MISRULE AND OPPRESSION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 303, 19 December 1912, Page 8

MISRULE AND OPPRESSION.

•CTHAT PSECIPITATED THE j BA———N WAR. THE SAVAGE HOJRKOP-* OF BEFANA AND KDCHAJsA. KING NICHOLAS STRUCK. BISG-USTED WITH THE EUROPEAN CONCERT. "sr_atever may be the outcome of the presen: Salkan scrnabble, Turkey has for ages laid the seeds ot inveterate hatred against herself among the Bulgarians, Montenegrins. Servians, and Greeks. For the citizens of all the Balkan States have relatives in Turkey, and those relatives have each and all a heavy score of grievances to settle when the sum of Turkish tyranny comes to a final reckoni-2. To that sum the massacre of Berana. a spot in Turkish territory close to the Montenegrin frontier, added an item. The account of it. as one of the r—picnj example of Turkish oppression, wi";] serve *o indic3.te to .the Westerner something of '"hp causes that have turned che JS"e_r E—st into a huge batllefieid There can be no dctrbi a-bocrt it to the impartial observer —the Turkish race and government j-or ever five hundred years -have been an u-nmitiga.ted curse. The fcims -was -when the wild onslaught of the Turkisih hordes spelt superiority to the e"*jirist:an races- of the Balkans and Asia Minor. But to-day the superiority of the Turk lies mainly in his ability to keep tho rest of the world divided as to the details of his- fall. Constitution Year, four years ago is, in the perspective of events- in Turkey since chat time, noshing more than a d-eceitf—l dream. But to return to the Berana massacre, not to be confounded with the massacre "whk-h took place at Kochana. near the Bulgarian frontier. August 1. The Kochana massacre, in which the Turkish soldiers as weU as Moslem civilians were guilty. w_s the result of the explosion of two bombs in rhe market-place. Bulgarian re'volutiorrisTjs were blamed for the crime, for last year they threatened a new reign of terror, and they certainly had been guilty of .trying to blow ud trains in -Macedonia to demoralise traffic there. There are. however, strong rea(Sons to suppose that the borate were —id by young Turks, who could easily place the crime upon unknown Bulgarians. Whatever the -truth as to the origin of the bomb explosions, few impartial onlookers think they furnished sny excuse, in spite of the death of one Turk, one Jew. one gipsy, and five Bulgarians, for the massacre which fallowed, after a period of tranquillity had intervened The entire Bulgarian population was set trpon indiscrimina-Telv by the mob of Turks, supported by .the' soldiers and gendarmes. The result was a heavy loss of life, with the accompaniments of looting and terrorism which have always characterised Turkish aggressions. The Berana a__ir. at any rate, had no extenuating circumstances. The wanton riestmciron there was prompted by the desire lor revenge of a guilty Turkish captain. Mchedin Bey. who had been censured -by his Government, but left in command. The story calls for a. word of explanation. The Serbs of Berana are a part of thejarge Vasojevioa tribe. t?_e remainder of which live across the frontier in MortenegTO. The Treaty of Berlin, instead oi including all the Vasojevich -'n Montenegro, left about one-third in Turkey. So effectively have they been divided that most of the Turkish subjects are near relatives to people in Alo—renegro. _The little group of Serbs in the region or Berana were surrounded, excerpt on »c Montenegrin frontier, by the wo-si I-ype oi Moslem A!b_ni__=. 'who, ; n the recent Albanian insurrection, have stsick to the Turks and served as Bashibazouks or irregular soldiers and ***?.** tC T * e Constitution of 1909_t__ positron of these Serbs was ~ v ?J7v W ? a^a . TB -WW -nd makreated by their Moslem neighbours,' but -bey __ dem __ d c^*_mx ___, trom Abd_ Hamid for ttefrtases, ___ frequently were reimbursed. Still more important they were allowed in tbir ■spools and churcnes a free hand so W H -«> t n °* ° ffend ttc *a-*iafcl oi uiieir Sovereign. «_? e /™_,*^ r the c however torcible Turkization began The Bcnoofa were closed. At Berana _? rV "-Tif d In the and t±£ c were arrested and imprisoned wjthout trial. The priest a superior type of man, was t _ ro 4_ in .he street and flogged till unconscious and then shut up for the night in 3 filthy Turkish out-house. His sister, one of tne heroines brought to light by Turkish oppression, went to Salonica and Constantinople, told the facte to various foreign representatives, saw the leaders of the ruling Committee of Union and Progress, and threatened to denounce the latter in the European papers if they did not set free her brother and the other citizens who had be°n illegally arrested. By this means she obtained the relejase of them all. The Christian Serbs are in a majority at Berana,, and in 1909 asked for a Christian governor. With a show of acquiescence, the . Government appointed Ilia Popovich, a Serb oi Berana. He had just married a French wife, who believed that the Constitution was to bring results similar to the French Revolution, and that her husband would make a model province of that region. Bar his appointment, like the Constitu•tional "reforms.*' was never meant to be anything but a blind. Popovich was an honest, well-intentioned man, of considerable education and courage. His difficulties were enormous. All military authorities of the region were against him, and all the | Mosiem population were furious at the j idea, of a Christian governor. The ignor-j ant Serb villagers had been deceived so often that even they were suspicious. Under these circumstances the robberies j and outrages on women went on unchecked ; most of the abuses being com- J mined by the Turkish garrison, which at one time even revolted, and sacked the bazaar of the town. After vain protests to the captain,! Muhecin Bey. in charge of the soldiers,! Pi->povkh appealed to Constantinople to have Muiiedin removed. The ("entralj Government sent a commission to Berana j to investigate. The commission decided that the outrages on women were not proved: the fact of the case being, of course, that most of th? peasants were afraid to give evidence. Those who tried to speak were shouted down with *-Xhe Governor told yon zo say that.'** The peasants had learned from prejvious experience the wisdom of silence, and they were 'well jns_Sed by the verdict of the* c«_—dssion, which cemsui-ejd the captain, but. left him in comma-d. After that the captain natur—Uy vowed to re■—enge >

