¹ Commonly known as turcos on account of their identity papers, such a sobriquet outlived the Ottoman empire. Deeply resented by the newly arrived in Latin America, especially–though not only–by those who migrated in the post-World War I period, all references to such immigrants in this paper allude to their countries of origin, or describe them as Arabic speakers, Arabs, Middle Easterners, Ottoman subjects, Syro-Lebanese (a rubric that gained currency in Argentina since the 1920s) and turcos. Klich, I., “Criollos and Arabic Speakers in Argentina,” in Hourani, A. and Shehadi, N., eds., The Lebanese in the World (London, 1992), p. 268 n. 56.Google Scholar

² On the Middle Easterners in Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Argentina), see, for example, Knowlton, C., “Spacial and Social Mobility of the Syrians and Lebanese in the City of São Paulo” (Ph.D. diss., Vanderbilt University, 1955)Google Scholar; Bray, D., “The Emergence of the Arab-Chileans, 1952–1958,” Journal of Inter-American Studies, 4:4 Google Scholar; Wilkie, Mary, “The Lebanese in Costa Rica and Uruguay,” unpublished manuscript; Safady, J., “A imigração árabe no Brasil (1880–1971)” (Ph.D. diss., Universidade de São Paulo, 1972)Google Scholar; Osterweil, M., “The Meaning of Elitehood” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1978)Google Scholar; Bruijne, G., “The Lebanese in Surinam,” Boletín de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (June 1979)Google Scholar; Nicholls, D., “No Hawkers and Pedlars,” Ethnic and Racial Studies [hereafter cited as ERS] (Oct. 1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Plummer, B., “Race, Nationality and Trade in the Caribbean,” International History Review (Oct. 1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Corbinos, L. Agar, “El comportamiento urbano de los migrantes rabes en Chile,” Eure, 9:27 (1983)Google Scholar; Oropesa, C. Páez, Los libaneses en México (Mexico, 1984)Google Scholar; Ahsani, S. and Kasule, O., “Muslims in Latin America,” Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (July 1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Humphrey, M., “The Lebanese War and Lebanese Immigrant Cultures,” ERS (Oct. 1986)Google Scholar; Montiel, L.Martinez, La gota de oro (H. Veracruz, 1988)Google Scholar; Gonzalez, N., Dollar, Dove and Eagle (Ann Arbor, 1992)Google Scholar; Obeid, S., The Arab Community of Venezuela (Arabic) (Beirut, 1992)Google Scholar; Truzzi, O., De mascotes a doutores (São Paulo, 1992)Google Scholar; G. Perdomo Lorenzo, “Sociedades árabes de Cuba,” unpublished manuscript; Lesser, J., “From Peddlers to Proprietors,” in Hourani, and Shehadi, , eds., The Lebanese in the World.Google Scholar

³ The Syro-Lebanese have been receiving growing scholarly attention since the 1980s. See, for example, Abou, S., Immigrés dans l’autre Amérique (Paris, 1972)Google Scholar; Allard, M., “Les Libanais en Argentine de l’émigration à l’intégration,” Travaux et Jours, 48 (1973)Google Scholar; Campoy, L., “La inmigración libanesa a la Argentina y a Mendoza” (Unión Libanesa Cultural Mundial, Mendoza, 1975)Google Scholar; L. Bertoni, “Una colectividad en formación,” paper presented at the Primeras Jornadas Nacionales sobre Immigración en Argentina, Buenos Aires, Nov. 5–7, 1981; Ríos, M. Vela and Caimi, R., “The Arabs in Tucumán, Argentina,” in Montiel, L. Martínez, Asiatic Migrations in Latín America (Mexico, 1981)Google Scholar; L. Bertoni, “Los turcos en la Argentina,” paper presented at the Primeras Jornadas Internacionales sobre Migración en América, Buenos Aires, Oct. 13–15, 1983; Jozami, G., “Aspectos demográficos y comportamiento espacial de los migrantes árabes en el NOA,” Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos [hereafter cited as EMLA] (April 1987)Google Scholar; Tasso, A., “Migración e identidad social,” EMLA (Aug.-Dec. 1987)Google Scholar; Tasso, A., Aventura, trabajo y poder (Buenos Aires, 1989)Google Scholar; Assali, E. Biondi, “Alternancia de los códigos español-árabe entre los bilingües de Tucumán, Argentina,” Caravelle, 52 (1989)Google Scholar; I. Klich, “Arab-Jewish Coexistence in Argentina until the 1940s,” paper presented at the XV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington, D.C., April 4–6, 1991; Bestene, J., “Formas de asociacionismo entre los sirio-libaneses en Buenos Aires,” in Devoto, F. and Míguez, E., eds., Asociacionismo, trabajo e identidad étnica (Buenos Aires, 1992)Google Scholar; Valverde, E., “Integration and Identity in Argentina,” in Hourani, and Shehadi, , eds., The Lebanese in the World.Google Scholar

