EUROPEAN TURKEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14806, 9 October 1911, Page 4

EUROPEAN TURKEY.

ITS RISE AND DECLINE.

Legend assigns to Oghus., son of Kara Khan, the honour of being the father of the Ottoman Turks, whose first appearance in history dates from A.D. 1227. In that year a horde, variously estimated at from 2000 to 4000 souls, with their flocks and their slaves, driven originally from their Central Asian homes by the pressure of a Mongol invasion not to be denied, and who had sought in vain a refuge with, the Seljukian Sultan, Ala-iid-din Kaikabad, of Konia, were returning under their chief, Suleiman Shah, to their native land. They were, history records, crossing the Euphrates not far from the castle of Jabar (about which so many ancient legends have been sung), when the drowning of their leader by accident threw confusion, into their ranks. Those who had not yet crossed the river refused, in face of this omen, to follow their brethren the little band numbering 400 warriors (according to others, consisting of 2000 horsemen) decided to remain under Ertoghrul, con of the drowned leader. Ertoghrul first camped at Jessin, east of Erzerum, the chief town of an important vilayet of our own time in Asiatic Turkey (and in modern times it has been made a military station and fortress of considerable strategical value, closing the roads from Kars, Olti, and other parts of the frontier); a second appeal to Ala-ud-adin was more successful, and the lands of Karaja Dagh, near Angora, were assigned to the new settlers, who found there good pasturage and winter quarters. The help afforded by Ertoghrul to the Seljukian monarch on a critical occasion led to the addition of Sugut to his fief, with which he then became formally invested, and it was here that Ertoghrul died in 1288, at the great age of 90, being succeeded in the leadership of the tribe by his son Osman. When, exhausted by the onslaughts of Ghazan Mahmud Khan, ruler of Tabriz, the Seljukian Empire was on the point of dissolution, most,of its feudatory vassals helped rather than hindered its downfall in the hope of retaining their fiefs as independent sovereigns.

Victories Over the Greeks. But Osman remained firm in his allegiance, and, by repeated victories over the Greeks, revived the drooping glories of his suzerain. His earliest conquest was Karaje Hissar (1295), when first the name of Osman was substituted for that of the Sultan in the weekly prayer. In that year Ala-ua-din Kaikabad 11. conferred on him tho proprietorship of the lands he had thus conquered by the sword, and at the same time presented him with the horsetail, drum, and banner which constituted the insignia of an independent command. Osman continued his victorious career against the Greeks, and by his valour, and also by allying himself with Iveusfie Mikh'al, lord of Harman Kaya, became master of Ainegeul, Bilejik, and Yar Hissar. His marriage with Mai Khatun, the daughter of the learned Sheikh Edbali, has been surrounded by poetical legend, and he married his son Orkhan to the beautiful Greek Nilofer, daughter of the lord of Yar Hissar, whom he carried off from her destined bridegroom on her marriage day—and the fruits of their union were Suleiman Pasha and Murad. In 1500 the Seljukian Empire crumbled away, and many small States rose on its ruins; but it was only after the death of his protector and benefactor, the Sultan Ala-ud-din 11., that Osman declared his independence, and accordingly the Turkish historian dates the foundation of the Ottoman Empire from this event—and it •is from Osman that modern Turkey derives its origin, so that, as empires go, . that which the vicissitudes of later times are sending to the duet can only claim a duration of some six centuries.

Advance of the Crescent. From these small beginnings gradually grew up an empire which, in a comparatively short time, had wrested from the Greeks practically the whole of their possessions in Asia Minor, and had consolidated itself, under a succession of fighting rulers of great ability, in such a way as to become prepared for the further role of an advance to Europe itself. The Byzantine Empire had already fallen into a decay presaging its approaching doom; and, indeed, the length of time during which it held out against the Turks is to be attributed rather to the lack of efficacious means at the disposal of its assailants than to any qualities possessed by its defenders. Saloniea, Thessaly, Athens, and the Morea were already under independent Greek princes; the Bulgarians Bosnians, and Servians had, at different periods, invaded and, conquered the territories , inhabited by them; and the Albanians, original natives* of their land, were governed by princes of their own. Thus everything was favourable to the advance of a strong and resolute nation such as the Turks had become, and the capture of Adrianople, the second city of the Empire, ,by Murad in 1361, made all the States beyond the Balkans dread the progress of the crescent; and that they had ample cause for fear is proved by the fact that every one of them had been subjugated before another century had passed, whilst Constantinople itself was captured in 1453, after one of the most desperate sieges in history.

Turkey's Golden Age. Once established in the Imperial City, Turkey went ahead by leaps and bounds, both in Europe and in Asia ,* and every cation which attempted resistance was hopelessly beaten as the result of an appeal to. arms. Italy to-day is only taking a long-deferred revenge for the capture and occupation of anto, in Southern Italy, in 1840 ,* and seeing the helplessness of the Ottoman Empire to-day one is apt to forget that, so short a time ago, it possessed not only the most powerful army, but also the finest fleet in Europe less do people recall that in the 16 years of his reign Suleiman I. broke up the Austrians, marched to Vienna, completely conquered Hungary, and even pitted himself successfully against the German Emperor Charles V., whilst the famous Turkish admiral, Barbarosfia, was master of the sea. This was the ; golden age. i

On the Downward Career. At the death of Suleiman, in 1566, the Turkish Empire extended from near the frontiers of Germany to the frontiers of Persia.; the Black Sea, was practically a Turkish lake; the Mediterranean was absolutely dominated by the Sultan and practically the whole of Northern Africa, from Egypt to Morocco, acknowledged his sway. And yet, five years later (1571) saw the battle of Lepanto fought and won--saw the Turkish sea power lost for ever, and their prestige ruined—and the Turkish Empire started on the downward career, which has now put it almost within sight of complete disintegration. Internal dissensions and external pressure led to the weakening of the suzerainty over the numerous States so brilliantly acquired. The wonderful feat of arms by which John Sobieski, King of Poland, drove away the colossal army with which the Turks had surrounded Vienna, in 1683, completed the rot which had long set in, and saved the cause of Christanity from the last desperate onslaught of the infidel ; and the history of the last two centuries is a long record of the gradual emancipation of subject races and of independence proclaimed by every country once owning allegiance to the Turkish Crown. I

Turkish Power Doomed. And yet there are possibly no finer soldiers in the world than the Turks, as will be acknowledged by all who recall the magnificent defence of Plevna against the Russians in 1877— what can the empire then come? There is, of course, still left the vast region of Asia Minor, which remains under the control of the Sultan, and it is probable that it is in this direction that Turkish aspirations and energies will be devoted—as far as Europe and European waters are concerned it would seem that the Turkish power is doomed, and that in our own time we shall witness the actual dissolution of an empire which at one moment promised to overrun and to dominate the whole future of western civilisation!,