Matters came to a head in the region of Beran _, -when the soleiiers in the frontier guard-house of Mojkovetz fired at and killed several Montenegrins, who were cutting grass in their own fields. This frontier nuisance had been getting steadily worse and worse. The Turkish guard-houses were filled with the riff-raff of the army, who tried to amuse themselves with the killing of men, women, children, and farm aruma's just across the border. MonteHLegro protested in vain. After this incident, therefore, Montenegro called up a battalion, rushed the guardhouse, burnt it and two others, killed at least 60 Turkish soldiers, and hunted the rest nearly to Bijelopolje, 15 miles away. Thereupon Rustem Bey de Bilinski.'a Polish renegade and morphinist, who was the Ottoman Minister at C*ttinje, handed in an ultimatum to Moutene<ro. demaneiing an apology. Montenegro replied that she was the injured party, cited facte, and demanded redress. Rustem, against the advice of many of the diplomatic circle at Cettinje, left 'in a huff for Catiaro, the Austrian port, whkh serves as a seaport for Montenegro. He had scarcely left when a telegram came from Popovich. Governor of Berana, acknowledging the guilt of the Turkish soldiers, and apologising to the Montenegrin Government. By that telegram Popovich signed h s own death warrant. A frontier commission was at once sent to investigate the affair, and Popovich, by virtue of his ' office of Governor, was a member. Durm" his absence from Berana. thus occasioned, tbe Turkish captain felt that his opportunity for revenge was at hand. One night he attacked the helpless vil lace of Uryhanit—., which contained the relatives of Popovich and of the priest above-mentioned, including bis pl' ac }"3" =ister. It included also an espexialiy iarge number of "intellectuals," several of whom had been guilty of writing to papers, and were likely to write more. That night sixteen persons were murdered. One two-roomed cabin was the' scene of the killing of a father _ and daughter in the outer room, and of the mother in the inner room. The tenmonths old baby was unspeakably mutilated, and later died. The authenticity of this is beyond question, even though accusations and counter-accusa-tions are always made by both parties in the relentless warfare along Turkish frontiers. The Serbs under the Turkish yoke at onre rose up in protest,, but the only result was that a dozen more villages were burned, crops were plundered, orchards were destroyed, and churches were looted and filthily defiled. Had it not been for the European Powers. Montenegro could have saved thoie Serbs. All the soldiers were mobii.-.-cd and ready. But Europe desired the "status quo." Her interests would not be advanced by confusion at that time. And she did not intend to allow confusion until she had prepared the programme of feasting when the Ottoman carcase was divided. Thirty-one women and children of L'ryhanitza were taken to Berana and imprisoned as hostages by the Turk s.i military authorities, only being releasejd on strong representations from the British Minister at Cettinje. But what of Popovich, the Governor of Berana? He was hacked in pieces at Sjenitza as he was returning from Mojkovetz. The Turks pretended that the whole affair was the outcome of a rising pl_aned by Popovich, and that they could not prevent the infuriated Moslems from dismembering him. The Turkish Government acknowledged its own guilt by ordering about £20.000 to be distributed among the victims, and to be utilised in the restoration of buildings. But, judging from the recent promises of money to Albanians for similar needs, and from the vast sums of Stamboul fire contributions which have never reached the people, there was little faith to be -put in this announceme?nt of relief. The Turks also promised to take the childreui made orphans in the recent massacres and place them as beneficiaries in the Government school at Uskub. Macedonia. Turkish Governmeait schools in the provinces are still. however, questionable benefits. King Kichc—_' solution was to take his gun in his hand and lead his men against the Turks. Ir, is safe to say that of all the millions of non-Turks in European Turkey—and they form a majority of two-thirds of the "total population—there are very few who do not side with the enemies of Turkey. Such ia the sample of Turkish administration, and such the indelible hate tbe methods' excite. C. C. MAC-DONALD.