TURKEY AS IT IS TO-DAY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 18, 4 January 1912, Page 3

TURKEY AS IT IS TO-DAY

(By - Felix J. Koch, author of > “Little Journos to Turkey and the Balkans.'‘ ' Whether or not the Italo-Turkish war he of short c.r long duration, those who have made a study cf world politics prophesy that the contest means just the prelude of what must occur sooner c-r later—|to wit. the carving of the turkey, ! alias the dismemberment cf the ; Osman Empire in Europe. Along with its passing one cannot help but feel a certain pity that the continent should lose a people so picturesque and so generally misunderstood. The Soldiery. One who looks hack over the history of Turkey and Mohammedanism—for the two seem linked indissolubly together—thinks, first and foremost, of the Turk as a fighter. No more thrilling picture can be conjured than the armies of Islam coming up almost to the gates of Vienna, and having all Europe standing with bated breath. Other times the Crusaders going out to do battle with the infidel, found him no easy foe. To-day. in all the world, there are no soldiers so faithful, so loyal, even under adverse commanders, so willing to suffer privations in times of peace, when there should be plenty, like those hordes of the Caliph. To quote an actual example : - Turkey forms in Europe, roughly an oval, out from which a finger, as it were, projects north, between Serna, Montenegro, and Bosnia. Tn this little strip known as the old Shandehak (or district) of Novipazar. the Balkans rise to stupendous heights ; the trials are narrow, the settlements few, and brigandage is rampant. In order to help to govern the district, Austria-Hun-gary. before her occupation o f Bosnia as actual possession of Franz Josef, had troops quartered in this Sandchak to help the Turks preserve order. The commandant’s aide at Ple-vije. Lieutenant Heller, told us one evening how the local hisha had sequestered to himself a far greater part of the taxes than was his due, and how. as the result, public works were stopped for lack cf funds and the army went unpaid. Poor .shivering soldiers, they sat disconsolate around their lone barracks, shivering and standing it as they could. Only when things got altogether too bad did they mutiny and then it was not to desert the fl ■or. but simply to seize the teleL ■’ph and wire Constantinople. Of roume. the Porte was ashamed bethe nearby Austrians, and at < ’ce relief come: but anywhere

e m the Empire they would have been forced to grin and bear it. A Terrible Fighter.

/Moslem fanaticism has ever been made to account for it. Away back ri the days of Mohammed the dogma was promulgated that he who >' < - in the shadow of the crossing < f swords shall at once reach the > il l . of heavens. Hence, their ’Uigio's zeal, awakened by the cry. ;o defend the Sultan, the head of ■e Church, as he is of the State, Mohammedans, go into battle with an ardour no other race can possess.

Another phase of Moslem philo- -< phy which makes the Turk so terrible a fighter is his sublime fatalism. If Allah has willed it that he die to-day at the sixth hour, be he where he will, he will perish. If Allah has willed otherwise, then he may venture before the loaded cannon anti come to no harm. It is a wonderfid doctrine that, and it has carried the Turk a quarter past Europe.

To see the Turk aright, however, one must desert Constantinople. Even Adrianople, where old Aboul Hamid is confined is hardly typical. One must get away from these beaten paths( where the west comes in hourly contact with the East, and trek it into the interior. And, again, you who go be prepared to rough it. Up in the Sandchak, for example, one travels in company with the military post patrol, or else at his peril. Further in, beyond the sphere of Austrian control, you stop in lonely hans, half-tumbled in, so absolutely weather scarred you think at first they must be deserted. The floor is earth, and upon that a fire is soon kindled. Over it the kettle boils with some mangoes. or else water is bubbling for the eternal Turkish coffee.

One sleeps in such a place wrapped up in his blanket and on a bunk at one side of the chamber. The rain may seep in or the cold night wind howl, and outside many muleteers will chatter, but you sleep on through the short Turkish' night. Incidentally. it is well if you temper what water you drink in such places with a bit of whisky, for the brook m:\v at time have run direct through t burial ground, as at Plevlje, ami be poorer Turk uses no coffin, you know.

