The Diary of A Turk

TO THE M EMORY or
E F . . W GIBB
.
m mm
ov u ! . o . A ND m
: A UTHOR o r A mo on
r ? m
or o nax ro m v
P REFA C E
A LTHOUG H no Western Power has ever played

a reater part in the problems o f the O ttoman
g
E mpire than Great Britain yet in no other
,
country in Western E urope is Turkey more

grossly misunderstoo d . I have be en many
ti mes asked by my E nglish acquain tances to
write a book o n Turkey from a Turkish point
o f view an d two way s o f writing were suggeste d
,
to me : the o ne was to compile a d eta iled work ,
the other to write a smal l and light book To .
take the former advice was no t possible to

me as I found myself incapable o f producing a
,
g reat an d technical work . Besides, I t hought

that after al l a sm all and lightly written volume
woul d have a larger circle o f readers and by its
,
help I could to some extent correct some o f

the mistaken ideas prevailing in E ngland about
Turkey Therefore I began to write thi s little
.
vi P REFA C E
volume in the form o f a book o f travel an d I ,
now bring it o u t under the title o f Tlze Bit”?

of a T a rk By
. thi s mea ns I have be e n able t o
talk a little o n many matters connected with

Turkey L et the critic fi nd other points in this
.
book o n which to express his opinion but do ,
no t le t him charge me with ignorance o f the
fac t t hat the somewhat unexci ting experiences

o f an unknow n man may be only o f slight
i ntere st to the public

.
I n the chapter o n women s affairs I have

’
quoted a few paragraphs from two art icles which

I co nt ributed some t ime ago to two London
weeklies the ! ueen and the L ady ; I render
,
my t hanks to the E di tors o f these papers fo r

ki ndly permitt i ng me to reproduce them h e re .
H H . .
C O N T EN TS
I . MY HOM E I N ASIA MINOR

II . AT SCHOO L AND IN THE HAREM
III THE . H AREM AND WOM EN I N THE
IV . I GO TO CONSTANTINO PLE AND PURS UE
STUD IES
V A . NEW PRO FESS ION AND THE ! UESTIO N
CONSCRIPTION
VI TURK EY S
.
’
mTERNAL DAN CERS
VI I A . NEW COSTU ME AND A NEW CAREER

VIII THE SUBL I ME
. P ORTE AND YILDIZ KIOS K
I! . THE CER EMONY OF THE S ELAMIJ K
! . THE SULTAN S
POLI CY
’
! I . THE ST RUGGLE WITH Y OUNG TUR KEY -
! II . ENGLAN D AN D THE CALI P HATE
! III . A LAST VI SIT TO AS I A MINOR

! IV . A S PY I N A BA TH
! V . FL I GHT To EN GLAND
! VI . A RETURN AND A SECOND FLI GHT

ILL U S T R A T I O N S
PRIN CES I N LANCERS

’
UNI FORM
A P ICKN ICK ING RESORT To f ace
A ILLAGE WEDDI NG PROCES S ION

V
A TURKI SH CEMETERY
O FFICERS OF LAN CERS
H AMI DIEH MOS! UE
AN O LD SERAGLIO
A WRES TLING MA TCH IN OLD EN D AY S
THE DIA RY O F A TURK
C HA P TE R I .
MY HOME I N A S IA M I N OR .
i i
As a c
t origin— Mygreat grandfa
-th er s rel igi o
’
us o rd er
His m iracles My grandfather and S ultan Mahm

— ud I I .
— An d l by wine— My father s Chari table extrava

o r ea
’
gance— H is d eath — P ri mi t i ve su rg ery in Asia M i no r
i m
The or ginal ho e O v f acc i n ati o n— My m other s Euro
’
pean ancestors—Writing a forbidden acco mplishment
I WAS born in the ancient town o f A ngora A sia ,
Mi nor famous no t alone fo r its silky haired cats

,
-
and goa ts but also fo r its historical and archa

, eo
logical importance and with it m y memories o f

,
early days and there fore the pages Of my

,
desulto ry journal naturally begin

,
Men o f .
learning who have engaged in researches into

t he arch e o lo gy and biblical history Of A sia
2 THE D IARY O F A T U R K
Minor have come to the conclusion that this
town was once in t he remote past the principal
centre Of a wandering branch O f the C eltic
peopl es who ultimately s ettl ed in A sia Mi nor .
A lthough Of course it was conqu ered and held

, ,
during later gene rations by the E as tern in

vaders it is even nowadays noticeable that
,
there is a di fference both o f character and ,
physique between most o f the inhabitants o f

,
our province and those o f other provinces more ,
especially O f Southern and E astern A sia Minor .
By remarki ng on this I do not wish to seem

to be trying to trace my or igin to a E uropea n
race though I am aware that many people in

,
thi s country are unsympathetic and e ven , ,
pe rhaps prejudic ed whe re O rientals are con

, ,
cern ed My paternal ancestors cam e across

.
from Central A s ia and fi rst s e ttled in K ho ras

,
san in Persia
, Bu t as the y were devout
.
followers o f the orthodox creed o f the A rabian

Proph et they were subjected to the intolerant
Oppression Of the Persian Moslems between ,
whom and t he orthodox believers the hi story o f

Western A sia records many a sangui nary feud ,
the result o f th e ir doctrinal antago nism My .
ancestors were compelled eventu ally to emigrate

MY H O M E IN A S I A M INO R 3
to A sia M inor over a hun dred and fift y years

ago and there they fou nd a more hos pi table
,
rece ptio n .My great gra ndfath er was the -
sheikh o r head Of a religious ord er called

Half/al t, or to give the name an E nglish
,
”
equivalent those who worship in sec lusion
, .
The name arises from o ne Of the strict rules

O f t h e order t hat its ri t es must not be d isplayed
,
to the outsid e public doubtless a measu re fo r ,
the pre vention o f h y pocrisy H isto rical research .
has t raced the foundatio n o f t he order to Ali ,
the s o n in law o f Mohammed Shortly after

- -
.
sett ling in A sia Minor the di sc iples o f the grea t

sheikh increas ed to a nu mber approaching
eighty thousand and pilgrims came to his ,
monast ic dwe lli ng from all the neighbou ri ng

provinces It was no t only in A natolia and
.
Syria t hat his name was honoured ; he is m en
t io ned with re v e rence in the bo o ks writt e n in
E gypt at that t ime It m u st no t be imagined .
that he was a ki nd Of M aédi a name whi c h is ,
familiar in E ngland o n ac c ount o f its having

been assumed by t he late pre t ender in the
Soudan . I n the days gone by many such
”
Mahdi s o r redeemers appeared in Western
, ,
A sia and the N orthern hal f Of A frica disguis ,

4 THE DI ARY OF A T U RK
ing und er this apostolic name their ambition o f
attai ning temporal po wer and w o rldly glory .
I n spite Of his havi ng so great a numb er o f

di sciples my great grand father lived to gether
,
-
,
with his immediate de votees in complete retire

,
ment. The O ttoman Sov ereign Of the time

h eard of him! and s ent a messe nger informing
him that he wished to grant c ertain pious en
do wm ents to his monastic institution in the little
t o wn Of Tc he rkesh which is situated hal f way
,
-
between A ngora and the Black Sea coast M y .
great grandfather decli ned to rec e ive such nu

-
nec essary worldly assistance and accordi ng to

, ,
one Of the traditions co ncerning his miraculous

doings whi ch used to be related in o ur fam ily
circ le he struc k his staff against the wall in the
,
presence Of the envoy o f the sovereign and ,
th ereupon a stream o f preci o us metal began

to flow do wn . H e said to the envoy ! who
became a devoted disc iple later o n) that he
needed not such worldly things There is
.
another an ecdote o f him which was told in m y

younger days . There was in our house a
large deerski n upon which my father used to
prostrate himself duri ng his prayers I Often .
heard it said that this was t he skin Of the

M Y HO M E IN A S IA M INOR
deer pon which my great grandfather the ho ly
u -
,
h ermi t was accustomed to ride every Friday

, ,
t he Sabbath day Of o ur people from his hom e ,
in A sia Minor to Mec ca in A rabia to attend , ,
t he F riday s e rvice in the sacred S epulchre Of the
Prophet ! on who se shrine be Of

cours e I quite beli eved thes e legends in my
,
c hildhood I can make no c ommen t o n them

.
no w. The responsibili ty Of vouc hing fo r the

fac t lies with the narrator is an Arab sayi ng ,
o ft en quoted by o u r O riental histo rians in

relating extraordi nary events I m ust follow .
their e xample It has however always been a

