TURKEY’S HEW PARLIAMENT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2482, 24 May 1909, Page 2

TURKEY’S HEW PARLIAMENT.

The writer of the Acte of the Apostles, in describing tire occurrence* on the Day of Pentecost, states that the assemblage in Jerusalem consisted of Parthians and Modes, Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Pontusi and Asia, in Egypt and Libya, Jews, Cretans, and Arabians. In Constantinople to-day a similarly cosmopolitan gathering may be witnessed at the sessions of the new Ottoman Parliament which includes among its members, besides Turks proper, Arabs and! Greeks, Armenians and Kurds, Bulgarians and Servians, Jews and Koutzo-Valaques, Probably in no other Parliamentary body in the world is there to be found represented such a variety of nationalities. No official classification of the deputies has yet been published; but an authentic statement as to their nationalities, politics, and religions is contributed to the English Review of Reviews by Mr Santo Semo, the “John the Baptist of the Young Turkish Movement.” In an introductory note, the editor recalls the fact that it was Mr Semo “who at the Hague Conference first astonished the world by proclaiming the coming triumph of the great popular movement that has recently transformed the Ottoman Empire.” From Mr Semo’s article we loam that the total number of deputies will be about 260. It is remarkable that only one Arab Christian was returned, although there are a million and a -half of Arab Christians in the Empire. Also that of the forty-three Christians only one Roman Catholic was elected. Curiously enough, the solitary Christian Arab was returned by a constituency of which only one-third was Christian, the remaining two-thirds being Mussulmans. It is very evident that had there been any antagonism between Christians and Mussulmans in this district, the latter could easilj have elected one of their own faith. This, Mr Semo points out, is worth noting, as “illustrating the cessation of the religious feud.” "it had been anticipated by many persons that the diversities in language would prove to be a difficulty in the proceedings of the Parliament; but such is not the case. “There are hardly ton who do not know Turkish at all. Seven of these are Arabs, including four or five from Yemen, and two are Greeks from the zEgean Islands. The others, although they might not all be able to deliver a speech in Turkish, can most of them use this language sufficiently well to make themselves understood'in the Chamber. No inconvenience has arisen so far from the language question. Only once a Greek deputy wrote his interpellation in Greek characters and Turkish words and read it, but the President answered that he did not understand, and asked his neighbor in Greek, ‘What does 1m say?’ His neighbor happened to be an Arab who understood neither Turkish nor Greek, and could only answer with a gesture, like a deaf and dumb person, which made all the others laugh.” , As regards political parties, “there have, fortunately, not yet been formed any distinct religious or national groups.” Never--1 rheloss, two currents of opinion are to be distinguished—the “centralizers” and the “decentralizers,” which are thus described bv Mr Semo: '“The first are chiefly Turkish deputies who have been elected through the support of the Union and Progress Y'onng Turkish Committee —in Turkish, Ittihad ve-terakki djemietti. In the beginning they numbered 152, of whom about a fourth part were already members of this committee before the promulgation of the Constitution, but as they found afterward that the interference of the committee in the Parliamentary business was excessive and anti-constitutional, the Committee of Union and Progress recently decided officially to abstain from interfering in the affairs of the deputies. It remains as a private organisation ready to intervene only in case of the Constitution being in jeopardy. They have secured the seat of the President of the Chamber (the Speaker) to their leader, Ahmed Riza, and most of the vice-presidents, secretaries, and qufestators are their members. This gives them, of course, a great influence in tho Chamber. The decentralizers count about thirty-five to forty deputies, who form a special group under the denomination of ‘Liberal Union’ (Ahrar Furcaci), and th,e remaining, i.e., about seventy deputies, are independent of both these committees. Out of the ten Armenians seven or eight are affiliated to the Armenians ‘ Tachnakziouzioun ’ Committee, which is rather revolutionary and very powerful in its sphere of action. The Bulgarians and Servians are mostly socialistic. In general, all non-Turkish nationalities are, of course, in favor of the decentralization of power—some very moderately, like the majority of the Arabs, others are ready to ask even for some sort of national autonomy or Home Rule.” Referring to the assertion which has been made by Prince Sabah Ed din s opponents, that he aims at tho disintegration of Turkey, Mr Semo, who has been the Prince’s private secretary and confidential counsellor, says the charge is not true As to Sabah Eddin’s retirement from public life tho Prince himself “says he merely retired for the present from politics and is organising the National Education Board based on private initiative. He will undoubtedly come

back to the political task later on. Some people considered him as an ambitious man. This is quite wrong. Had he been ambitious, after the wonderful reception he has had here he could have formed a committee just as important as that of the Union and Progress. His patriotism deprecated two captains in this vessel of Turkey, already so difficult to steer; so lie preferred to retire entirely, and left a free hand to the others.” On die result of the elections generally Mr Bcmo holds that they have demonstrated the necessity of a reform in the electoral system. The non-Turkish and non-Mussulman are in a minority in so many places that, under existing conditions. they might never get a fair amount of representation. What is wanted is a system of proportional representation, such as Belgium has adopted with satisfactory results. Mr Semo is optimistic about the future and “the definite establishment of constitutionalism” in Turkey. He says there is not a single reactionary in Parliament. He believes that liberty will become so firmly implanted in the country that “no regime will ever be strong enough to uproot it.”

Mr Eustace Miles demonstrated the pitiful situation of the London poor, in the following narrative of his work :—“Thanks to the kindness of the Press in publishing letters, and the generosity of the public in subscribing over £l5O, wo have served at Cleopatra’s Needle nearly 35,000 free meals of proteid soup with proteid biscuits or bread to the poor of London. The fund is nearly exhausted. Nothing has been deducted for expenses. Every penny has provided a meal. For a penny one can provide a meal tnat keeps a hungry person comfortably satisfied for more than five hours.” To stop the emigration of Hungarians to America, Dr Daranyi, the Minister of Agriculture, has devised the plan of making life bearable and comfortable in the isolated agricultural areas. He has not only improved their working conditions, but has energetical]} put in operation a gigantic housing scheme which is already bearing satisfactory fruit. Under his direction nearly 10,000 model cottages for farm laborers have already been built, while thousands now under construction are rapidly changing the face of the country. ,