There are those who say, “The collapse of the Ottoman Empire has not yet finished, but that collapse will be completed when the Southeast breaks away:”But the Qur’an says, “Division is a sin, unity is an obligation”...

"There are those who think that 'The collapse of the Ottoman Empire
has not yet finished. Everywhere has split up as Ottoman provinces.
Only the Southeast is left;and that is the final stage. Once that
breaks away, too, the collapse of the Empire will be complete.' But
division isa sin whether or not the Ottoman Empire even exists. Allah
imposes unity among Muslims as an obligation."
There is a theory proposed by some people that'The collapseof the
Ottoman Empire has not yet finished, it is still going on.' In other
words, they supposedly see the Ottoman Empire surviving within the
Republic of Turkey. They regard the Southeast as one of the
provinces of the Ottoman Empire that has not yet broken away.'The
Southeast also needs to break away as an Ottoman province. In the same
way that Bulgaria, Greece and all the other places broke away; just
the Southeast now remains. There is the final stage. Then the collapse
of the Empire will be complete,' they think.
For one thing, the Ottoman Empire never pressured anyone. It never
interfered in anyone's religion or language. Everyone in Bulgaria
spoke Bulgarian, not Ottoman. Everyone in Algeria spoke French.
There was never any interference in their religions, either;
everyone was free and at peace. That is a feature unique to the
Ottoman Empire. The reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
was fundamentalism and bigotry. The coming of Darwinism, the spread
of a Darwinist and materialist system, the spread of atheism, the
weakening of faith within the state and finally the almost complete
domination of the state by Darwinism. It was a collapse resulting
from weakness of faith caused by that. During the initial expansion
of the Ottoman Empire it spread very fast. A policy of conquest was
followed and the Ottomans ruled everywhere, but they were devout
believers with a strong religious structure. But then this weakness
of faith appeared. The collapse began with the growth of Darwinism
and materialism within the Ottoman Empire. And then it came to this
position. I am saying this in order to resolve the misunderstanding
here; the collapse of the Ottoman Empire did no good to anyone. It
brought no prosperity to Greece. Greece was ruined. They saw no
abundance or beauty as a result. The same with Cyprus. The Turkish
part is well-off now, but not the Greek part. The economy in the
Greek part has collapsed. The state is bankrupt. The state is also
bankrupt in Greece. The economy has collapsed. It brought no
prosperity with it. And even if the Ottoman Empire collapsed, we are
Muslims. And Muslims must be as one. It is not essential to call it
the Ottoman Empire. There is Islamic Unity and Muslims have a duty
to be united. The people of the Southeast, our brothers there, are
also Muslims, and we are Muslims. We must be united as Allah
commands. Division due to tribalism is a sin. "Do not separate"
(Surat al-'Imran, 103) says Almighty Allah; "... do not quarrel
among yourselves lest you lose heart and your momentum
disappear.... " says Allah (Surat al-Anfal, 46) . It is a sin. Look,
"Do not separate". This is why we need to analyze the matter on the
basis of the Qur'an. We should not attach any credence to the words
of those who engage in sociological analyses.