THE PROBABLE NEW SULTAN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3148, 18 December 1922, Page 8

THE PROBABLE NEW SULTAN.

Cable messages have mad© it tolerably clear that a new Sultan will be enthroned in Turkey before long in the person of Abdul Medjid Effendi, who has been elected Caliph at Angora as Edd'in). There is nothing strange about what has been done for Abdul Medjid Effendi is really the heir apparent, unless it was to be expected that Kemal Pasha and his followers would break away from the line of success. As the Sultan, fearing assassination, has fled from Constantinople and sought British protection, it is not improbable that there will be 'developments of an important character within a very short time. Meanwhile some information in reference to the probable new Sultan, Mr L. C. Water has told much about him in the New York Herald. He says, inter alia : Abdul Medjid Effendi has in a vital sense been the mainstay of the Anatolian nationalist movement from the .moment when, more than three years ago, Mustapha, Kemal Pasha defied the Constantinople rulers by establishing a rebel Covernment at Angora. Even before that time, however, he was a powerful factor in the process of "regenerating" Turkey, a movement which led to the Young Turk revolution and the subsequent overthrow of Abdul Hamid the Red in 1908. For Abdul Medjid Effendi (he pret'erH the ujoi'e democratic title, meaning mister, to that of Prince), besides being a direct descendant of the oldest reigning family on European soil, is also poet, painter, philosopher.

Exquisitely refined in manner and speech, tall, looking young for his more than fifty years of age, every inch a. European, Medjid discussed the latest —so far as the latest reached him in these troublous times —in literature, painting, music and international polities.

His studio, it cosy, well aired and lighted chamber in one of tho wings of his villa, has long been suspected by the Allied authorities as a gathering place for the more moderate among the Young Turk political leaders. Time and direct contact with affairs of State can alone show whether Med,jid Effendi genuinely holds the liberal ideas with which his name is associated throughout Turkey. He certainly did not hesitate to express virtually revolutionary views on Turkish affairs, when, discussing the. Near Eastern situation, with a foreign newspaper correspondent. Among the most striking convictions voiced by the artistprince was that regarding'the urgency of far-reaching reforms in the organisation of the Turkish Star. "We Turks willingly admit," he aid, "'that our country has been under able so far to produce men callable so far to produce men eapadniiiiistration. This is true of our finances our post and telegraph service, and particularly of our educational system. Turkey has always been pre-eminently a nation of soldiers. She is tha tto-day. What we need, therefore, is assistance in the work of building up a. modern administrative system. Our country possesses large though still unmeasured) natural wealth. This requires exploiting, and! we should be glad to see enterprising Americans, with plenty of capital and scientific training, take up the work for their own and our country's good. The field is a. big one and! the Turkish laborer is honest and 'industrious. Much as we need co-opera-tion, however, the tendency in the Turkey of to-day is to resent foreign domination, nb matter from what quarter it is imposed. The Turkish nation is demanding nothing but its.sovereignty and territorial integrity. In any proposed scheme of co-operation for the material and moral restoration of Turkey the essential thing would' lie lo consult the wishes of our people. Regenerated Turkey has recognised fully the necessity for preserving the freedom of the straits. We are prepared to discuss that problem with all the governments directly interested, including, of course, the Western Powers. What we do ask is that we be treated as a sovereign people entitled to an equal voice in the settiemetii. That applies also to the protection of minorities."

Prince Medjid' seldom leaves the precincts of the small high-walled park surrounding his summer villa. Ae heir presumptive and member of the Sulan'sPrivy Council' he ventured into Constantinople only when summoned for urgent business pertaining to State affairs. . ,

Although it was no secret in political "ircles that an acute antagonism existed between Sultan Mahmed and the picturesque Crown Prince, the latter always referred to the ruler in the most respectful terms. He. disclaimed vigorously any implication that he or his intimates' were engineering the recurring "red flag" plots; which have kept the Allied military police on the 1 go much of the time since the Nationalist movement was inaugurated, although those who have known him since he was a youth say lie has always displayed a liking for the thrills 1 of conspiracy and adventure.

Prince Medjid's wife has for years been a recluse in the villa. Few even among the noted women Nationalist leaders are permitted to see her. Their daughter, Princet* Mazzi, on the other hand, is popular in Turkish society circles both in Stamboul and among the pasha families east of the, Bosphorus. Prince Heruf, Medjid's 23-year-old son and heir, has received a careful education at home, under his father's personal guidance, with the assistance of a German tutor. The young man recently succeeded in escaping from home with the object of joining the Kemalist forces, but a. Medjid's request the Nationalist leader sent him home before lie had seen action.