"One day while sitting in the printing office a man entered. He was wearing a strange outfit and had some sort of long cap on his head. On seeing him, Mevlânzâde rose to his feet and pointed to me. He said:

'"This is our leader-writer, Konsolidçi Asaf.' Then addressing me, he said: 'This is Bediuzzaman Said Efendi, one of our greatest religious scholars.' So from that point I started to have conversations with Bediuzzaman, and truly I benefited enormously from his knowledgeable conversation. After this he used to come frequently to our press and we would talk. Sometimes we would even go out together and go round the town.

"I do not know how long it was after this, Said Nursi left Istanbul. I cannot remember now whether he went to his home region or some other place. Anyway, Germany and its allies had met with a crushing defeat. The country was divided up and they started to create new states in every corner of it. Armenia was one of these, One day, Mevlânzâde Rifat Bey said to me:

'"They are setting up an Armenian state. So, since the Empire is falling apart, we ought to set up a Kurdish one. '

"When I looked at him in astonishment, he said to me:

"'I am not a traitor. And it is not me who broke up the mighty Ottoman Empire. God curse those who did destroy it; they have all fled like thieves. For sure there are the National Forces, but they do not offer much hope. We are not living in the age of miracles. I'm going to write to Bediuzzaman about the matter, because he is very influential. He is thought a lot of, so I shall write to him and ask him to join us. '

"Mevlânzâde wrote and sent the letter. Then, about ten days or two weeks later we were sitting in the printing office with some guests. There was Cakalı Hamdi Pasha, who was Minister of the Navy at the time, and also the Chief of the Military Court. We were talking of this and that when the postman came in, left a letter, and went. Rifat Bey's face darkened as he read the letter, it was clear he was angry. After reading it through, he flung it at me, saying:

'"Read this and see. Bediuzzaman rejects my proposal and says he does not support my idea."

"It would have been rude to read the letter to myself, so I began to read it out loud. Cakalı Hamdi Bey and Mustafa Pasha, the Chief of the Military Court, listened, Although I do not remember exactly how the letter went, Bediuzzaman rejected Mevlânzâde's proposal to set up [an independent state of] Kurdistan, and said: 'Rifat Bey, let's not set up Kurdistan, let's revive the Ottoman Empire. If you accept to do this, I am willing to sacrifice even my life for it.