NOT A HAPPY FAMILY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 27 January 1923, Page 12

NOT A HAPPY FAMILY

MOSLEM JEALOUSIES AND

FACTION.

Inside.the Turkish Empire tne siiua-. tion is much more complex than appears on the surface, says Miss Elizabeth Harris, who has been a relief worker in Turkey, in the "Current History" magazine b'f the "New York Times." The religious feeling is strong, and the jealousies among the different Moslem groups are very bitter, though the Moslems do unite against the non-Moslemc. The Arabs always l'esented the overlordship of) the Turks. The Kurds, too, were often decidedly rebellious against Turkish rule. . When the Turkish Nationalists were organising in Aintab the Kurds held out for weeks against joining them, until religious pressure was applied strongly.

Moslems and Christians live together in all parts of the Turkish Empire. In old Armenia, part of which was given to the Armenians by the Peace Conference, a large proportion of the population is Kurdish. The little republic of Armenia was surrounded from the firsVby five or six small rival nations. No wonder it has had such. a stormy and perilous .time during its brief life. In the Turkish city where Miss Harris wars before the war 45 per ..cent, of the population was Christian, and 80 per cent, of the wealth' was centred| in Christian hands.

"The hatreds are of such long standing," says' Miss Harris, "and siich horrible deeds have been committed, perhaps by both sides; certainly by, the Turks, that it does not seem a: though the two races could ever li.vs together in peace." But apart from the association between sections of the opposed races, the divisions among the followers of the Prophet work against any, "Par.Islam" movement. Anything of the kind depends upon the arrival of a loader who is strong enough to units the factions. Kemal has done so in Turkey. Will he be able to unite'the Moslems of the world?