AFFAIRS IN TURKEY.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXVI, Issue 4079, 28 April 1909, Page 3

AFFAIRS IN TURKEY.

REACTIONARIES ARRESTED. TROUBLE IN ASIA MINOR. FURTHER OUTBREAKS FEARED. Constantinople, April 27. The National Assembly has agreed to the state of siege in Constantinople, with the object of facilitating arrests and enabling trials by courtmartial. The fact of Moslems fighting Moslems is producing a deep impression, and is likely to lead to further trouble. The defenders of Yildiz Kiosk state that the Sultan personally advised them not to resist the Salonikan (Young Turk) troops, who obtained possession of the Yildiz barracks at mid-day on Sunday. The mutineers guilty of the abuse of the white flag signal were summarily shot. Their treachery resulted in the death of Mukhtal Bey and 15 Salonikans.

Enver Bey, who commanded the Young Turk forces at Taxim, admits that the attackers lost 70 officers and 100 men. A body of mutineers escaped north, towards Therapia, but the rest were disarmed and interned. The War Office at Samboul greatly resents the defeat of the garrison at the of fellow Moslems. During the entry into Stamboul the Salonikans drove many hadjis (Mohammedan pilgrims) from the mosques, and some were arrested and some killed, despite their sanctity. The populace of the city are joyfully celebrating the success of the Young Turks’ cause, and there were many bonfires and illuminations last night. Everyone is impressed with the organisation and discipline of the victors.

London, April 27.

The Daily Telegraph’s Constantinople correspondent states that 800 have been killed in the fighting, and 1200 wounded.

Directly the barracks were captured the Salonikan troops converged on Yildiz Kiosk (the Sultan’s Palace), and two large barracks, with seventeen guns, immediately outside, surrendered on Sunday morning. The Salonikans found thousands commandeering the boats and ferries to take them to the Selimich barracks and Scutari, where the garrison was threatening to bombard Pera. Patrolling by torpedo boats, however, prevented many of the Yildiz garrison from escaping. Many fugitives during the evening were found in the cemeteries and houses, and were shot on the slightest resistance.

The defenders at Scutari numbered 4000. They precipitately retreated on Sunday evening, after the Salonikan troops had ferried the Yildiz guns across the Bosphorus and threatened bomardment. The Sultan forcr ed Tewfik Pasha and Edhem Bey to remain at Yildiz as hostages, and accepted a Salonikan guard.

Alter the capitulation it was reported that Ahmed Riza would be the next Grand Vizier.

Constantinople, April 27.

Four thousand reactionaries, including a number of hodjas and softas (pilgrims), have been arrested. It is feared that the hodjas and softas who took refuge in Asia Minor when the capital was occupied, will fourther inflame the reactionary outbreaks in Asiatic Turkey.

Eighty softas were killed while assisting in the defence of a guard house at Stamboul.

The traitors at the Taxim barracks who hoisted the white flag, and then fired on the attackers were summoned from the ranks after the occupation and summarily shot. White handkerchiefs and rags are still flung over the surrendered barracks and guard houses.

Many of the mosques in the city have been closed, and all the Kurds in Constantinople have been disarmed.

During the preparations for the bombardment of Yildiz Kiosk the terrified cries of the women of the Imperial harem were heard for some distance outside the palace walls.

Parliament is almost unanimous in regard to the necessity for deposing the Sultan. Shevket Pasha, leader of the Young Turk Army, fears that his deposition will have a bad effect on the army and in Anatolia, owing to the latent hostility between European and Asiatic Turks, the latter, while supporting the Constitution, being averse to the deposition of the Sultan. The Ministry has transmitted its resignation to the Sultan, and has informed Parliament, which has now returned to Constantinople from San Stefano, ot the fact.

Tewfik Pasha and Edhem Pasha, who remained at Yildiz Kiosk after the occupation as hostages, have, at the Sultan’s instance, returned to their homes. They declare that the Sultan has been cool and collected throughout the ordeal. According to the Ministry, at the Sutan’s instance, the Macedonian battalion occupied the Yildiz barracks. The Sultan takes credit for preventing further bloodshed by prevailing upon the Yildiz troops not to resist the Macedonians. After the Yildiz barracks had capitulated and been occupied, several bodies of Macedonian volunteers, consisting of various races and creeds, attached to the Salonikan forces, were acclaimed by the populace while marching through Pera, one of the Christian suburbs of Constantinople, but were not welcomed in Turkish quarters. Received 10.5 a.m., 23th. Constantinople, April 27. § Four thousand defenders of Scutari have surrendered. The Senate and Chamber had a joint secret sitting, and the Ministry decided to remain in office for some days longer. The Salonika committee announce that Skevket, prior to the capitulation issued an ultimatum that the defending soldiers of the First Army Corps, actively engaged in the massacres, would be employed in the construction of the Macedonian Army Corps, and also demanded that Constantinople should be garrisoned by sixteen highly disciplined battalions, and that the Third Army Corps there be quartered in the Ramiz Tachiftlik barracks outside the walls to support the Constantinople police and gendarmerie.

Shevket has announced that the state of selgo will last until the Chamber has passed an association law, press law, public meetings act, and a suppression of vagabondage law.

Hadi Pasha,'the acting commander of the Third Army Corps at Salonika, presides over the court martial at Constantinople. Refugees are pouring into Athens.