⁴ Unlike the elected or de facto heads of state listed above, Abdala served as Uruguay’s Vice President from 1967–1971. Cecín, A. Seluja, Los libaneses en el Uruguay (Montevideo, 1989), p. 211.Google Scholar

⁵ Whereas all others hailed from Christian families, Menem’s was Muslim; he himself converted to Catholicism in 1963. Bazán, A., El Noroeste y la Argentina contemporánea (1853–1992) (Buenos Aires, 1992), p. 476.Google Scholar

⁶ Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto, Buenos Aires, Consular Division [hereafter cited as AMREC, CD], El Salvador 8/930, Argentine consulate in Costa Rica to foreign ministry, Oct. 29, 1930; National Archives and Records Administration [hereafter cited as NA], Washington, D.C., J. Landau to Braden, S., RG 59, 814.4016/11-646, V Asie française (1937), p. 227 Google Scholar; Becú, H. Zorraquín, El problema del extranjero en la reciente legislación latino-americana (Buenos Aires, 1943), pp. 40–41,Google Scholar 54–57, 63–69; Rovira, A., Selección de la inmigración y protección del trabajador nacional (Montevideo, 1950), pp. 4,58Google Scholar; Plummer, B., “Race, Nationality and Trade in the Caribbean,” International History Review (Oct. 1981), 522–36Google Scholar; Mármora, L., “La fundamentación de las políticas migratorias internaciónales en América Latina,” EMLA (Dec. 1988), 380–81Google Scholar; González, N., “The Christian Palestinians of Honduras,” in González, N. and McCommon, C., eds., Conflict, Migration and the Expression of Ethnicity (Boulder, 1989), p. 82 Google Scholar; Seluja, , Los libaneses en el Uruguay, p. 19.Google Scholar For a detailed, though still incomplete catalogue of such restrictions, see Klich, I., “Sources for the History of the Middle Easterners in Latin America,” Temas de Asia y Africa, 2 (1993).Google Scholar

⁷ According to the Patronato Sirio-Libanés, Argentina's wish to stem the Syro-Lebanese influx resulted in the country’s consulate in Beirut becoming “systematically resistant” to issue visas since early in 1928. See Klich, , “Criollos and Arabic Speakers,” p. 269 n. 57.Google Scholar

⁸ Slatta, R., Gaucho and the Vanishing Frontier (Lincoln, 1983), p. 177 Google Scholar; Klich, , “Criollos and Arabic Speakers,” pp. 265–66.Google Scholar

⁹ Solberg, C., Immigration and Nationalism (Austin, 1970), pp. 132–57Google Scholar; Slatta, , Gaucho and the Vanishing Frontier (Lincoln, 1983), pp. 178–79Google Scholar; Helg, A., “Race in Argentina and Cuba, 1880–1930,” in Graham, R., ed., The Idea of Race in Latin America, ¡870–1940 (Austin, 1990), pp. 45–47.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Bertoni, “Una colectividad en formación,” paper presented at the Primeras Jornadas Nacionales sobre Inmigración en Argentina, Buenos Aires, Nov. 5–7, 1981, pp. 12–13, 25; Seluja, , Los libaneses en el Uruguay, pp. 29–30, 44, 47.Google Scholar

