A DESERTED HAREM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18759, 12 January 1923, Page 6

A DESERTED HAREM

SULTAN’S 'THREE WIVES. STATE APARTMENTS OF YILDIZ KIOSK. How Ihe Sultan Muhommcd VI left Turkey in iho British warship Malaya is a romantic episode that nmy weli prove to bo also of historic significance, writes G. Ward Price from Constantinople to tho Daily Mail. None of the Sultan’s three wives accomiianies him to Malta, but his 10-vcar-old son, Prince Ertoghrul, is with Ids' father, lie is a bright-looking boy, remarkably well dressed, and evidently he regarded the whole enterprise as a most agreeable adventure. Tho control of the palace, including the harem, has been taken over by Nationalist officers and gendarmes under the orders of

General Rafet Pasha, the Governor of Constantinople. They have sealed up the private and stale apartments at Yildiz Kiosk, and seven eunuchs are all that remain of the former largo establishment. l.hese negro guardians take turns on duty day and night before the dooiy at the end of Ihe passage which leads from Iho main palace to the harem. Within this walled and sliuttered part of the building are the Sultan’s three official wives. T lie oldest is about 50. The Sultan married her when ho was virtually a royal captive during the reign of his brother, Abdul Hamid. By her he has two daughters, one of whom is married to a sou of Tewfik Pasha, the ex-

Grand Vizier. The other is married to tho son of Abdul Mcdjid, the Sultan’s cousin and heir-apparent. , Tlie second wife, who is 32. is fall ana handsome. She is the mother of the Sultan’s only son, Prince Ertoghrul. The lad lived in the harem, but he came put every day for lessons, including English, from a Turkish naval captain of tho Sultan’s suite. The third wife is rather a mystery, ihe Sultan is believed to have married her two months ago. She is said to be only 16—the

Sultan is 61— extremely beautiful, and tlie daughter of a gardener. As she has never been seen outside tho harem, even veiled, tho stories of her wonderful dark eyes and lithe, shapely form are probably imaginary. Besides these official wives, there remain within those forbidden walls at Yildiz Kiosk some 200 women. These are concubines, slaves (for in high circles in Turkey such domestic slavery still lingers), bath attendants, and other servants. ■

Till lately it was the rule for ;the vah (governor of each Turkish province) on the occasion of the Feast of Bairam, to send the most beautiful girl he could find in his district as a concubine to bo added to the Imperial harem. No one yet knows what will happen to this company of deserted and virtually imprisoned women now that their lord and master has gone. Only tho wives were told at the last moment he was leaving Turkey. . , , , . The Sultan, it is said, has take with him all his personal jewels. With his own hands he packed his s uniform and the regalia of tho principal Turkish orders. Mohammed VI had good fortune in defeating the watchfulness of the Nationalist officers stationed at Yildiz by Rafet Pasha to keep an eye on him. The officers did not know that the Sultan had! gone till the latter was already aboard the Malaya. Their chagrin and apprehension of personal punishment may be imagined when

they had to telephone to Rafet about 10 a.m. that their imperial prisoner had flown. Rafet was furious, and it was with dismay that ho is turn telegraphed the news to Angora. . The British authorities carried out the Sultan’s departure in an open, straightforward way, though it had not, of course, been announced beforehand. They decided that since the Sultan appealed for protection as Caliph of all the Mussulmans they must give it him, but they could do so only from the moment he was outside the pidacc. It was judged that it would be an undue intervention in Turkish internal affairs to send an escort into the palace and bring him away. When tho oars were waiting at the back gate of Yildiz, therefore, at. 8 a.m.. there was still a chance that the Sultan’s plans might have been detected, and that he might be forcibly detained.

It appears that he made no preparations till after midnight, when the Nationalist guards were asleep. Then ho woke up his wives and took leave of them, and packed a few suitcases. That night he took care to occupy the bedroom opening on to the garden, so that in the morning, with his little group, consisting of two chamberlains. the colonel commanding the palace band, a doctor, a servant whoso duty it is to spread the Sultan’s prayer carpet, several personal servants, and tlie little Prince, he was able to walk unnoticed across the garden to the unfrequented back gate, whore four oars, all driven by British Army chauffeurs, were waiting. 'Hie Sultan’s car started first, but there are several roads

down from Yildiz. to Topbnno ouay. where Sir Charles Haringion and Mr Nevile .Henderson, the acting High Commissioner, were waiting, and . there was some uneasiness when all tlie other cars but the Sultan’s had arrived. For n moment it seemed possible that the Nationalist police might, have stopped or attacked it on the wav down, but 10 minutes later it, appeared, the chauffeur bavin" taken a longer read. In this romantic way the 37th Sultan of the House of Osman left his dominions. There is frank- dismay among the Nationalists that he has gone, though they relievo their feelings by announcing that the Sultan is no more than a criminal 1 rail or who has fled from fustice. Still ho has not yet hern deposed from tho Caliphate. ac ; cording to AToslem ritual by tlie Fetva r,t chellrh-ul-Tsl'im. who. next to the Caliph, is the most important, religious dignitary of Islam.