.
, ,
grea t grief to me t hat along wi t h the deerskin

we did not i nherit t hat use ful staff .
My grandfather whose views in his early

,
days o n the religious orders did no t coincide

wi th those o f his father did no t become a ,
disc iple o f the great h ermit sheikh so the lat t er -

,
had to point o ut to him t hat the rules o f the

order forbade his remai ni ng any lo nger in the
monas t ic insti tut ion He left the place accord
.
ingly and joi ned a small ca ravan which was

,
starti ng Off to the to wn o f A ngo ra wh ere he ,
eventually set tled It was a distance Of fo ur

.
’
days journey o n c amel back This town was - .
6 THE D IARY OF A TURK
the centre Of learning at that time and there ,
is there a well k nown shri ne o f a sain t whose

-
,
name is H aji Beiram Many thousand s o f

.
pilgrim s visi t his mausoleum every year My .
grand father did no t k now anyone in the town ,
and had no mean s Of supporting himself H e .
went to the shri ne and after m aking a prayer at

,
the graveside Of the sai nt he became absorbed ,
in contemplation and eventually S lumbered I n .
his dream he saw the saint who asked him his ,
name and also whether he could read The

,
.
answ e r to the seco nd ques t ion was u nsat isfac
to ry and thereupon the sai nt gave him a lesson

,
.
O n waking up my grand father went Out and

saw several student s e nteri ng the adjac ent
madmsse/z or theo logical school H e followed .
them and in the m

, adm sse/ z he ente re d in t o
co nversation wi th o ne Of the newly made -
l ecturers In these Old fashioned centres Of

.
-
learni ng the reputation Of a lecturer depends in

great measure o n the number o f students who
attend his le ctures The le cturer t ook my
.
grand father who was the n little more than a

,
boy into his Class and settl ed him in a roo m

, ,
alo ng with his few other pupil s H e studied .
in thi s m adm sseb v e ry ma ny years and ulti ,

M Y HO M E IN A S IA M INOR
mately became himself a profes so r Of theology ,
philosophy and the temporal law Of the

,
Moslem s . H e made his fame large ly by

delivering addresses in di fferent mo sques o n
the commentaries Of the K oran which attracted,
large audiences Many learned m

. en e ngage d
,
in kindred studies throughout A siatic Turkey ,
used to apply to him fo r the solution Of di fficult

poi nts The represe ntative Of the sovereign in
.
thi s t ow n used to pay him visits Of respect but ,
he h imsel f never in his li fe crossed the threshold

O f a gover nme nt O ffi ce
.
D uri ng the reign Of Sultan Mahmud I I who .

,
rul ed from 1 80 8 till I 8 3 9 there took place an

,
imperial weddi ng at Consta nti nople to which

persons o f distinction in all classes Of society
through o ut the country were invited The .
Chief physi c ian o f the S u ltan ! who se grandson

is at present at tached as councillor to the
O ttoman E mbassy in L ondo n) who had been ,
a pupil Of my grandfather s no t i c ed that his

'
name was no t on the list and strongly t e

,
c ommended h is so ver e ign t o i nvit e him A .
courier set o u t fo r A sia M i nor at once and ,
brought my grand father t o the capital A .
great banquet was give n in the palace in

honour Of the event to all the religious digni

taries and principal Ulem a that is to say the
, ,
learned hierarchy o f the realm M ahmud I I . .
devised a curious plan fo r testing the forti

tude and strength Of character O f these pious
people D uri ng the banquet servants brought
.
in bo ttles fi lled with a red coloured liqui d -

.
Several guards wi t h draw n swords in their

hands followed the attendants and stood in ,
the e ntrance The bewildered guests natur

.
ally did no t know what to make Of it an d ,
awaited events in anxious silence Then to .

,
their consternation it was solemnly announce d

,
that the liquid in the bottles was wi ne Wine ! .
an abominable intoxicant o f which it is strictly

,
forbidd e n to t he faith ful to touch even a single

drOp ! The pernicious fluid which has receiv ed
,
from the Prophet himsel f the name Of the

”
!
mother Of evils ! ! I must explain by the ,
way th at Mahmud wished to remod el his

,
empire A fter gett ing rid Of those formidable

.
opponents the Janis saries he adopted no t o nly

, ,
some o f the E uropean methods Of administra

tion bu t also som e Of the Western c usto ms
,
and modes Of li fe and among other things he

,
ordered his Offi cials and army to wear costu m es

M Y H OM E IN A S IA M INO R 9
and uni forms made after the E uropean style .
This po licy had already occasione d disquietude

and suspi c ion in the pious heads under turbans
in A sia ) When t he wi ne was brought before
.
t hat religiously sober assembly an annou nc e ,
ment was made that as the S ultan ruled o n

!
E uropea n soil he wished to bring his country

more into harmony with the F ranks ! al l the
people o f Western E urope are so called ) and any ,
unwillingness o n the part o f his subjects wo uld

possibly hasten the decay Of his em pire I t .
was moreover the desire Of t he so vere ign that

, ,
narrow minded supersti tion and the dislike Of

-
new thi ngs even though the y were borrowed

,
”
from the F ranks should disappear
, The .
annou ncement was co ncluded by the warning
t hat t ho se guests who S hould re fuse to drink
wi ne would be regarded as re bellious against

the will Of their sovereign F ace to face with
.
this somewhat sta rtli ng alternative the guests ,
became pale o f countenance and mute Of tongue ,
fo r be it rem
,
embered he who gave this order
,
was a real autocrat who had even exterminated

,
the awe in spiring Janissaries H owever my

-
.
,
grandfather sprang up from his seat and said ,
Co uld not o ur sovereign find any other virtues

IO THE D IARY OF A TU RK
among the F ranks worth imitating ? He

pointed o ut moreover that the law against
, ,
drinking wine the ordinance Of the faith was

, ,
g ive n to them by an authori t y superior even to
that Of his Majesty H e then started to gO o u t

.
,
and while he was forci ng his way through the
servan ts and guards Sul t an Mahmud who was

, ,
watchi ng this com edy lite rally from behind the

scenes suddenl y s tepped in smiling and in
, , ,
order to dispel the fear O f the white bearded -

,
green turbaned gent lemen he said he simply

-
,
meant to test the fortit ude and character Of the

people who were to guid e his subjec ts in the
paths o f religion and rectitude .
The S ultan later granted an audience to my

grandfather and asked him to give l es sons in
,
the A rabic language to the imperial princes

! among whom was A bd ul Mej id wh o was ,
Sultan during the Crimean campaign ) and ,
urged him to settle in Co nstantinople promi s ,
ing t hat he would eve nt ually make him Sh e ikh

ul Islam
-
,that is the head Of the religiou s
,
magistrates and l e ar ned hierarchy But my .
grand father prayed th e sovere ign to pardo n

him fo r not accept ing thi s honour sayi ng t hat ,
it was his earnest desire to pass his rem aining

my brothers but in spite Of all provisions to the

, ,
contrary they were co nfi sca t ed during the reign

,
O f the present S u l t a n a reign which has been

,
so conspi cuous fo r the suppression o f the civil
rights and the Oppressio n Of the person Of the

individual .
We sued the Government to get our propert y

bac k and spe nt all our mon ey in differe nt courts
,
over lawsuits which lasted fifteen years but we ,
could no t have expected t o succeed fo r as a , ,
Turkish poet has writte n ,
When the j udge is the defendant and the witnesses are

bo ught
How can yo u loo k for j ustice fro mthe inte ested c o urt ?
,
When my grand father di ed at the age Of

e ighty two my o wn fat h e r i nheri t ed th e e ndowed
-
e state ; he was no t s o lear ned and abl e as his
father .His o nly brother having entered into ,
the Government s ervi c e forfeited his S hare , .
My father suffered from an e xcess Of chari ty ,
a nd in helping o t hers h e e xpended t he greate r
portion o f t he reve nue o f his o wn estat e as well

as a part Of my mother s private income His
’
.
chari table ext ravaganc e became at l ength so

inordi nate that he co u ld no t ev en dine wi thout
i nviting every day many guests no matter ,
MY H O M E IN A S I A M I N O R x3
w hether h e ir posi t io n was humble o r the

t
rev e rs e . Whe n he died killed by the ,
mu rd e rous attac k O f a dru nken Gove rnment

o ffi c ial
, h e left us p ractically no t hing but the
endow e d lands whic h he c ould no t have sold
, ,
and t hese lands as I poi nted o u t be fore were