¹¹ If a report by the head of the Maronites in Argentina is anything to go by, nearly 15,000 Syro-Lebanese Muslims were living in the country, together with some 30,000 Christians by 1907. Inasmuch as Argentine immigration records established that 77 percent of the Syro-Lebanese entrants during 1876-1909 were Catholic, it would appear that Maronite clerics were, unwittingly or otherwise, a source of exaggerations on the Muslims’ numerical weight, unless that is the newly arrived misrepresented their creeds or the latter somehow recorded such information inaccurately. Maronite Superior to Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Aug. 22, 1907, as cited in Santamaria, D., “Estado, Iglesia e inmigración en la Argentina moderna,” EMLA (April 1990), 153 Google Scholar; Klich, , “Criollos and Arabic Speakers,” p. 264.Google Scholar

¹² Tercer censo nacional (Buenos Aires, 1916), II, p. 417.

¹³ Ayarragaray, L., Cuestiones y problemas argentinos contemporáneos (Buenos Aires, 1926), p. 62.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Even after the establishment of Argentine-Ottoman relations and the opening of an Argentine Vice-Consulate in Beirut, Lebanese clerics continued to have recourse to the French for the purpose of certifying the authenticity of documents. AMREC, CD, Turkey [hereafter cited as T] 23/913, A. de Luciano to J. Peuser, Aug. 16, 1913.

¹⁵ Schamún, A., “La colectividad siria en la República Argentina,” Buenos Aires, May 25, 1910, p. 10.Google Scholar

¹⁶ NA, OSS R&A Report 1186; La Siria nueva (Buenos Aires, 1917), p. 31; Abderrahman, M., Adalid ríoplatense (Buenos Aires, 1954), pp. 158–60Google Scholar; Allard, , “Les Libanais en Argentine,” p. 10.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Schamún, , “La colectividad siria,” pp. 26–28 Google Scholar; La Siria nueva, pp. 31–33.

¹⁸ Roque Sáenz Peña Papers, Archivo General de la Nación, Buenos Aires, Diplomacy, J. Figueroa Alcorta to R. Sáenz Peña, May 17, 1910.

¹⁹ Ottoman Prime Ministry Archives, Istanbul, Sublime Porte Secretariat, Mt. Lebanon 1/37 (III), Ottoman embassy in Paris to Ottoman foreign ministry, May 6, 1898; Ottoman foreign minister to Grand Vizier, June 15, 1898; Ottoman consulate in Rio de Janeiro to Ottoman foreign ministry, Aug. 9, 1898; AMREC, CD, T 1/910, H. Cullén Ayerza to V. de la Plaza, July 29, 1910; Ottoman Undersecretary of State to De la Plaza, Aug. 9, 1910; Abderrahman, , Adalid ríoplatense, p. 116 Google Scholar; Arslan, E., “La Joven Turquía y Europa,” Revista Argentina de Ciencias Políticas, 1:8 (1911), 5–6 Google Scholar; Cleveland, W., Islam against the West (London, 1985), pp. 3–7.Google Scholar

²⁰ AMREC, CD, T 1/910, Arslan to Portela, E., Oct. 29, 1910; Schamún, “La colectividad siria,” p. 9 Google Scholar; La Siria nueva, p. 34; Obeid, J., Momentos (Buenos Aires, 1947), pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

²¹ La Siria nueva, pp. 34, 36; Arslan, E., La revolución siria contra el mandato francés (Buenos Aires, 1926), p. 9 Google Scholar; La Independencia-al-Istiklal, Jan. 9, 1944.

²² Until recently, the foreign ministry has–with few exceptions–been reluctant to see non-Catholics and naturalized Argentines pursuing a diplomatic career. An extreme case of the above mentioned being deemed unfit to represent Argentina was witnessed in the 1920s, when the Jewish descended Daniel Antokoletz, in charge of the ministry’s political section, was forced out of his job by Marcelo Torcuata de Alvear’s top diplomat, Angel Gallardo. According to the latter, the ministry’s most sensitive section could not be entrusted to “a foreigner and a Jew.” A naturalized Argentine who had been baptised, Antokoletz had previously served as a member of the Argentine delegation to the League of Nations. Gallardo, A., Memorias para mis hijos y nietos (Buenos Aires, 1982), pp. 365–66.Google Scholar

