Insight Turkey
Insight Turkey
Challenging ideas
On Turkish politics and International affairs

Author

Sırma Feyza Şağban

İstanbul University
Sırma Feyza Şağban
Promised Lands: The British and the Ottoman Middle East
March 30, 2023
Promised Land is an exhaustive work that focuses on the often neglected early British encounter in the Middle East. Though the vast amount of details and solely the British Empire perspective can prove a source of disillusionment for some, Parry’s effort to avoid all kinds of stereotypes, which often prove a distraction, can be appreciated by the readers. To him, the relationship between Mehmet Ali and Britain can be explained by Britain’s reliance on the “quiet and natural industry of the Arabs” (p. 76), rather than pure imperialism. What is striking the most is there was no mention of the Young Turk Revolution and Committee of Union and Progress, İttihad ve Terakki. These are the key elements of anti-Ottoman sentiment in the period where Parry tirelessly argues that it was the enmity between the Ottoman Empire and other locals which forced Britain to get involved in the first place. Nonetheless Promised Land is an impressive work of scholarship and essential reading for anyone with an interest in the modern history of the Middle East.

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