They did not forget, but we have forgotten with regret.
When the Greek forces entered the Ottoman city of Bursa during World War I, the commander of the Greek army, Sophocles, went to the tomb of Sultan Osman Ghazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. `He kicked his grave and shouted:`
"O great turbaned one! Arise... O great Osman! Arise so that you may see the condition of your descendants! We have destroyed the state that you established; I have come to kill you!"
And when the French forces entered Syria during World War I, General Henri Gouraud immediately went to the tomb of Salahuddin Ayyubi,
`kicked it with his foot and said:`
"O Salahuddin! We have returned again."
And when the British forces entered Jerusalem during World War I,
`General Edmund Allenby said:`
"Now the Crusades are over."
They did not forget, but we have forgotten with regret!!!
`Source: Book "Memoirs of Sultan Abdul Hamid II" by Murad Duman`