, ,
t ak e n over by the Gov e r nme nt o f the prese n t
Sultan We were relieved from want by the

.
fac t that the bulk O f my mother s pro perty

’
remai ned i nta c t Fo rtunately my fat her had

.
no t b e e n abl e to squander it .
I was nine years o ld whe n the drunken

offi cial attacked him and so caused his death
, ,
whi c h happ ened t hu s —

O ne eve ni ng a few
wom e n vi s itors came t o call o n my mother .
A s it is our custom in the E ast to keep o u r

women strictly s ec luded my fat her had to ,
retir e before thes e veile d visitors e ntered H e .
as ked me to c ome out with himt o spe nd the

eveni ng wi th some neighbo uring fri e nds and ,
t he re we saw the intoxi cat ed man My fat her .
had a very great abhorrence o f drunken ness and

drunkards and he could no t bear to be in the
,
sam e roo m wi th the man who was viole ntly dru nk

,
and shou t i ng and singing A qu arre l arose b e

.
twee n them The man attacked my fath e r

. ,
I4 THE D IARY OF A TURK
and caught him by his lo ng white beard M y .
father push ed the as sailan t back and in doi ng s o ,
acc id entally pu t his thu mb i nto t he dru nkard s ’
mouth with the resul t that he was badly bi tt e n

,
.
A l though A sia Mi nor was the cradle Of some

o f the ancie nt civilisatio ns it has not pro fi ted
,
from the faciliti e s afforded to mankind by

modern discoveries There was no surgeon
.
in o u r town properly quali fied by scienti fi c

training and so my father s thumb lacked
,
’
proper treatment .
The only medi cal men were as a rule barbers

, , ,
who added to their proper profession t hat O f

let t ing blood fo r their customers when it was
considered necessary Bl eeding Of cours e used
.
to be in favour in E urope g e ne rally and it is ,
still largely prac tised in the E ast There are .
a great many people in my native c ou nt ry who

think that a p eriodical loss Of blood puri fi es the
system and hav e themselves bled accordi ngly
, .
The early part Of the summer is a favouri t e

time fo r the operation before the seaso n fo r eat
,
ing fresh fruit arrives Blood is let either by a

.
lancet o r else by means o f leeches whi c h are

,
applied to the arms and legs The men who .
’
were charged with my father s treatment were
MY H O M E IN A S I A M I N O R I;
an O ld barbe r and a professional blood letter -

.
Th e y u se d all their c hoi c est O i ntme nts maki ng ,
my fathe r s thumb wo rse every day They

’
.
u s e d to cri t icise eac h o t her s skill in surgery

’
.
T h e professio nal blood lette r told us that he-
w as onc e an army surge o n and it was his ,
bo ast t hat during the Crim ean War he had cut

O ff the arms and legs Of dozens o f wou nded
s oldi e rs H e doubtless facili tated the departure

.
O f t hes e unfortunates to the place whi ther he
ul t imately sent my father In S pite Of his

.
experi e nces howeve r he did no t amputat e my

, ,
pare nt s arm which migh t have prevent ed the

’
g angrene which proved fatal My mother s .
effo rt s to Obtai n the condemnat ion Of the

drunken Offi cial as the murd erer o f her hus
,
band failed He was only sentenced to a few

, .
mo nths Of imprisonment and to pay us an in ,
dem nity Of abou t fi v e hu ndred pounds .
P e rhaps I shall be pardo ned fo r a S light

digression here I laid some emph asis o n the
.
backward condi t ion o f the art Of surgery in my

nat ive tow n bu t I do no t mean thereby that
,
Turkey has been altogether behindhand in

the art Of medici ne In some part i culars she
.
has even led the way Fo r instance she

.
,
mya claim the discovery Of in ocul ation as a

defe nc e agai nst smallp o x and it is worth ,
while rec alli ng the fact that Lady Mary Wortle y

Montagu introduced the treatment into Eng
land from Turkey many years before Jen ner
made his first experime nt A s L ady Mary .
saw it inoculatio n was performed with lymph

,
taken from human beings but according t o ,
the Tan Zé/zz jew et ! v o l ii p 3 4 1 press

'
’
. .
, .
,
mark Turk 9 British Museum L ibrary )

.
, ,
inoc ulation was al so pe rformed in a manner

suggest ive Of cal f lymph A Turkoman Of
-
.
the pastoral tribes in A sia M i nor was pay

ing a visit to C o nstant inople and he saw ,
the children being i noculated with other chil

dren s lymph H e said t hat in his own cou ntry
’
.
the lymph was t aken from the fi ngers o f those

who milked the c ows The book moreover
.
, ,
state s t hat Lady Mary h eard o f the Turko

man s statement though she does no t me ntion
’
1
this in her letter .
1 Writing to England fro mA drianople on April I 1 7 1 7 , ,
Lady M ary W ortl ey M o ntagu says

A pro pos o f distempers I amgo ing to tell you a thing
that I amsure wi ll m
,
ak e yo u wish yo urself here The

so fatal and so general am
.
sm all po x o ng st us is h ere
entirely harm
, ,
less by the invention of ingrafting whic h is ,

M Y HO M E IN A S IA M INOR I7
The Circassians and some Of the tribes o f

Caucasu s are said to have be en acquai nted wi th
the us es Of inoculation in Olden days They .
were chiefly slave dealers and they had to take -

,
great care Of their young girl ca ptives mo re -

,
especially as regarded any sort o f dis figurement

the ter mth y giv e e it . There is a set Of Old wo mn wh
e o
mka e heir business to perfo rm th e o perati on every

it t
autum n in the m , o nt h Of S ep tember wh en the great h eat is ,
abate d Peo pl e se nd to one ano th er to kno w if any O f their

fam all po x ; they m
.
ily has a mind to have the sm ak e parties
fo r thi s p urp o se and when they are m et ! co m mo nly fifteen

o r si xteen togeth er) th e Old wo m
,
an co m es wit h a nutshell
full Of th e m atter Of th e best so rt Of sm al l p ox and asks
what veins yo u please to have o pened S he i m mediately .
ri p s Open that yo u o ffer to her wi th a larg e needle ! whic h gi ves
yo u n o m o re p ain th an a c o mmo n scr atc h ) an d p uts i nto ,
th e vei n as m uc h veno mas can lie upo n the head Of her
needle and after bind s up th e li ttle wo und wi th a ho llo w
b it Of shell and in thi s m

,
,
anner Opens fo ur o r fi ve vei ns
The c h ildren o r yo ung patients play to gether all

t he rest Of th e day and are in perfec t health until th e
Then the fever begi ns to sei e them and they
,
eighth z ,
keep their beds two days o r seldo mthree They have

.
.
,
rarely abo ve twenty o r th i ty in th eir faces wh i c h never r
mark ; and in eight days time they are as well as befo re

,
’
th eir illness There is no exam ple o f anyo ne that has

died in it ; and yo u m ay well beli ev e I am very wel l
.
satisfi ed Of the safety o f the experi m ent sinc e I i ntend to
my li ttl
,
try it o n e so n
I amp t i t
.
a ro eno u gh to ta e k pains to bring this l

usefu
inventio n into fashio n in En gland .

which would destroy their good looks and con ,
sequently their value Of the early history.
O f the sickne ss li t tle is known but it is a ,
well established fac t that the symptoms were

-
fi rst clearl y diagnosed by the an c ient A rab

physician Rhazes whose name is well
, ,
known to O rientalists and students Of medical

histo ry H is bo ok is enti tled K ztab ul jeaeree ’
’
- -
.
Vel Hassabe/z t he t ranslation o f which is

-
,
Tr ea tise of S mallp ox and M easl es This work

was translated i nto E nglish from a Lati n
version by T Stark early in the eightee nth
.
centu ry .
The business like E uropean manner o f in

-
vesting money is no t known among o ur people .
Those who do no t know what to do with their

spare money and who fear it may be stolen or
, ,
kindly taken charge o f by the Offici al s Of the

paternal Sultan hide their cash by burying it in
,
corners Of their houses or fields But we did .
not hide the fi ve hundred pounds belonging t o

my m o ther Someon e s uggested to us that we
.
should buy mohair goats Of which the hair cut , ,
ev ery spring would yi eld us an annual income

, .
F ormerly girls in Turkey were no t allowed to

learn t he mystery Of caligraphy W e have had .
some exc ellent po etesses in days gone by but ,
no ne Of them could write — th ey dictat ed their

in spirat ions The com mon e xplanat ion given
.
o f t his tradit ional prohibi t ion fo r it is a