²³ Santamaría, , “Estado, Iglesia e inmigración,” p. 160.Google Scholar

²⁴ Pedro Catella Papers, privately held, “Funeral cívico en memoria del Emir Emin Arslan,” Buenos Aires, July 27, 1943; Independencia, Jan. 9, 1944; Abderrahman, , Adalid ríoplatense, pp. 163–64.Google Scholar Among the Emir’s fiction and non-fiction productions in Spanish are Arslan, E., La verdad sobre el harem (Buenos Aires, 1917)Google Scholar; Arslan, E., Recuerdos de Oriente (Buenos Aires, 1921)Google Scholar; Arslan, E., Misterios de Oriente (Buenos Aires, 1932)Google Scholar; Arslan, E., Verdadera historia de las desencantadas (2nd ed.; Buenos Aires, 1935)Google Scholar; Arslan, E., Los árabes (3rd ed.; Buenos Aires, 1943).Google Scholar

²⁵ According to Khalil Saadah, a campaigner for Syrian independence and one of the convenors of a conference in Buenos Aires (Feb. 1919) which led to the creation of the Syrian National Democratic Party, Arslan was temporarily hired by the French to prod the Muslims in Argentina to apply for French documents. Until Saadah was alienated by Arslan’s Francophilia, which included efforts to persuade the former to drop his advocacy of Syrian independence in favor of French patronage, he had been with the former Ottoman diplomat. If Saadah’s harsh critique is anything to go by, Arslan’s pro-French sentiments were exclusively inspired by personal considerations. Apart from pecuniary motives, it had to do with Arslan’s aspiration of becoming the French administration’s governor of Lebanon or Syria, or at the very least a French consul in charge of Syrian affairs. See al-Jarida (São Paulo), Oct. 26, 1921; Feb. 4 and 11, 1922; March 18, 1922; al-Hage, B., The Unknown Works of Khalil Saadeh (Arabic) (London, 1987), p. 18.Google Scholar

²⁶ NA, J. Wiley to J. Dunn, 867N.001/2-2342; NA, OSS R&A Report 1186. On Shakib Arslan’s presence in the Americas, see Eljichin, A., Lazo de unión entre los propugnadores de una causa justa, vol. 1 (Buenos Aires, 1941)Google Scholar; Mehdi, B., The Arabs in America 1492–1977 (Dobbs Ferry, 1978), p. 83.Google Scholar

²⁷ Whether in relative or absolute terms, the value of Argentine-Ottoman exchanges was not too significant. AMREC, CD, T 5/912, Peuser to Bosch, Feb. 9, 1912; T 29/912, Arslan to Bosch, Dec. 20, 1912; Bosch to Arslan, May 23, 1913; T 11/913, Peuser to Bosch, April 26, 1913 and Jan. 20, 1914; T 7/914, Peuser to Murature, March 15, 1914. Schamún, , “La colectividad siria,” pp. 15–16 Google Scholar; La Siria nueva, p. 35.

²⁸ AMREC, CD, T 5/910, Arslan to Portela, Nov. 23, 1910; T 9/911, Arslan to Bosch, April 20, 1911.

²⁹ Ultimas Noticias (Santiago), April 3, 1939; Diario Siriolibanés-al-Jarida al-Suriyya al-Lubnaniyya (Buenos Aires), Jan. 10, 1946.

³⁰ Following his inquiry about the murder of Emilio and Pedro Jorge, of Campo Tipán, Arslan was apprised of the investigating magistrate’s decision to drop the case against a single suspect, one O. Navarro, on grounds of insufficient evidence. AMREC, CD, T 12/911, Arslan to Bosch, May 3, 1911; Argentine Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs to Arslan, June 1911.

³¹ José Saine’s assassination at the hands of a band of brigands led the indignant Syro-Lebanese of Villa María to inform Arslan of their distress at the prospect that the perpetrators of this heinous crime might escape justice. When the consul referred their concern to the Argentine foreign minister, the latter administered a severe dressing down. Rejecting the thinly disguised implication in the letter of the Villa Maria Arabs, i.e., that the authors of a turco death might elude capture, the foreign ministry advised Arslan that there were “no grounds to merit or justify a consular intervention, even less so that of the executive branch of government.” If Arslan’s intervention prejudged the result, as conceivably the investigation had not yet been concluded, it is worth remarking that the consul does not seem to have been informed of the eventual outcome of these inquiries. AMREC, CD, T 16/911, Villa Maria Arabs to Arslan, May 15, 1911; Bosch to Arslan, June 1911.

