Perspective: Abdullah Muradoglu on Deraa
Translated excerpt from Abdullah Muradoğlu’s article “Lawrence’s Rape Lie,” as printed in the Turkish publication New Dawn, May 21, 2006.
“Thomas Edward Lawrence’s claim that he was raped by Ottoman soldiers in World War I has been scientifically proven to be a smear. Lawrence is the English spy who goaded Husayn, the Shariff of Mecca, with false promises of independence to revolt against the Ottomans in WWI. It has now been scientifically determined by James Barr that Lawrence lied about the rape incident to defame the Ottomans. However, other sources have also known to exist to indicate that Lawrence’s claim is fraudulent.
According to Sunday Telegraph, James Barr, the author of Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918, claims that Lawrence was at somewhere else between November 15 and 21 in 1917, when he claimed to be raped in Der’a. According to Barr, who subjected Lawrence’s diary to electrostatic data and carbon analyses, the torn-off pages corresponding to these dates in Lawrence’s diary were written in Azrak Castle, some 60 miles away from Der’a. Another piece of evidence that supports Barr’s claim is that Lawrence himself mentions in a letter to his mother dated November 14 that he would stay in Azrak Castle for a few days.”
Full article published in Turkish at:
http://www.yenisafak.com.tr/arsiv/2006/mayis/21/izdusum.html