—
—
custom rather than a rule was that if girls
o nce l earned writing they might have ind ulged
in talismanic pas ti mes and e ventually have
,
becom e witches A s a matter Of fact the real

.
,
reason was quite di fferent Th ere was a fear . ,
perhaps not ill fou nded that having once

-
,
learne d to write they might haste n to make

use Of the accompli shmen t by c o mposing love
letters to y o u ng men with whom they could
no t otherwise c ommunicate fo r th e stric t se clu
,
sio n Of fe males cuts Off all intercourse between

you ng people Of opp o site sexes almost as soon
as they have ceased to be infants This .
absurd in fact harm fu l pro hibitio n has Of late

, , ,
and fo r s ome t im e pa st been l o si ng its force

, .
But it was still strictly O bserved in my mother s ’
younger day s and so she was not allowed to

,
learn to write . In spi t e h o wever Of her , ,
incomplete education she kept us happy and

, ,
by her i nborn tac t preserved the appearance

M Y HO M E IN A S IA M INOR 21
o f o ur social standing A ll members Of my

.
mother s family have a p ractical business like

’
-
instinct a quality whic h is S O conspicuously

,
lacking in those Turks who have no strain Of

foreign blood I am convinced that there is
.
so me E urop ean blood in the veins o f my

moth er s ancestors She belongs to a family
’
.
Of soldie rs who fo r generations were charged
by the O ttoman S ultans with the defence Of

the provinces and the frontiers Of Bosnia and
H erzegovina I n t hose days the Turks u sed
.
to make slaves Of their captives in war just as ,
their enemies used to c arry Turks into per

manent captivity when invading their territory .
The a ntecedents o f the people so enslave d can

be traced even no w in H unga ry and Austria
by their Turkish names But the c aptives o f .
the Turks as a rule had to adopt Turkish

, ,
names and S O the presence o f E uropean blood

,
can only be d etermined in Turkey by the

personal appearance and charact eristics o f the
descendants Of the captives My mother s .
’
soldier ancestors doub tless intermarried with

-
E uropean captives I before disclaime d all

.
pretensions o r desire to pass mysel f Off as a

descendant o f a E urope an race when I was de
scribing the Asiatic origi n Of my forefathers .
I am no t nevertheless c ontradicti ng mysel f

, ,
here ; fo r when the pedigree Of a person is

being considered wi th us it is only his ancestry
,
o n the father s side t hat count s

’
.
My mother passes a most retired li fe in her

town and summer houses I n t ow n there is a
.
’
market place sit uated a few minutes distance
-
from our house which sh e has never s ee n in

,
her whole li fe She went however t o Mecca

.
, ,
O n a pilgrimage some fi v e years ago .

C H A PT E R I I .
A T S CH OOL AN D I N T HE HARE M .
My h l —
atred o f esso nsCo m pul so ry attendance at school
—
The bastinad o in sc hoo ls My own experience Of it
Ho w sc oo g r s
h l i l a re p unish ed— The Old fashioned -
implement fo r beating — !
The ro d is a gift fro m
H ea ven —I help to kidnap a —
bride My mth o er s
’
grief at my behav —amhanded o ver to a stern

io ur I
uncle in c onsequencc — s —
My uncle wi ves Etiquette ’
in th e h a rem — A fi rs t c i g arette— B astinad o ag i

an — I
am sh ut o ut o f th e ha r em — The prac tice o f po lygam y
ItS po pularity estim a ed
t — The Euro pean system .
is beneath the ground over which

P A RA D IS E
mothers walk said Prophet Mohammed
, .
This saying is to be thus construed : If any !
man desire s to gain paradise let him O bey an d ,
respect his mo ther This precept I was

.
taught to follow from my earliest childhood .
But I fear I must be d estined fo r some place

other than parad ise fo r when I was a boy I
,
frequently gave my mother much trouble and

23
caused her great and many anxi eties fo r I ,
fo tInd my conduc t fre e from ma sculi ne c o ntrol

after my father s death and made good or bad
’
, , ,
u s e Of my opportunities I was a child Of u n .
thinking and reckless nature I had an int ense .
horror Of goi ng t o any school A t our summer .
residence I owned a flock O f geese and I loved ,
to spe nd my tim e looki ng afte r them I was .
therefore given the ni c kname Of goose herd -

,
’
‘
which is t an tamount in Turki sh to idiot In .
’
our town house I trained and reared pigeons

-
,
and I must say I had some excus e fo r this as ,
I have neve r seen such beauti ful birds else

where They were very small and Of a pure
.
,
white hue They would fly to an extraordinary

.
al t itude and would remain out Of s ight fo r

,
several hours A t o ther times they would

.
suddenly let themselves fall swooping and ,
whe eling in mid air and th e n shoot upwards

-
,
o nce more Birds Of thi s most in telligent and

.
t rai nable breed have b ee n frequently taken to
Con stant inople bu t th ey cannot live in the

,
c limate Of that town .
Whil e I was wasting m y t ime with dum b

co mpani o ns my eldest broth er and cous ins
,
were quite able to read and write things which ,

AT SC HO OL A ND IN THE H AR E M as
to my mind were ab olutely past comprehens ion

s
and belie f U nable to c ompel me to attend

.
any school my mother at las t applied to an O ld

,
ne gro servant o f my grand father s who was

’
th e n living close to us with his white wife and
taw ny child ren When a bo y he had bee n

.
bo ught by my grand father from the slave

d ealers and as the e mancipation Of slaves is
.
,
co nsidered the most pious act a Mohammedan

can perform my grand father freed him soon
,
after buying him gave him s ome property and

, ,
arranged a m arriage fo r him This Old m an .
did no t approve Of my unduti ful conduct towards

my mother I n accordance with a promise
.
which he will ingly mad e to her o ne morni ng ,
he came to o ur house and gravely asked me to

g o w ith him t o sc hool I excuse d my se.l f o n
the plea that the books and papers previously
procured fo r me had been eaten by rats H e .
said he woul d b uy new ones fo r m e in the
sc hool and I told him it was no use buying

,
them because I di d no t un derstand them

, .
Then the b ig black man showing his white ,
teeth angrily moved towards me and caught

, ,
me by the ear with his rough hard hand and , ,
practically dragged me as far as the sch ool ,

amidst the m alicious chuckling Of my brother

and c ousins D uri ng l es son tim es my thoughts
.
-
flew after my ge ese and pigeon s Many a .
time was I led to school most u nwillingly in

the same fashion and it to ok several months
,
fo r the mas ter to persuad e me by much ,
c orporal chasti semen t to take t he slightest

,
i nterest in my lesson s .
A fter a year or S O I had to go to a higher

schoo l wh ere th ere were hundreds O f bo ys
, ,
several teach ers and a headmas ter Of ruthless

,
di sposi tion In those days floggi ng was the

.
principal punishme nt fo r all Offences Of school

boys . I have never seen or h eard Of any
maste r who carried o u t his duty Of no t S paring
the rod more consc i entiously more unbendingly , ,
and with more s el f sat isfact i o n than that head

-
mas te r Perso nally how ever I came Off more

.
, ,
easily than most as duri ng the two years Of

,
my attendance in the school I was only beaten

t hre e times Th e beating took the usual form
.
Of bastinad o and in my t hree experiences I

,
rec e ived fi fty strokes on the soles Of my feet ,
twe nty Of th em fo r my ill behaviour fi fteen fo r -

,
my stupidity and fifteen fo r my incapac ity to

,
learn arithmetic I had o n several occasions

.
and a searching inquiry began O ne Of the .
boys who was a friend o f mine whil e going

, ,
before the master to be interrogated could no t ,
re frain from laughing at the remembrance Of the

fun . The master at once ordered his attend
ants to pull the boy down to be beaten .
Seeing that my friend was c ry ing I went to ,
the m aster and swore that t he boy was in nocent .
Becaus e
”
H ow do yo u know ? he asked me .
!
he was next to me during the service ; I S hould

”
have O bserved him said I , Then several
.
boys go t up and told the master that the bo y

was no t at my side during the service thus ,
co ntradicting me unanimously Whereupon

.
t wo attendants were ord e red to pull me d own
and hold my legs tightly The master then

.
gave me twenty fi erce blows on my feet which ,
made me lame fo r several days This was the.
l ast flogging I had in the s chool .
It m ay perhaps be o f interest if I give some
description o f o ur methods o f corporal punish

ment in schools which are still even the
, ,
primitive o ne s employed by some masters in

