CONSTANTINOPLE DYING

Southland Times, Issue 19502, 17 March 1925, Page 5

CONSTANTINOPLE DYING

TURKEY’S NEW CAPITAL THE RISE OF ANGORA CHANGES OF THE WAR. The city of Constantinople, which for over 1000 years played an important part in the history of Europe, is dying. In population it is still far larger than any other city of Turkey, but it has ceased to be the capital of that country*, and it has ceased to be the home of the Caliph and the headquarters of Mohammedanism. These changes are mainly the result of the Great War, though two years before its outbreak the territorial losses which Turkey sustained in the Balkan war of 1912 had reduced her European territory to a mere 10,000 square miles, compared with the 700,000 square miles she controls in Asia. The Great War was followed by the abolition of the Sultanate, the establishment of a republic, and the transfer of the capital to Angora, an inland town of 60,000 inhabitants in Asia Minor.

It is at Angora that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey meets in a newly-built hall, under the Presidency of Mustapha Kemal Pasha, the head of the Republican Government. The furniture of this assembly house has been taken from the ex-Sultan’s palace at Constantinople. The deposed Sultan is living in exile in Switzerland.

Diplomatically, politically, commercially, and socially, Constantinople is rapidly declining. The various European Powers are still officially represented at Constantinople, but these representatives find that all matters with which they are called upon to deal to be referred to Angora, which is the seat of the Government. It will not be long before the official representatives of European Powers leave Constantinople for Angora. The only thing that delays their departure is that there is no suitable accommodation for them at the new capital. They are waiting until their respective Governments build official quarters for them at Angora. The fact that Angora is the seat of government is transferring much of the business of Constantinople to that city. Foreigners in search of concessions from the Turkish Government, in the form of contracts for railway construction, and the industrial development of the resources of the country, are congregated at Angora. Owing to the fact that Constantinople has only a small area of Turkish territory behind it, the transit trade which made it a busy port has dwindled to small dimensions. IN ITS AGONY. The Tanin,” the most important Turkish newspaper published at Constantinople, says, in discussing the situation*. “It is impossible to dissimulate the fact that our former capital, which is the most populous, the richest, and the most advanced city in Turkey, has entered upon a period of decline. Without being yet able to say that it is dead, it cannot be denied that it is in its agony. This agony is easy to note on all sides —in the high cost of living, the housing crisis, the business stagnation, the innumerable taxes, the idle port, the absence of credit. From the highest State leaders to the poorest of the population, there is no one who fails to observe the vertiginous rapidity with which the destructive malady is progressing. The issue is not in doubt, yet no one does anything. What is the use of empty lamentations at the deserted appearance of the port, at the transit trade going under our very eyes to Greek ports, at our Turkish coal being sold cheaper at the Piraeus than at Constantinople, at our port workers being drawn off to Salonika? Naturally people who turn their backs on the rest of the world, and hide in their shells like tortoises, cannot be expected to be sensitive to such laments. A day will come when laments will eease, and on that day Constantinople will have breathed its last.”

The rapid decline which is in evidence everywhere has alarmed the Turkish residents of Constantinople, whose interests are bound up in the city. They have appealed to the Government at Angora to do something to save the city from decay. But the only practical suggestion that has been made is that the ancient city should be modernised, so as to attract tourists as a health resort. The tourist traffic of Europe is very extensive and profitable, and if Constantinople can make itself attractive to visitors who desire to escape from the rigorous winters of Northern Europe, she inay be saved from decay. It is proposed to build fashionable hotels, and instal gambling casinos, so that Constantinople may rival Monte Carlo. But antiquarians and scholars are horrified at the proposal to modernise Constantinople by sweeping away its ancient buildings and historical associations. It is even proposed to demolish the city wall, which was built in 447. Meanwhile, the small town of Angora is expanding, but it is not yet able to accommodate in comfort the increase of population due to the transfer of the seat of Government. Many of the members of the Grand National Assembly are not able to obtain anything better than a small room with a bed and a few sticks of cheap furniture. DUG-OUTS WERE BETTER. “I have been in many dug-outs which were more comfortably arranged than the lodgings in which one of the most prominent members of the new Opposition Party is sleeping,” writes a special correspondent of The Times, who is on a visit to the new capital of Turkey. “Nothing has yet been done to clear up the unsightly waste of the burnt-out Armenian quarter. It still remains a dirty, unkempt area given up to goats, ruins, a few miserable pauper families and weeds, over which frown the massive bastions of the old fortress that crowns the acropolis. And yet a good deal has been done in other directions. Whereas a year ago there were only a few flickering electric lamps outside the Grand Assembly, the lighting system has now been extended along the two or three main thoroughfares, and as long as you do not stray off into the side alleys you no longer need to carry a torch. Something is being done to improve the pavement of the roads and clean up the heaps of garbage that disfigured almost every street corner.

“The town has now got one quite good restaurant, which is the popular meeting place for all notabilities. Here you see the few deputies and all the business men and concession hunters, who are flocking in ever greater numbers to the town. This restaurant is established in one vast hall, capable of seating quite 200 persons. At night a good band plays light opera, intermingled with the latest fox-trot tunes, and in one corner there has even been set up an American bar —as yet unstocked—with the traditional high chairs before it.”