³² From Viedma gaol Miguel Besteni sought Arslan’s intervention so that his lawful rights should not be trampled on. In custody in connection with the investigation of the role of several policemen, including a commissioner, in the murder “of our compatriots in 9 de Julio,” Besteni complained that the investigating magistrate disregarded his claimed ignorance of the Spanish language, took a statement without an interpreter and forced Besteni to sign a transcript “without knowing what I signed or enjoying the benefits of legal counsel.” Having asked the foreign ministry to look into the matter, the Río Negro authorities proclaimed that Besteni was fit to express himself well in Spanish and confirmed that he had made a statement without the need of an interpreter. The authorities did not consider the possibility that even though Besteni’s knowledge of the language was good enough for him to make a declaration in Spanish, he may not have been able to read it, let alone understand the formal phraseology of a legal documents. Hence, the procedure followed by the judge did not exclude the possibility of an attempt to absolve or diminish the policemen's responsibility in the murders under investigation and pin these on the detainee or someone else. AMREC, CD, T 18/911, Arslan to Bosch, June 7, 1911; J. Aguilar to J. Garro, Sept. 1, 1911.

³³ Throwing light on Syrian and Lebanese arrivals in Patagonia during the first two decades of this century, see Ripa, J., Inmigrantes en la Patagonia (Buenos Aires, 1987), pp. 56–73 Google Scholar; Assali, E. Biondi, “L’insertion des groupes de langue arabe dans la société argentine,” Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, 7:2 (1991), 141–42, 145.Google Scholar

³⁴ A Choele-Choel shopowner requested Arslan’s intervention to ensure that his son Vicente Zuain’s murder would be solved, and the two carts, four horses, and merchandise released to him. Having approached the judge, the elder Zuain complained that the magistrate “did not seem interested in my affairs,” with the police ignoring the witnesses he brought to attest to his identity. The ordeal had left the petitioner with the distinct impression that the authorities paid no attention a un extranjero turco por ser turco. Two months after Arslan’s intercession, the Rio Negro police retorted that the father had failed to identify himself when he had been to the police station. Moreover, in accordance with magistrate instructions, Zuain’s carts, horses, and goods had been left with another Syrian, Elias Ziedi. A second letter which Arslan relayed to the foreign ministry revealed that the elder Zuain had reason to believe that his son’s death was no accident, but a plot hatched by the owner of the well where the corpse was found to recover a signed obligation to pay. Plainly, Zuain alleged that his son’s murderers had colluded with the police, and listed a catalogue of deficiencies in the latter’s handling of the case. There was plenty of scope for speculation about the possibility that a tripartite deal to split the deceased man’s belongings had been cut by magistrate, police commissioner, and Ziedi, while the owner of the well and two accomplices remained at large after having removed the desired document. AMREC, CD, T 33/911, Arslan to Bosch, Dec. 30, 1911; Rio Negro police to governor, Feb. 21, 1912; J. Zuain to Arslan, n.d.

³⁵ The death of farm laborer José Capul prompted his confrère José Elia’s complaint against the police for their failure to apprehend the killer, one Honorio Cordero. Not long after receiving a letter from Arslan, foreign minister Ernesto Bosch had the governor of Buenos Aires province release to him the police file on Capul, including the information that Cordero was already in custody. Since the date of Cordero’s capture was not given, it is difficult to know whether the consul’s intervention had played any role in this heretofore unpublicized development. AMREC, CD, T 21/912, Bosch to Governor of Buenos Aires province, Oct. 12, 1912; Governor of Buenos Aires to Bosch, Oct. 22, 1912.

³⁶ In December 1913 the Villa Elisa-based Feiz Kreidy brought to Arslan’s attention his brother Alejandro’s violent death. Shot dead by one Felipe Erbhi, Alejandro’s killer had been set free after eleven days in custody. AMREC, CD, T 27/913, Memorandum of the Ottoman consulate, Dec. 28, 1913.