,
the provinc es I n our Old schools there were

.
two ki nds o f fl o gging — o ne fo r the girls and
the other fo r the boys Girls used to be beat en

.
A T S C H O O L A ND IN THE H AR E M 29
on the palm s o f their hands There used to be .
a n i ns t rument in each sc hool which was called
t he fl a ka This was a long thick stick to

.
,
w hich was fas tened a loop The girl s wrists ’

.
w ere fastened to the stick by means Of twist ing

t he l o op round it and t he s t ick was hel d up by
,
a person at either end Then the master ! there

.
were no schoolmistresses ) s ta nding in front , ,
u sed t o i nfl ict the puni s hme nt wi t h a thin hard
ro d . The number Of the strokes usually varied

bet ween fi v e and ten Laziness much talking
.
, ,
and mischi evous behaviour were the principal

Offences whi ch brough t about this punishment .
A s I remarked be fore boys used to be bea ten

,
o n their feet — someti mes on t he soles Of their

bo o ts in graver cases without them and even
, ,
sometimes without their s ocks The boys had .
t o be pulled down and t wo pers ons held up

,
their feet and the mast er used to strike the feet

,
wi t h a t hi c k rod The number o f blows o nly

.
exceeded t wen ty in the case Of a very bad

Offence and floggi ng on the bare feet was
,
generally the result Of the maste r fi ndi ng s ome

’
thing inside the culpri t s boots o r socks to
mi t igate the force Of the blows I t Oft en .
happe ned that the boys foreseeing their fate

, ,
30 THE DI ARY O F A TU RK
used to place between their feet and soc k s

such thi ng s as cotto n han dkerchie fs and piec e s ,
Of sheepski n . I rem ember I did not c ry

when I was beate n fo r the fi rst time as I ,
thought it was very cowardly to cry in the

presence Of S O many boys But a boy who was .
sitti ng next to me said You silly ! why did ,
”
you not cry ? H e then told me that each time
he knew he was likely to be punished he placed
some so ft stuff i nside his socks at once and
while he was bei ng beaten cried out fo r m
,
ercy
as lou d ly as possible H e said he made the
.
mas ter reduce the number Of strokes by this plan .
I n the Old preparatory mixed schools there

used to be another method Of keepi ng children
in order which I must admi t was decidedly
, , ,
barbarou s . Those el e m e ntary s chools fo r

c hildren c o nsisted o nly O f a large hall wi th
two galleries in it The s m . aller gallery was

occupi ed by the master and th ere he summo ned
,
the C hildren in groups Of two or three at a time

to come and say th eir l esso ns There was no .
divisio n i nto c las ses The larger gallery was

.
used fo r the girls the boys oc cup ying the

,
middle Of the hall A lthough the li ttle sc holars

.
used to have lo w bench es before them they ,

AT S C HOOL AND IN T HE HARE M 3 I
had sit o n the floor each bo y o r girl havi ng

to ,
h is or her own mattress o r sheepskin which ,
the parents had to provide to sit upo n No w , .
the mas ter used to have ha ngi ng o n the wall by

h is side a lo ng stick whose l e ngth was always
—
in proportion to the si z e Of the hall that is to
sa
y it
, reached from one end o f the ro om t o the
other Wh enever t he master Observed any o f
.
h is pupil s no t b ehavi ng well and no t doing

th e ir work he Often did no t take the trouble to
,
call the delinquent up be fore him but simply ,
took dow n the lo ng heavy rod h eld it up by its ,
thick e nd and wi t h the thin end struck at any

, , ,
part Of his victim he could reach head —

,
s houlders or ba c k
, Sometimes if this did no t
.
,
do he would poke them in the ribs i nstead

, .
This pu nishm ent was very common in all the

e lem e n t ary s c hool s in my t im e and was no t ,
peculiar to our provi nce but pract i sed t hrough

,
out the c ountry I ca nnot remember whether

.
I suffered u nde r the long pole in my c hildhood ,
but I i magi ne I did not as the masters o f these

,
school s us ed to spare t he c hildre n Of well to do - -
people fo r fe ar o f an noyi ng the ir pare nts and ,
thus forfe i ti ng the c ha nce Of getti ng a better fee .
The bastinado is regarded in E ngla nd as a

3 2 THE DI ARY O F A TURK
p ractice o f peculiar barbarity bu t in Turkey the ,
belief in its good effects still largely prevails .
”
The rod is a gi ft from heave n is a c ommon
saying in our language Thi s means that
.
flogging inspire s a desire in refracto ry people

to do righ t . I do no t propo se to enter into
any argument o n the merits or demerits o f
this subject I consider personally that a beat
.
ing which is well deserved and reaso nably in

-
flic ted Ofte n e ffects a marvellous improvement

in a lawless c hara c te r awake s the s luggi sh
,
co nsc ienc e o f ruffi ans and tames unmanageable

,
boys It is doubtful however if it is very

.
, ,
effective in induci ng children at school to learn

their lessons .
A bout the begin ning o f a summer season it

was co nsidered that I had bee n at the school
in my native tow n lo ng e nough I was then .
fourteen years O ld My mother was looki ng

.
forward to the arrival o f the time when she

could send me to Co nstanti nopl e to complete
my term o f study I le ft the school when sum
.
mer had begun and we went to Our country

,
house to spend the summ er .

AT SC HOOL AND IN THE HARE M 33
A ngora our nativ e place has a well deserved

, ,
-
reput atio n throughout A s ia M inor fo r its varied

and exte nsiv e frui t gard e ns A lmos t all the
-
.
fam ilies residing t here have their o wn gardens

a few miles outside the town and most o f them ,
have their summer res ide nce in the midst o f their

g ardens Three s tream
. s flowi ng from di fferent ,
directio ns join just below the town and the

, ,
valleys Of th ese streams are cove red wi th either

fruit trees or vineyard s
-
Toward s the begin .
ni ng o f May p e ople begi n to transport their
provi si o ns furni ture and other hou sehold

, ,
necess iti e s in o x waggon s from the town house s

- -
to the garden cot tages Th ey reside in the

-
.
cou ntry fi v e or six months accordi ng to wh en ,
t he fi nal harve s t ing o f the autum n frui ts t akes
plac e The wo men and children stay in the

.
cou nt ry and most o f the men go to t he tow n

,
fo r th eir busi ness every day be fore the h eat o f

t he s u n be c omes t o o great and com e bac k in ,
the cool o f the e v e ni ng about su ns et In the .
middle o f the day no o ne but hardy villagers

can trav el fo r the heat o f our climat e is as
,
excess ive in summ er as t he cold is Se vere in

winter The journeys are made o n horses
.
,
mules and donkeys

, .
L ike most children I used to feel an intense

pleasure in gett i ng away from the town at the
begi nning o f the sum mer s easo n but thi s was ,
no t s o mu c h o n acc ou nt o f my dislik e O f the
tow n li fe as o f my joy in getting rid o f the

horrors o f pens and paper and Of the worry ,
ing schoolmaster I n additio n to all the usual

.
country pastimes such as ridi ng swimmi ng in

, ,
the river shoot i ng and fi shing ! which co ns ists

, ,
principally with us o f what is known in E ngland

‘
t ickling fi sh by putti ng the hands into
’
as ,
the holes under will o ws which s erve as lairs fo r

fi sh and gra spi ng and th rowi ng the prey on t o
,
the bank ) I had a repreh ensibl e way o f amusing

,
myself which is al so no t unk nown to E ngli sh

boys This was boldly trespassing i nto o ur
.
neighbours gard ens t o get frui t an amusem ent

’
,
which shocked my poor moth er s feeli ngs fear ’
fully I used to plu nder more fo r the sake o f

.
the adventure than Of eating the plundered

fruit as our own garden was the best and our
, ,
fruit was the envy o f the neighbourhood .
D uri ng that summer I spent months o n our

country estate immu ne from the pu ni shme nt I
d eserved but at last I committed a crime whi ch
,
could no t be overlooked by m y people I .

