What is this? Has Islam now undergone division?

But the Prophet cursed the idea of racialism.

The greatest enemy of division is His spirit,

May the ... .'s name who introduced it into Islam be forgotten!

• The Balkan War

But nationalism was now a fire that could not easily be quenched. Towards the end of 1912, the Balkan War broke out when, seeking their independence; four states united and attacked the Ottomans. Again from Cemal Kutay we learn that as a member of the Special Organization, Bediuzzaman participated in some of the most valiant actions of this disastrous war as an Honorary Colonel commanding a militia force brought from Eastern Anatolia. According to Esref Kuscubasi’s younger brother, Selim Sami, on whose right flank he fought in the Kalikratya [Kumburgaz] division, "With his athletic physique and dress peculiar to himself, Bediuzzaman fought in the front line like a true hero."

In his memoirs, Esref Bey mentions the retaking of Edirne and the setting-up of the short-lived republic in Western Thrace, and Bediuzzaman's appreciation of Abdulhamid's successful policy of preventing the Balkan states uniting against the Ottomans. It was the CUP's failure to continue the policy that had allowed the present situation to arise:

"We were in the darkest days of the Balkan War. The Bulgarians were drawn up before Catalca. Differences had arisen among the enemy; they were attacking one another. In the Peace Conference in London, the Bulgarians were determined not to