TURKEY’S CAPITAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3214, 20 October 1915, Page 72

TURKEY’S CAPITAL.

AS IT IS TO-DAY. No doubt exists any longer in the mind of any Turk (says Mr Henry Wood, special correspondent of the American United Press) that the existence of the Ottoman Empire is at stake in the fighting _ now going on at the Dardanelles. This is believed to explain to a large degree the manner in which the last men. of the Empire are still coming forward to fight, and in which the Government is permitted, without protest, to drain the entire country of its last resources for the conduct of the war. Not a day passes at Constantinople that the trains and boats do not bring in small but fresh contiiigents of men from the farthest points of the empire. For the securing of food supplies for the army, the Government has adopted the rule of requisitioning everything it needs. Only in a very few instances has even a small portion of the price been paid for in cash. The rule is to give a receipt, which states that the Government, at some indefinite time in the future, will pay. Endless Stream of Wounded.— In strange contrast to the official announcements of continued success by the Turkish troops on the peninsula is the arrival of the wounded. Even without the official announcement that an engagement had taken place, the population of Constantinople would know it within 24 hours by the arrival of the wounded. When the approach of a hospital transport is signalled, all of the public cabs are ordered to the water front to bring the soldiers u p to the hospitals. Street cars, flying the flags of the Turkish Red Crescent Society, are also used. One night this interminable cortege of wounded began passing my hotel at 10.30 in the evening. At 4.30 in the morning it was still passing. In as far as possible, the wounded are made to arrive at night. It makes less impression on the public. It is now believed that there are not less than 100.000 at. Constantinople; but they are all soldiers with slight wounds, as the most seriously injured are kept at Rodosto, where more prompt attention can be given them. In an effort to raise additional revenue for the war. the duty on imports has been raised to 30 per cent. This does not apply to things which can be used in the conduct of the war. They come in without duty, the Government reserving the right to requisition th un as soon as they arrive. Policemen Everywhere, — The restrictions for the government of foreigners still living in Turkey have been redoubled. To quit the empire a special permit must be secured from the police.

To have this it is necessary to give 48 hours’ notice of the intention to leave. Then, after the police have- secured all information possible from outside sources, the applicant must present himself personally and submit to an interrogation. If he can convince the police that his intentions for leaving are purely legitimate, he is granted the vccilca, or permit, without which ho cannot cross the border. lint while he .may bo permitted to cross the border himself, in no case is he ever permitted to take with him a line of written matter. And more and more as the existence of the empire becomes menaced, more and more does the Turkish Police Department —the one and only department of Government for which the Turk has ever shown a real genius—increase its activities. The Turks insist they have a million and a-quarter of men under arms. One would be tempted to believe that they were referring to their number of policemen instead. There is a policeman seemingly at every step, watching not only the foreigners, but even the Turks themselves. During the last week I was at Constantinople, Colonel Leipsiz, the Military Attache of the German Embassy, was killed, lie was a magnificent type of Iho German officer, over 6ft tall, a gentleman both in appearance and in actuality, known and loved by everyone. The official announcement said that while changing from uniform to civilian dress in a little railway station, upon his return from the Dardanelles, his revolver had been accidentally discharged, the bullet entering his forehead. I think lam justified in saying that there was not a foreigner in all Constantinople who did not see in this mysterious death the culmination, at least in part, of his convictions that sooner or later the Turks will turn on the German officers now stationed at Constantinople. But I feel also equally justified in saying that not a single person in all Constantinople once expressed this suspicion. “They say it was accidental,” is what everyone said to his most intimate friend, and to this remark silence alone followed. A word more uttered might have been overheard by secret police officers and the individual hauled up for treason. That the position of the Germans at Constantinople is becoming daily more delicate there can be no question. But there is every indication that the German soldiers, sailors, and officers now in Turkey will stay to the end.