³⁷ According to the Syro-Lebanese community of Concarán, the murderers of Jorge Merep and Jorge Ganim Juri had been released from the Villa Mercedes gaol. Two months after referring the case to the foreign ministry, the San Luis provincial government disclosed that the man who confessed to the murder had escaped while two others implicated in the killing were freed on grounds that the escapee’s confession was insufficient evidence to try them. AMREC, CD, T 17/914, Arslan to J. Murature, Nov. 16, 1914; J. Cantilo to Arslan, Jan. 29, 1915.

³⁸ AMREC, CD, T 10/911, Arslan to Bosch, April 25, 1911; M. Ruiz de los Llanos to Arslan, June 30, 1911.

³⁹ Schamún, , “La colectividad siria,” pp. 16–17 Google Scholar; Rossi, R., Recuerdos y crónicas de antaño (Montevideo, 1924), 2, pp. 16–17 Google Scholar; Allard, , “Les Libanais en Argentine,” p. 9 Google Scholar; Zoni, C., Los turcos (Buenos Aires, 1974), pp. 14–81 Google Scholar; Jozami, , “Aspectos demográficos y comportamiento espacial de los migrantes árabes,” p. 69.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ AMREC, CD, T 24/911, Arslan to Bosch, July 24, 1911.

⁴¹ AMREC, CD, T 20/913, De Luciano to A. Munib, July 4, 1913.

⁴² AMREC, CD, T 1/910, Imperial firman in Emin Arslan’s favor, Redjeb 21, 1328. Solberg, , Immigration and Nationalism, p. 137 Google Scholar; Allard, , “Les Libanais en Argentine,” p. 11.Google Scholar

⁴³ Karpat, K., “The Ottoman Emigration to America, 1860–1914,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 17 (1985), 184, 186Google Scholar; el-Ashkar, H., “Los árabes en Venezuela” (Ph.D. diss., Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1992), pp. 43–44 Google Scholar; Akarli, E., “Ottoman Attitudes towards Lebanese Emigration, 1885–1910,” in Hourani, and Shehadi, , eds., The Lebanese in the World.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ As with his request to be kept informed of deaths and births among Ottoman subjects, Arslan’s call for help in dealing with those who changed their names was turned down. In the former case the denial was ascribed to the absence of a specific agreement on the subject. As for the latter, Bosch argued that it was not for Argentina to tackle the immigrants” unwillingness to register with the consulate, an internal matter of the Ottoman representation, or to tamper with “the complete freedom the legislation on identity grants them.” “Official intervention–clarified Bosch–would only be fitting if (Argentine) laws were being broken.” Yet, in the Argentine foreign minister’s judgment, this was not the case. Behind such explanations barely lay hidden the government’s serious misgivings about foreigners recalled to serve in their home countries’ armed forces, and this after having settled for good in an Argentina which exempted them from such service. This and Argentine expectations that immigrants would promptly cut themselves off from their countries of origin are the real reasons for the foreign ministry’s uncooperative attitude. AMREC, CD, T 4/910, Arslan to Portela, Nov. 30, 1910; De los Llanos to Arslan, Dec. 28, 1910; T 24/911, Arslan to Bosch, July 24, 1911; Bosch to Arslan, Aug. 10, 1911.

⁴⁵ AMREC, CD, T 16/912, Arslan to Bosch, June 5, 1912; S. Laspiur to Bosch, July 8, 1912. Arslan, , “Joven Turquía,” p. 6.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ AMREC, CD, T 16/912, De los Llanos to I. Gómez, July 8, 1912; Gómez to Bosch, Aug. 10, 1912; T 21/913, Bosch to Peuser, Oct. 8, 1913. Inasmuch as the foreign ministry rejected a year later the suggestion that only documents legalized by the Argentine vice-consulate in Beirut should be recognized, it can be deduced that one of the problems involved in Gómez’s proposal was that it stood in the way of existing agreements with France and other countries or was incompatible with Argentine legislation on the authenticity of documents.

⁴⁷ Whereas the recommended increase in the cost of peddler permits did not become official Argentine policy during Arslan’s tenure, this is exactly what the Cubans did in the 1920s. R. Levine, Tropical Diaspora (forthcoming).

