IN THE TOILS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1916, Page 2

IN THE TOILS.

TURKEY AND HER MASTER, TALAAT BEY THE EVIL GENIUS. The German grip on Turkey is vividly illustrated in an article in the New York Outlook by William T. Ellis, who states that Talaat Bey, and not Enver Pasha, is the evil genius of the Turks. Mr Ellis reproduces an interview with an influential Turkish-American, from which the following are passages. "If they could do so, the Turks would make a separate poare to-morrow," said the Turkish-American. "But the Allies will have none of it. They say tliey will not leave the Turkish job half done this time. So the Turks understand full well that they are done for as a nation, even if the Germans win." "Is it true that there is friction between the Germans and the Turks?" "Constant. They quarrel whenever they meet. On campaigns the German and Turkish staffs always have to occupy separate headquarters because of these inevitable clashes. If they dared to do so, the Turks would quit the Germans in a minute. But they simply cannot get along without them. It i> only German efficiency that makes possible this brilliant Turkish resistance. ENVER THE POSER. "The difference is temperamental. Both parties are high-handed and rather overbearing. The one thing the Turk can do superlatively is to be top dog; but the Germans deny him this privilege. They cannot be patient under the slipshod, feckless Turkish ways, and make no effort to conceal their contempt. "Enver Pasha is a mere 'boy hero,' a sort of handsome lay figure set astride a white charger and put at the head of the constitutionalists at the time of the revolution. His figure is on the medals then given to the soldiers; and he prizes, even above the Order of Merit which he received from the Kaißer a few weeks ago, the title of the 'Hero of the Revolution,' by which the population used to acclaim him. He is reckless and irresponsible, and in no wise equal to grave obligations of high Government position. Essentially he is a poser. His ' favorite attitude is to receive visitors lolling magnificently in a certain corner of his residence, with pictures of Napoleon and Frederick the Great above his head—the visitor, of course, being expected to think in threes!" Remembering that Enver Pasha is German-trained, I inquired the reason for the strange omission of the Kaiser's picture. Does he dispute with William a place in the triumvirate? "Partly so. Despite his German schooling and experiences, Enver Pasha is resentful towards Germany. It tricked his country into this conflict, and it forced the calling of a holy war, all because of (i desire to make trouble for Britain in Afghanistan and among her Moslem subjects. Enver sees the ruin of most of his dreams, and he has amassed a huge private fortune, which he has stowed safely away, hoping that his good luck will enable him to get from under the debris when the crash comes. The difficulty about 'that is that the Allies have served notice upon these Young Turk leaders that after the war they will be held personally responsible for their crimes against non-combatants."

THE EVIL GENIUS* "What of Talaat Bey S" "He has far more brains than F.nve.r. He plans and puts through all these terrible schemes, such as the Armenian atrocities, and yet succeeds in making: Enver seem responsible for them. Suave, cynical, reckless, Talaat, who is Parisbred, resembles the villain in a melodrama. He openly boasts that he has done mo:e to 'settle' the Armenian question in 30 days that Abdul ITamid did in lio years. He has likewise publicly threatened to kill all the dews in Turkey, and also to do for the Greek Christians in the country what he lias done for the Armenians. Talaat Bey is the evil genius of the 'deportation' of the Armenians." When the geography of our conversation had shifted to Syria, I sought light upon that mysterious Egyptian expedition of the Turkish army—the attempt last winter to cross the Suez Canal. ■'That move was all a mistake, and both the Germans and the Turks' knew it at the time. Still, they had to make the attempt to 'deliver Egypt' for sentimental reasons.

"The force, which was 25,000 strong, under Djemal Pasha, made elaborate preparations at Aleppo, Bcyrout, Damascus, and Jerusalem. Metal pontoons were devised and carried across the desert—you may now see them, bulletriddled, on display in the Zoological Gardens in Cairo. EGYPTIAN FIASCO.

"Meanwhile, various scliemes were afoot to block the canal. One was the sending in of a neutral ship filled with dry cement, which was to be swung crosswise and sunk. The British secret service, however, blocked that clever scheme, and the ship was captured as she entered, and the cement used for fortifications. Apparently the British knew all that was going forward. Their aeroplane service made surprises on the desert practically impossible. The Turks had one aeroplane at Aleppo, but it was wrecked on its first flight. There were also two aeroplanes at Constantinople, hut the troops had not been informed of this fact, and so they mistook them for enemy aircraft and 'destroyed them!

"Luck was against tlio Suez expedition from the first. They got 200 men across (lie canal —the British say they enticed and permitted them to cross—who, of course, promptly fell into the enemy's hands.

"Then, of a sudden, the Turkish Staff discovered that they had only two days' supply of faad anil water left, and they made a forced march hack to base, leaving' Egypt undelivered Twenty thousand of the troops went north again, leaving 5000 on guard to keep the British employed These have done one notable deed, though not at all a difficult l'oat of arms—they have captured St. Katherine's Monastery, on Mount Sinai, and have driven out the Russian monks.

"Now, in preparation for another raid on Egypt this winter, the Turks have built a temporary railway, connecting with the Damascus-Haife line, down through Nablue and Lydda to Beersheba. They hai'e torn up the tracks from .Jaffa as far as Lydda, but retain the Jerusalem connection, so that it is now possible to go by rail from Aleppo, far north of Dan, clear down to Damascus and Jerusalem and Beersheba" -from Dan to Beersheba. by rail!