TURKISH STANDARDS

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15098, 20 November 1922, Page 8

TURKISH STANDARDS

MANNERS TAKEN TO EXTREMES.

"I have known the Turk in his own home land for the past seven years," said Dr; Mark H. Ward recently to a representative of the "Christian Science Monitor." "In 1915 I went to Constantinople, and there worked under the auspices of the American Red Cross in a base hospital, taking care of Turkish soldiers who were being brought back wounded in the Dardanelles campaign. Later in 1316 I was engaged' in relief work for the Turkish, p.oor, and in 1919, after my discharge .from the American army in France, I went to Turkey. Being a physician,.! have been brought in very close contact with the Turkish population, therefore, both in Constantinople as. well as in the interior of Turkey.. . .-.. "After seven, years living in their own homeland and. even after I have been deported out .of the country by the Angora Government, I ,am willing to agree that the Turk as a rule is an intelligent and courteous gentleman. In all my experiences with him, I have always found him pleasant and courteous. In fact, they carry their desire to please so far, that every other consideration is subservient to it. Often it has been my experience that they would tell me. an. absolute falsehood, but do. it because they want to be polite. If accused of it.they will shrug their shoulders and laugh it off. "As an example, in the case of my expulsion from the country, I heard in a roundabout way that a report had been made against me to the central government by several of the local officials. These men had always been friendly to me and continued to be so, on the surface. They enjoyed my hospitality, and I enjoyed theirs. When the answer came back that they should send me out of the country, they sent me word in a roundabout way, and as friends asked me to go of my own accord and not to make any trouble. They were hostile to me because I stood out for humane treatment of these Christian deportees and was trying to save their lives. When told that it would go hard for the work if I refused to leave the country quietly, I sent back word in this roundabout way that I would start inside of ten days. Thesel same officials were the very ones that were sending me out and they knew that I knew they were. But neither they nor I mentioned that matter. It was not courteous. We parted the best of friends.

Koran's Prophecy of War.

"I have had several Turks tell me that some time in the future there would be a final war between the Mohammedan world and the Christian world, for their Koran prophesied it. In such case they have been very frank to say that they would help kill off the Christians and they have admitted that they would help kill me if I were near. Such a thing was not an act of unfriendliness. If I was to be killed, it was much better for a friend to do it than an enemy who might prolong the agony. During the Armenian massacres of 1915, there were several proven cases where Turkish business men killed their Armenian partners, not for gain but because they were their partners, their friends. I personally know of cases where Turkish Masons killed their brother Armenian Masons. Their ideals in this regard are different from ours.

"It is not a sin to kill or to lie, to a Christian especially. Human life, in the Orient is very cheap. It is a sin to kill an animal but not a Christian. In Harput even while the poor Greek refugees were dying about us like flics from starvation, we were ordered by the Government to stop poisoning the stray cats and dogs that were overrunning our American Compound at the time. To poison and put out of misery a half-starved, mangy cat was against their religion, but to refuse us permission to give our bread to a starving Greek child was no sin at all.

"Even in business dealings it is impossible to trust the word or promises of a Turk, no matter how many papers he signs. For him to do anything because he gave his word to you, is an unknown thing in my experience. If he finds that he is losing money on a contract he lias with you, he will refuse to make any more deliveries unless you pay him more money. "According to our standards I. should net consider tho Turks as a high type of man. Yet if we judge him by his own standards, he is. it is a question of the difference in civilisation as well as religion, or moral values as well as ideals.