⁴⁸ AMREC, CD, T 16/912, Arslan to Bosch, Dec. 3, 1913; Laspiur to Bosch, Jan. 1914. See also Allard, , “Les Libanais en Argentine,” p. 11.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ For critical comments by the spiritual leader of the Jewish Colonization Association’ agricultural establishments on Jewish hawkers early in this century, see Jewish Colonization Association Papers, London, Halphon, S. and Sabah, J., “Enquête sur la population israélite de l’Argentine,” 1909–10Google Scholar; Klich, , “ Criollos and Arabie Speakers,” pp. 274–75.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Bertoni, , “Una colectividad en formación,” pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Bestene, J., “La inmigración sirio-libanesa en la Argentina,” EMLA (Aug. 1988), 256.Google Scholar

⁵² La Siria nueva, p. 29.

⁵³ As the Ottomans became embroiled in war on various fronts, prominent emigrants loyal to Constantinople would come in handy as possible fighters, propagandists, fundraisers, etc. In Argentina, for example, World War I saw members of the Syro-Lebanese elite launch a fundraising drive to buy a submarine for the Ottoman navy. On the other hand, there were Arabic speakers in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and elsewhere ready to be enlisted as volunteers in the French armed forces or serve as publicists for the French cause. Whereas some sources mention 400 volunteers, presumably an upper ceiling, others offer much lower figures. Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Paris, E-Levant, vol. 132, French consulate in São Paulo and Santos to Briand, A., May 27, 1921. al-Majala (Buenos Aires),Google Scholar May 15, 1919; “Los libanenses en la República Oriental del Uruguay,” Revista Diplomática Argentina (April 1924); Seluja, , Los libaneses en el Uruguay, pp. 42, 47–48, 78–80, 95, and 157–65.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Karpat, , “Ottoman Emigration to America,” p. 185.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ See, for example, Peña, R. Sáenz, Escritos y discursos, 1888–1910 (Buenos Aires, 1914)Google Scholar; Piñero, N., La política internacional argentina (Buenos Aires, 1924)Google Scholar; Silva, C., La política internacional de la Nación Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1946)Google Scholar; Quintana, L. Moreno, Elementos de política internacional (Buenos Aires, 1955)Google Scholar; Moreno, I. Ruiz, Historia de las relaciones exteriores argentinas (Buenos Aires, 1961)Google Scholar; Etchepareborda, R., Historia de las relaciones internacionales argentinas (Buenos Aires, 1973)Google Scholar; Ferrari, G., Esquema de la política exterior argentina (Buenos Aires, 1981).Google Scholar Neither Sáenz Peña nor any of the other authors devoted attention to Argentine links with the Ottoman empire.

⁵⁶ Ferrari, , Esquema, pp. 86, 100.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ See note 27.

⁵⁸ Alsina, J., La inmigración en el primer siglo de la independencia (Buenos Aires, 1910), p. 189.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ For another instance of deflection, this one of Jewish immigrants from New York to other places in the U.S., see Best, G., “Jacob H. Schiff’s Galveston Movement,” American Jewish Archives (April 1978).Google Scholar

⁶⁰ For a negative view of the Syro-Lebanese emigration by a prestige-conscious Ottoman consul in late nineteenth-century Barcelona and his equation of their peddling in the Americas with begging, see Karpat, , “Ottoman Emigration to America,” p. 186.Google Scholar

⁶¹ The chief exception perhaps was a hard-hitting article in one of the smaller publications of the Syro-Lebanese in Argentina. It repeated many of the accusations that Khalil Saadah had levelled against Arslan two decades earlier. Hence, Arslan was ingloriously described as “a reactionary oligarch” who first betrayed Syrians and Arabs for the sake of the Young Turks and then acted treacherously towards Turkey in favor of France. See Azzaubaha-El Ciclón (Buenos Aires), Feb. 15, 1943.

⁶² La Prensa (Buenos Aires), July 24, 1909.

⁶³ La Siria nueva, p. 34.

⁶⁴ Plummer, , “Race, Nationality and Trade,” p. 527.Google Scholar