36 THE DI ARY O F A TURK
the law would cause them endless worrie s and

e xpense The abduc ted bride s peopl e were ’
.
by no means socially supe rior to those o f the

bridegroom but they had refused the regular
,
demand fo r marriage The girl was born o f a .
Circa ssian mother and I believe she must hav e

,
i nherited the insti nct o f her race S he wished .
to marry her lover so she managed to send word

,
t o him that she would appear in the garde n
adjacent to her house at an hour previously

fi x ed The expeditio n was composed Of t hree
.
men mysel f the love r and a powerfully built

— , ,
man o f Circassian d es c ent who had the best ,
horse under him and who had to carry the girl .
We started from our n eighbourhood at dark and ,
after an hour and a hal f s ride o n the mai n ro ad ’
we took a side way o n approaching the country

-
’
residence o f the girl s p eopl e We tied up our .
horses to trees and whil e creeping through the

,
t hickly planted fruit gard e ns as quietly as pos

-
sible we saw someone moving wrapped in a

, ,
long white cloak It was the girl and she ,
was shivering even o n that warm summer

,
eveni ng when we approached h er and our big

, ,
companion took her o n his shoulders The .
lover looked it seemed to me at this moment

, ,
AT SC HOOL A ND I N T HE HARE M 37
hopelessly stupid possibly by reaso n o f his

,
mingl ed feeli ngs o f joy and anxiety We went .
back t o the place where our horses were The .
captured bride was mounted o n the big

’
Circassian s horse holding tightly to the man s
,
’
shoulders W e started and on regaining

.
,
the main road we had to ride with moderate

speed as the girl could not stand the strain o f
,
violent gallopi ng The bridegroom and I were

.
cons ta ntly looking behind a nticipati ng pursuit ,
and a possible attempt at recapture I was .
armed with a fli nt pistol and a club formidably ,
decorated with a clust er o f nails at the thick

e nd. We took the girl to t he bridegroom s ’
residence where his people gave her the kindest

,
possible reception and where she was duly,
married to him next day .
O n hearing o f my share in this adventure my

mother was overwhelmed with grief and indigna
tio n H ow ever I considered that I acted quite
.
,
right ly in the matte r and that in helping o n the

,
marriage Of a suffering fellow m an which sub -

,
sequent ly turned out admirably I did a piece o f ,
good work .
The end o f the autum n Of this year was ap

p roac h ing and, we prep ared to trans fer our
3 3 THE D I ARY O F A TURK
residence from the country to our town house -

.
My uncle who represented our town in

,
the short liv ed O ttoman Parliame nt in Co n

-
stant ino le had r e tur ned from t ha t city just at

p ,
the sam e tim e the said Parliame nt having been

,
prorogu ed i ndefi nit ely by the present Sulta n ,
and he had decided to res ide in A ngora fo r

some t im e H eari ng all about my conduct he
.
,
asked my m o th er t o send my luggage to his

house so that I might live amo ng his own
,
children and pursue my studies u nder his per

,
sonal supervisio n My mother whose gentl e .

,
soul had been much disturbed by my coun tless

mi sdeed s i nstead Of being glad to see me go
,
away whe n she migh t fi nd a li ttle peac e sobbed

, ,
o n s eeing my luggage r emov ed from her house .
My uncl e as I i nferred before was the fi rst

, ,
man in our family to enter the service o f the

Government A fter act ing as J udge in the
.
quasi religious Mohammedan Courts o f A l eppo

-
,
D amascus Cairo Medina and M e cca and

, , ,
o th e r ce ntres o f the O t toma n empire fo r ,
nearly forty years he ret ired t emporarily from ,
t he Government service A l though thoroughly .
ho nest sober and piou s in the extreme he had

, , ,
fallen into some Of the Old failings and habits

A T S CH O O L A ND IN THE HAR EM 39
of Constantinople o fli cialdo m such as polyg

,
am y
. When I went to his hou s e he had
t h ree wiv es , all livi ng together with their
n umerous children and ma ny female attend
a n ts in his harem — that is t o say in the ladies ’
, ,
section o f his house H is wives were all Cir

.
cas sians H e bought emancipated and married

.
, ,
them at di fferent time s and unlike som e other

, ,
polygamists he kept them in one house I t

,
was as wonde rful as u ncommon to see how

they all obeyed him implicitly ; and though a
man o f the sternest disposition he treated them
,
all kindly and with perfe c t fairness They .
may have hated o ne another at heart but ,
etiquette and a strict ceremo ny o f precede nce

were always observ ed by them The children .
o f the different wives were more markedly

j ealous o f each other than were th e ir mo thers .
Be fore marryi ng the se three Circassian wives

my uncle had been ma rried to a lady in
whose lifetime he could no t take advantage
o f the exi s te nce o f the sys t e m o f polygamy ,
because she was the daught er o f a family o f

social disti nction .
’
I live d in my polygamist uncle s harem
nearly two years Th ere was a marked co n
.
trast between our own home li fe and that o f

my uncle s tumul tuous abode The childr en
’
.
o f his wives quarrelled wi t h o ne ano ther his ,
servants quarrelled wi th each other E ac h .
wi fe looked after the com fort o f her apartme nts

and her own children I was not attached to
.
the department o f any one o f them and felt ,
very unhappy I n every boyish dispute the

.
sons united and turned against me and I was ,
quite naturally envious o f t he affection lavished

on them by their respective m others My .
unc le though he treated me on a perfect

,
equality with his own sons was very strict ,

.
H e gave us no rest I lost all my former

.
amu sements We had to occupy ourselves

.
conti nually either with lessons o r wi t h the

prayers which he co nduc ted fiv e times a day in
a large hall . The morning prayers which ,
have to be m ade about an hour before sunrise ,
annoyed me more than the others as every day ,
my u ncle used to get up and go round knocki ng

at the door o f every bedro o m both in the harem
,
and in the men s quarter compelling everyo ne

’
to get up fo r the early prayer TO have to get .
up and perform my prayer ablution o n cold

wi nter mornings Often made me complai n in
A T S CH OO L A N D IN THE H AR E M 4 :
te rms that were hardly pious A nyone among .
the numerous boys girls and serv ants who

, ,
failed in ge tti ng ready fo r the p rayer withou t

be ing able to plead serious illness was sure to
rece ive the bastinado or whip from my stern
u ncle On several occasions like his own so ns
.
, ,
I also rec e ived pu nishment F eeling depressed.
in his house I secret ly started smoking which

, ,
is strictly prohibited fo r boys in my country .
O ne o f the sons who disliked me much o ne

, ,
day spied o n me and in formed his father that

,
I was enjoyi ng cigaret tes in the stable in

company wi th the groom who bought and kept ,
them fo r me and shared them with me My

, .
‘
uncle sent two s talwart servants to catch me .
They brought me be fore him and he ordered ,
them to take o ff my shoes and socks and hold

my legs up H e gave me twenty strokes o n
.
my bare feet and they hurt me so much that I

,
howled fo r a long time afterwards H owever .

,
the punishment had its e ffect fo r till within the ,
last two years I have never been able to enjoy

smoking .
O ne o f my uncl e s strictest orders was that

’
’
his sons and I should remain o n the men s side
o f the house eve ry evening to read and write
4 2 THE D IARY OF A TURK
o ur lessons and not retire to our rooms in the

,
harem to bed until after the evening prayer ,
wh ich takes place about ten o c lock A fter I ’

.
had been living in his harem some months o ne ,
night at the moment when we were all pre

,
paring to go to bed my uncle aske d me to ,
stop and in formed me in his own grave

, ,
man ner that as I was entering upo n the stage

,
o f manhood it was time that I should respect

,
the rule o f seclusion A ccording to thi s rule .

,
am an can no lo nger live among the ladi e s o f
the harem between whom and himself marriage

,
would be legal So the sons o f m

.
y un c le
retired to the h arem leaving me behind in the

,
men s quarter o f the house I went to the

’
.
room assigned to me and found all my belong ,
ings had bee n brought out there I have a .
vivid recollection o f the depression and sadness

I felt that night I was no t quite fifteen then
. .
I wished to run away to our own house and

throw mysel f into the arms o f my mother but ,
I knew it was qui te hopeless as I had been ,
legally plac ed under t he guardia nship o f my

uncle alone Moreover he was to o powerful a
.
,
man to be resisted and his voice was suprem e

,
in all matters connected with o ur family circle .

