposing folks use.

Well, with the improved relations between Turkey and it's Kurdish minorities, I would not be surprised if the Arabic script became the mainstream script in that particular region and given what I have planned for the rest of the timeline, this means the KAR would be a outlier when it comes to Kurdistan and language.

Also would you say that this continuing use of the Arabic script would create warmer relations between the Sultanate of Turkey and its southern Arab neighbors?

It certainly would help, but water disputes and other political issues (aside from the PKK) are still present. That's all I will say on the matter.

Some more questions, seeing the differences in this TL, would this Turkey have a lot colder relations with the Israelis? Regardless of the secularist government in power, i feel like opening relations with the Israelis would be seen as problematic by the populous and lessen the prestige of the sultan.

Well, that really depends on the Palestinians, doesn't it? In TTL, as I have demonstrated, Jordan controls the West Bank and Israel conquers Gaza. I would expect that Turkey would be more angry at Jordan for cracking down on Palestinian nationalism than it would be at Israel for conquering Gaza, which isn't that large to begin with. Turkey might still be angry with Israel for annexing East Jerusalem, but seen as how Israel was given East Jerusalem, rather than it being conquered by them, in TTL, East Jerusalem would not be considered occupied territory by anyone outside of the Arab world and I would expect Turkey, if it wants to open up to the world, would have to drop that part of their foreign policy.

As you implied, foreign policy would also heavily hinge on what the Sultan wants, since he has the power to dismiss the Grand Vizier if he steps out of line. So it would depend on how progressive the Sultan is.