ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the unpublished memoirs of Abd Allah Dabbus. Dabbus's depictions of Istanbul occupy almost one-third of the 157 pages of typed memoirs. He was most probably born in 1899 in Beirut. The first trip to Istanbul left a great impression on young Abd Allah Dabbus. He admired the hospitality and generosity of the people of Istanbul. In April 1916, Abd Allah volunteered to join the military academy as a cadet, a possibility that was available to him due to his formal high school education. Abd al-Jabbar once asked Dabbjus about the treatment he was receiving at the military academy. As an experienced and well-trained Arab officer, he was offered his freedom on condition of joining the Arab forces of Faisal. It is most probable that Dabbus's identity was culturally based and shaped by social and economic aspirations more than by any narrow and exclusivist racial or national convictions.