44 THE D IA RY OF A T U RK
o ffi cial s in Constantinople who may be polyg

am ists and you will fi nd in them more foreign
,
than O smanli blood Th ere are many reaso n s

.
fo r the j us t i fi cation o f th e plurality o f wives in

t he I s lam ic books I will give o ne o f thes e
.
reaso ns whi c h is historical Be fore the ti me

,
.
o f Mohammed some A rab tribes in order to ,
chec k the increase o f the female sex used t o ,
‘
bury alive some o f t h e ir so t o say surpl u s
, ,
’
girls The appearance o f I slam s t amped o u t
.
this most savage custom A ft er the foundation

.
o f Mohammeda ni s m ma n y sanguinary religious
wars took place between I slamites and no n

I slami tes o f A rabia and a great number o f
’
men died in the battles There fore many .
wome n were le ft with o ut husba nds o r u n

married I n t hose day s t his caused the increase
.
o f prostitu t io n t o a n alarming degre e and this is

,
will admit th at M ohamm ed e stablished many

human and j ust pri ncipl e s fo r his followers
e
,
and it might be e xpec t e d

t ha t s u c h a wise man
A T S C H OO L A ND IN THE HARE M 4;
’
women s se rv ices were no t o f any public
goo d to the community H ow could he check
the crim e o f immorality”
? He had to pe rmit
t he e xerci se Of polygamy which was the usual ,
practice among oth e r S e mitic peoples ; and he

sanctioned a man s mar rying two three o r ’
, ,
even four wives according to his capability in

,
health wealth and just treatment o f them

, , .
With the change o f time s laws must be

altered says a gene ral rule o f I s lamic law
, .
But polygamic law did not change Some .
wealthy and influential rul e rs and persons h ave

always favoured it What surprises me most .
in thi s re spe ct is the inj u dicious cri tici s m Of

polygamy by some E uropean s A re there no t .
many men in E urope who bes ides their lawful ,
wi fe at home hav e pa ramours elsewhere ?

,
Thi s is worse than the polygamy o f the Mosle m

O ri ent as in the o ne case the plurality o f
,
femal e companions o f li fe has a legal aspect ,
and the i ssue o f the u nion is cons idered legiti

ma te while o n the o th e r hand the un fortunate
, , ,
O ffspri ng o f th e a ni on l z ér e o f E urop e are dis

'
inherited ou tcas ts and th e ir mothers can at any

,
mome nt be thrown into prosti tution .

C H A PT E R I I I .
THE H A RE M AN D W O M EN I N T HE EA S T .
True m ning
ea o f the wo rd harem — Eastern ho uses divided
into two —
parts Male mmb of the f mily o nly
e ers a
all o wed to enter th e f m

e al e —
qua t Se l u io n o f
r er c s
wo m en str c ter a i mo ng the well to d o-— Secl usio n no t

-
who lly due to eligi o n Of Islam L ife in the harem

r —
Occ upatio ns Of i s inm t ates — M isrepresentatio n Of th e
system n i E n g d
la n — R o yal ha e s C usto mdoomed
r m —
to disappear C ircassian wo m
— en — Reaso ns fo r t hei r
po pularity as wives Ho w a wo man gets engaged
—
So m e m arri ge
a c u st o m s— Marri age a m o re Ci vil p rO
c eed g th
in a n re ligio s The bridegroo m His to o
u — —
friendly fri end s— S h o ppin g in the harem s— Fem al e
pde la rs— S o m e o f t h em E u o peans

r — A co nsiderabl e
trade .
T HE R E are many people in E ngland whose

id eas o n the su bj e c t o f the harem are but a
c on fu s ed mi sc onc e p t io n based on what they
,
may have heard abou t E astern polygamy I n .
thi s c hap ter that I may cor re c t thes e mistaken

,
co nc ep t i ons I will give so m e more e xact

,
46
T HE H AR E M A ND W O M EN IN THE E A S T 47
information on the subject o f the h arem and

i t s i nma t es as well as o n the posi t ion o f wome n
,
i n T u rkey in ge ne ral .
A l though the word harem is know n and used

b y th e people o f Wes tern E urope the true ,
meaning o f the term is understood by but few

pers ons in this country A s a matter o f fact
.
,
m any subjects concerni ng the E ast are much

misunderstood in th e West jus t as there are
,
certain manners and customs o f Western

E urope that cause prejudice in the E astern
mi nd Whe n an E ngli shman uses the word
.
hare m he means the reby the numerous wives

,
whom a man in o u r part o f the E ast is supposed

to shut up in his house . H e moreover
, ,
believes that every man in the Mohammedan

E ast may marry as many wom en as he pleases .
Thi s idea is no t o nly mistaken but grote sque

, .
There are thousands o f men who would con

sider themselves fort unate if they could marry
even a si ngle woman ; while o n the other hand
, ,
there are thousa nds who would be happy to
get rid o f the si ngle wi fe they have A ny m .
who can manage t o keep two no t to say more

, ,
wives in peace and can Cope with the require

,
ments o f each must be an exceptional ly brave

,
person Wive s are not all religiously obedient

.
in th e E ast j u st as all m e n are no t tyra nt s

, .
R e ligio n law and c usto m i m

,
pose u po n men
,
many du t i es to be di scharged t oward s th e ir

wives A n ho nest man mus t discharge th ese
.
duti es and i ndeed it is ve ry di ffi c ul t to fi nd

,
many men who are able to fulfi l th eir obliga

t ions as hu sbands towards more tha n one
wi fe It has bee n proved that in ma ny pai ts

.
'
o f the O t toman empir e the nu m b er o f wom en

does no t exc eed that o f men a fact whic h ,
alo ne is enough to show the absu rdi ty o f the

no t ion p re vaili ng in E ngla nd abou t the plu rali t y
o f wiv e s in th at c o u ntr y A S a mat ter o f fact

.
,
there is no law agai ns t the p ract ice o f polyg

amy bu t the fee li ng o f dec ent p eo ple c o n
,
dem ns it A man who is o nce marri ed to a

.
gentleman s dau ghter wou ld fi nd it no light

’
matter to add a noth er w ife to his home hircle .
There are nowadays many men o f Wes tern

educatio n who marry in order t o fi nd a li fe
companio n and th ey qu i te und ers tand that
,
were they so i njudi c iou s as t o take another

wi fe they wo u ld v ery likely re nder th e i r lives
,
the reverse o f p eac e fu l .
A fter pointi ng o u t the absurdi ty o f the no tion

THE HARE M AND W O M EN IN THE EA S T 49
’
that a man s harem is his collection o f wives I ,
will now explain what it really is .
I n Mohammedan countri es where the seclu ,
sion o f women is a deeply rooted and religiously

observed custom every house is d ivid ed into
,
two separate parts I n T u rkey the section o f

.
a hous e where the ladies reside is called the

lzar em and the men s po rtion is named the
’
sela m —
l zk that is to say the reception place
'
-
.
,
Thou gh the female inmates o f a house are al so

collect ively ca lled the harem this does not ,
mean that they are all the wives o f the master

o f the house A man s wi fe his mother his ’
.
, ,
sister his daughter and such other women as

, ,
may lawfully appear u nveiled in his presence ,
all be long to his harem .
The male members o f a family who are p er

mitted to enter the harem are the master o f
the hou se his sons his father his father in law
, , ,
- -
,
and his wi fe s brother In large cities such

’
.
as Constantinople Smyr na and Adrianople the

, , ,
advanced class o f peopl e may e ven pe rmit th e ir

more distant relatives to en ter Those who .
adopt E uropean customs may even admit their

i ntimate friends But in the old fashi o ned
.
-
families su ch as form the great bulk o f the

,
4
5 0 THE D IARY O F A TURK
population no male relation o f the m as ter is

,
allowed to ente r the harem portion o f his house

after he has reached his thirteenth or fourt eenth
y ear if ma rriage b e t ween such male r elation
and the master s daughter or other young
’
marriageable inmate s o f his house be possible ,

.
The restrictio ns are greater in the house o f

the well to do In these houses all co mm
- -
. u nica
,
t io n and sending and receiving parc els and

,
dishes between the i nmates o f the harem and

male membe rs o f the household are effected ,
through a kind o f turning cupboard This .
co ntrivance is fi xed in a hole in the wall which

’
s eparates the ha rem apartments from the me n s
quarter As another meas ure to ensure the

.
s eclusion o f wome n to the windows o f all ,
harems is fastened a lattice ; so while the

inmates can see ev e ry thing outside from behind
this barrier no man in the neighbou ring streets
, ,
gard ens and houses can see them A s boys

, .
above the age o f thir teen or fourteen are not

allowed to see any wom en except those v ery
near relatives I have e nu m erated S O girls after , ,
the same age mus t no t appear unveiled in the

,
presence o f m e n e x c epting their very near

,
relatives ; and if they h ave been attending

5 2 THE DI ARY O F A TURK
the existing prac t ice Of cov eri ng up and ve iling

wome n out o f doors and also th eir s trict ,
seclusion in the houses .
The li fe in most Turkish harems is very

simple and if we leave o u t the c ase o f the few
, ,
polygamists who still remai n v ery peace fu l and ,
happy The abs o lu te au thority o f the hu sband