While the New Turk nr Young Turk movement has reformed things considerably in the Empire, the basic scheme of government remains much the same. Turkey is divided into provinces, or vilayets. The-e are often named for their largest cities, as in the case of Adrianople. They in turn are divided into s;’ndvlink*. or cunniics. and tb.> s? into districts. Officials over tach such integer, whim virtually buy their offices. In tiie district of certain ptuUs >iir the interior districts their jtow- < r i> virtvilly abi-'flitte : they have uravti.-al life ami death command. Scattered t>v. r the emos which these it'.’.irn are villages, and these, with fo’k almost all of one faith, are v. vmm-d by th, i- I end m< m _ Cane th're is none, excepting ihe Sultan. Th: Burden of Taxation. Even under Young Turk rule the bane i f the land is the tax system. Taxes arc high : publicans, who buy these, sque; ze : soldier**, sent to ihi’tii. squeeze hatd.’r still. : - ::u so i i.m*. bora of resistance, is far from unknown. To this end in the little district capitals they have lite prison, set across the quad from the pasha’s executive offices. Just one great room is here, and to this come all th" captives, whether taken for the theft of a loaf of bread or perl:mps for killing a Moslem. Folk

of the town lake it on themselves as religious duty to bring tit-bits to these captives, so that, again and again, one finds them handing tilings ihimtgh the bars as children da to •apes at a zoo. Out before the prison, at his belt'•st, the Pasha’s band plays for him. and the captives’ benefit as well. It isn’t really so bad to be a prisoner in a minor place ; yon are fed, housed, all you lack is freedom. In fact, there are those who claim that many crimes aren’t punished severely enough—it is either death or else this easy servitude which is administered. Native life in the forbidden inter-

ior is a fascinating study. Many of (he Christians bear a dull, _ stupid face, which indicates generations of oppression. It is Christians such as these simple, kindly fellows, who are fiom time to time made the subjects of the ter: ibl? massacres we read of. Taxes are the start usually of the Double. The publican pledges the Pasha to get him a certain amount. This includes what the Pasha has been ordered to raise and forward to Constantinople. and what he needs for his own ends as well. The potent aid of the troops is given the publican. He levies on the living and on the male relatives of the dead, unless one have a deaui certificate for these. V» ith proper bribery it isn’t difficult to delay' the issuing of such certificates for 5 ears. Then, if one resist payment, he may he shot. Sympathisers come to the rescue, and a melee ensues. Ey-and-bye there is a massacre ! Travel in the Interior. Travel in the interior is almost always a horse. The European rides most frequently on some cavalry >tced furnished by the Government. Along-with this goes soldier escort; otherwise they will not be responsible for your safety. These soldiers must be' fed, and are often a nuisance. for peasants refuse to talk, to till true conditions when the eyes of

I t'l.'c saptiets are upon them. Old[tiiiie ferry boats cross the stream I he>-e in the troubled land. Ferrymen, with visage such as Charon assumes, ply the loagioar and meditate on the backsheesh awaiting beyond. Military patrols are deployed on certain important post roads until the mailbearer is by. Then who would go tl rough does so at his peril. Inseparably is the coffee vice woven into the life of these people. ?tfan, woman, and child, Christian i end Jew- and Turk, veritably swill ilhe Turkish coffee the day through. I On the roads the only houses in miles I arc tiie kavanas or coffee-houses, i The coffee for this is placed in a ' mortar and pulverised till of the con- ! sistency of mace. Then again the i old story—a heaping teasiioonful of powder put into the cup. water is poured on theTnass, given a stir, and one drinks it down, grains and all. After the coffee a glass of cold water again. This settles the particles of caffeine on the palate and gives an after-taste which is delicious. Those of you who haven’t learned this trick may well experiment at your own tables. Hospitable When Unspoiled. People in Turkey are communal —i that is. they live not on isolate farms; but in villages. Enter there, a stran-j ger from afar, and you are welcome. Unspoiled by the cities and their traditions against the foreigner, the Turk is hospitable, friendly, generous. even to the point of annoyance ; since efttimes he forces you to accept food whose preparation has si t you against it —this, or else cigarettes, rolled from wads of tobacco kept in belts none too clean. It is there you find Turks who are the “genuine article,” so io speak. ■ These. Turkey over, are rare. Most j of’the Moslems of European Turkey, it will be remembered, are descendants of converts made by the sword at the battle of Ansley, when the infidel was given the choice of the Koran or death.

