The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1909. THE YOUNG TURK'S PROBLEM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13892, 1 May 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1909. THE YOUNG TURK'S PROBLEM.

"The King is dead: Long live the* King!" The Turkish equivalent of this English phrase has been sounded in Constantinople. One hopes that the change; which lias been effected by the Reform Party will prove as beneficial as they expect; and so far as Turkey and the nearer regions of Asia Minor are concerned, this party seems to have command of the situation, and to be strong enough to force their ideaa upon any recalcitrant oppositionists. But Turkey and those nearer regions are' not the Ottoman Empire. The population of Turkey is about six Bail* lions, whereas the whole empire contains about four-and-twenty millions. Of the whole, nine millions are in Asia Minor, somewhat less' than three iii Syria, about as many in Armenia and Kurdistan, about one and a half in far distant Mesopotamia, and one million each in Arabia and North Africa—* to say nothing of the tributary States* of which Egypt, with about ten millions of population, is the most important in point of numbers. One wonders how those distant portions of the Empire will accept the new order of things. Some of them have notj

been■ particularly docile tinder, the rule of.'the.recently deposed Sultan. Arroenian atrocities and Arabian' insurrections have been frequent, almost constant,'sources of trouble to the Govern- , nieht,. and - the fact that the Sultan lias- been deposed will probably have become common talk among those peoples much sooner than the news tljiat a Government more in keeping with European notions has been established. If the . reverse were the case, the position might be expected to be even worse, for while the population of Turkey comprises a considerable proportion —about one-half—of Christians, this condition does not obtain in the rest of the Empire, and the Mussulman is apt to be a fanatic politically as well as religiously. .It is somewhat ominous that the principal and almost the only news we have had from Asia. Minor have been tales of the massacres/ -of Christians; and there is some reasot/ to fear that the profound disturbance of. the politicaP Government of the .Empire at its centre, will be followed by"'painful scenes in its outskirts. The Young Tnrk Party, may. have taken suitable measures for the preservation bf>order in those regions;, but there is 'no hint of it in the news of the massacres above alluded to; . and it is easily imagined that" they have had tkeir hands full of the objects that concerned them ' nearer home. To bring deposition of the Sultan and to appoint another, both matters within arm's reach So to speak, were easy matters compared with: the establishment of thenew rule over a much wider area, and over much more numerous - and less educated peoples. It would not he in the least surprising "if the. Young Turk Party fail in this greater enterprise, and if their success in : obtaining a constitutional form of government for Turkey and the nearer coasts of Asia leads to a disruption of the Empire: politically, and there is, we'/, are informed, some danger of a religious discussion also, there being an Arabian - claimant to the position of Caliph, or head, of the Mahometans throughout the world. There appear to .be' possibilities of grave difficulties, and it is impossible to foresee. which dc/ how many of .them are likely to be realised.- One can- only wish the Young "Turk Party a final .and .early' sqiccess ln the completion of the huge r they - have ' undertaken, the most djfScnft inrtsjof;which, so far as our iiifomation. goes, havenot yet. been entered upon. J- -