The Ottomans never imposed their language on the areas they conquered if there was already a standard language in use there (see also: the Balkans, Greece). The only people who would have been expected to learn Ottoman Turkish were members of the civil service, part of whose job in various provinces would have been to translate material into the local language.

The Turks, as foreign rulers who dominated, were not always accepted (especially in times when taxes were raised, or armies needed to be raised for battle by conscription), but it wasn't really until the 19th century that an Arab consciousness began to form. The withdrawal of the Ottomans from the region during WWI was particularly brutal, as collective punishment against the Arab population (of all religions) was enacted -- hangings of prominent leaders, pillaging of villages and rape, forced conscription into the military; and then when the Ottomans retreated ahead of the British military advance from Egypt, they took what crops they could carry and burned the rest. Around 20% of the population of greater Syria died during the war, so the Ottomans are not fondly remembered in that area at all.