Poverty, even the original masters of the land, is dire ; nevertheless, nothing shows this better than the fact that in the interior one often finds old fellows wearing uniforms acquired back in the wars of tb.e seventies, and since patched and repatched over and over. | Lone Citadels. Lone symbol of the Sultan’s rule, in this interior, this real Turkey, here and there, ovfr weary miles, is some Moslem fort. Military authorities, the world about, compliment the Turks on their selections of sites for their citadels. Usually some knob, sweeping the countryside for miles, will form the location. This is cleared of trees and brush., and so commands all approaches. Round about the citadel at night the wolves gather, howling up at the moon. Sometimes owls flutter from the nearby forest and utter disriStl erics. One sees, dint in distance, range on range of mountains —bleak, bare, ; impassable chains —haunts of who; may know how many brigand bands?. Somehow these forts, cut on the j lonesome .remind of the forts of the; .American frontier, back m old In-; titan times. i Only, witii the Turks, high ever-1 brad, there floats the flag with the' crescent. And the bugle, sounded ■ <, i o:ir approach, gives much the same call as that wlrch sninnmned Jdw t,- r w.ir in the days cf the Prophet. ; No one phase of all tics varied, Moslem life, however, interests the: Occidental so much at first, -as the , veiled women of country and town. Every section has its tyne of veil —j in the I ‘ Province" of the Herzegovina the hoed which is worn is perhaps the largest in ail flio world. ■ Well back inside it. to make assur-.".-ice doubly sure against the face , l.rmg s:wm, a veil is drawn tmit. The origin rf this veiling is lost in .antiquity. Perhaps with these folk . it came from A’-abia. where men also, veil to keep the desert sands from ibfi- eves. More likelv it was brought in at the time when a pretty we man was everywhere unsafe. Marriage and Cheap Divorce. Turkish women interest, though in , many other wavs. When the Mussul-1 man would take a wife, his mother : tells him of such-and-so. who lias a pretty daughter. At other times it may be the girl’s relations who re- ; commend her to him, bv letter or in

person. - Now and then, where a g:rl has known a man from childhood, she meets him slyly and uncovers to him her fair face. From 13 to 14 years of age on veiling is enforced on the women. If he be pleased at the prospect the couple become engaged—at least such it might be called. Her father and he settle the day when the groom maw get his bride and this may be on the morrow, or in a month. The hodja, or priest, comes to the house and asks the 1 bride if she be willing. Her male representative answers yes thrice over —it matters little what her own wishes may be. Then the dowry to be paid in event the husband should divorce his wife is settled and put in writing. This may be anywhere from 15/co £‘6so. Divorce may be had for no apparent cause; the husband need only tell liis wife, before witness, to go. Children belong to the father, for, sayeth the Koran, they bear his name.

To day the limit is set at three wires to one man, excepting for the Sultan, who may have wives in limitless numbers. Asa rule, though, the Mussulman has but one wife, or two at the most. The oldest wife rules the household. Frequently the young couple go to live with the husband’s parents. Sometimes there are elopcmeats, particularly -where a girl knows her father to be opposed to a match while her husband’s people are for it. Hard indeed it is, then, to find milady, for the women’s apart ment of a Turkish home is sacred against masculine intrusion, and when on the street, she is ever vc.lcd deeply.

By-rtnd-bye, however, the errant husband will visit the girl’s father, well fortified with presents .and he is appeased, or at least, reconciled. Where weddings are of more usual sort, the girl’s father will give gifts of house-service. It costs.from £l6 to £2l to fit out an ordinary house, two or three rooms, .here. The Young Turks make uv of beds; many of the old stick to mattresses on the floor. So. too, in the home-life there are oilier innovations, the liberal Moslem even drinking bis beer-to-day. In places, on the other hand, women occupy separate mosques—so severe is the Moslem —or else may visit a given mosque only if no man be there. But Turkish life and custom are an endless subject. Like Tennyson’s “brook” one might go 0:1 with them for ever. .