.
does no t in terfere wi th the re cognised privil eges

o f th e wi fe ; while the obedi e nc e o f t he wi fe ,
which is regard ed by more advanced women in

We stern E urop e wi th such contempt in m ost ,
cases stre ngthe ns th e affec tio n and resp ect o f

the h u sband fo r her Wives are no t slaves o f
.
t h e ir husband s as some p eopl e in thi s coun t ry

,
fa ncy th e m to be l
The in mates o f harem s live
.
’
1
If the detracto rs Of Isla mw uld tak
ble to
o e the tro u
fi nd o ut what is th e exac t po si tio n o f wo m en under
M o ham medan law they migh t feel ashamed of their co n

,
tentio n th at sh e is treated like a slave Laws pro tec ti ng the .
righ ts Of wo m en were pro m ulgated und er Isl amwh en no
suc h l aws exi sted in Euro pe A S far bac k as fi ve h undred

.
years ago wo men in Turkey had begun to dispute men s ’
superi o rity o p enly. A s pro o f o f thi s I will quo te a few

li nes o f the po etess M ihri who lived in the last half o f the
,
fi fteenth century
S ince they c ry that wo m an lack eth wit alway

Need m
,
ust they exc use whatever wo rd sh e sa

y
B etter far o ne female if S he worthy be
.
Than a tho usand m

, ,
al es if all unwo rth y th ey

, .
THE HARE M A ND W O M EN IN THE E A ST 5 3
m o stly i ndoors but they are no t entirely shut up

, .
They go out in groups o f two three and more , ,
to pay visits to oth er hare ms and they receive ,
visitors from the harems Of fri ends and relations .
Of course th e ir gatherings are almos t always

u nmixed bu t like the women o f other countries
, , ,
some o f th e m si ng and play to en tertain o thers .
D anc i ng has bee n i ntrod uc ed recently but it is ,
confi n ed only to ve ry advanc ed privat e families .
A mong the people o f the o ld school the danci ng

o f you ng ladies in the pr e se nce o f others is
c o nsidere d shocking A t weddi ngs and other

.
similar festivi t ies only hired professional wome n

amuse the guests by danci ng and these pro ,
fess io nal dancers are not regarded as respect

abl e In my t ime reading aloud was a favouri te
.
,
past ime in many harems The numb e r o f.
educated wome n was much l ess than it is

no w. The m o s t learned amo ng them used
to read sacred l egends or religious t racts , ,
or recite hymns to the other ladies who ,
would liste n attentiv ely fo r hours I believe .
this social pastime is s till in favour in the

provi nces .
Turkish women according to their social

,
position have vario us duties to discharge No

,
x .
54 THE DI ARY O F A TU R K
qualities are so much sought afte r in an average

marriageable woman as the dom estic ones In .
t he provinces the peasant women besid es ,
managi ng their humble domestic affairs have ,
to work in the fields more especially when th eir

,
brothers and husband s are away discharging their

compulsory mili tary service The daughters o f .
well to do people besides attendi ng to the

,
busin ess o f their households are i ndefatigable ,
with their n eedles and are always busy with

,
needlework or embroidery ; while the daughters

o f high dignitaries mus t amo ng other duti e s, ,
learn what their i nstructors or governesses

teach them .
I t w ill be unders tood from the details I have

given that the popular no tion prevailing in
this cou ntry o f the harem and the li fe in the
harem is m u ch mi staken Women in Turkish .
harems do no t really pass their t ime lying

on so fas or couch es eating sweetmeats and
,
smoking water pipes all day long O f course

-
.
they are as fo nd o f sweetstuffs as most ladies

of this cou ntry . But to lie down on a
couch in presence o f oth ers is con sidered by
Turkish women vulgari ty Of the most dis
g race fu l kind
.
THE H AR E M A ND W O M EN IN THE EA S T 5 5
The representation o f harem li fe give n in

books and o n the stage or shown in exhibi
,
tio ns is either the work o f Turkey s detractors

,
’
o r s imply the work Of imaginative persons who
know nothing about it and whose object is to

,
attract the curiosity o f English people by ex

hib it ing grotesque sights and thus to make
,
money .
I should howeve r agree with any E nglish

, ,
cri t ic in condem ning the custom o f seclusio n .
The hopes which were ente rtained o f checking

roman tic evil s by the custom have hardly bee n
realised ; and o n the other hand the system has
,
done a good deal o f harm because the seclusion

,
Of wome n means that a portion o f the natio nal
intellect is kept uncultivated A lthough many

.
young ladies receive private tui t ion in the

harems and many o f them are highly educated
, ,
yet this limited ki nd o f educat io n cannot meet

the national requirements o f Turkey I n my .
Opinion the strict seclusion o f women is greatly

res o nsIble fo r the backward condition o f m ost
p
E astern races ; because if mothers are restricted
in cul tivating their natu ral i ntellect they can ,
give little if any help in the education o f their

children The sons o f such mothers cannot
.
5 6 THE D I ARY OF A TURK
keep pace with the p eople o f E u rop e in the

path o f progress Th e re are v ery many men
.
in Turkey who know all these thi ngs an d who ,
long fo r at least a partial emancipatio n H o w .
ever the emancipatio n must take place gradually

, ,
fo r if the liberty o f me n is given to th e women
o f the harems without re gard to exi s ti ng social
requirem ents th ey th emselves will no t Wholly

,
appreciate it while many o f them might abuse

,
its privil eges ; mor eover many men might take

,
unchivalrous adv an tage o f so new and sudden

a social C hange .
I may be asked why if the opinion o f my ,
country is ripe enough fo r at l east a partial

emancipatio n o f women it is necessary to with
,
hold it no w ? The reason can easily be found

when one reflects upon the polit ical situation
o f T u rk ey That unhappy coun try has been
.
su fferi ng fo r over tw e nty six years from a -
tyran ny almost unparalleled in the histo ry o f

manki nd The Sultan unders tands perfectly
well the influence women might have in
educating and enlighteni ng the risi ng genera
t ion . H e therefore puts the more restric
tions upon the moveme nts o f his women
subjects .
and especially fo r feminine beauty Those . ,
however who have had any con si d erabl e

,
experience o f thi s famous rac e might h es itate

to say that its women have really a larger
share of beauty as a whol e than oth er branches
of t he human race What the Circassian
women do possess in distinc tion from th o se o f
other races o f E astern E urope and We stern
A s ia is a greater animat ion o f face to which ,
may be added a figure uni formly handsome

and a bo lder demeanour Th ey are fo r the
.
most part slend er ; a fat w o man is quite nu

common am ong Circassians Of unmixed blood .
Their complexions are usually fair ; and it is

more o n ac count o f her fair s ki n t hat the
Circassian woman is so much admired by t he
c omparatively dark peopl e o f W e stern A si a
and E gypt than fo r her othe r phy s ical qualities .
She is also very readily taught and adapts ,
h erself quickly to her new surroundings ; s o

that ru s t ic and clum sy in her man ner s to b egin
,
wi t h she pi c ks up refi ned and elegant ways in

,
a remarkably short time I knew o f a weal t hy

.
and kind lady who once obt ained a young

Cir assian girl from her relat ion s Though o f
c
sym
.
pathetic appearance this girl whom I saw

, ,
THE H ARE M AND W O M EN IN THE EA ST 59
at th e t ime looked an untamed creature in her

,
mi s erable ragged na tive dress Whe n I saw .
her o n a no t her occas ion after a few years ’
i nt erval I found that the rough diamond had

,
been charmingly polished and now shone with

,
refi ned beauty .
The Circassians are mos tly Mohammedans .
A sm al l number o f them have been made to

a ccept the R u s sian religion but t hese converts
,
h av e al ways a strong tendency towards the

faith o f the A rabia n Prophet ; and it is onl y
t he fear o f the wrath o f their conquerors that
preve nts them from denouncing the doctrine

o f H oly Synod . This t endency is at tributable
either to th e hat red burned into their hearts
t owards the Muscovi t e on accou nt o f the de
s t ructi o n o f their nat ional independ ence and

the loss o f their primi t ive happiness which has
,
result ed from the sanguinary and fi ercely re

sisted Russian conquest o r to the reason that
,
the precept s o f Islam may perhaps suit their
na t ive simplicity be tter

.
There is Circassian blood in the veins o f

almost al l the members o f the existing dynas ties
o f the Mohamm edan O rient F or many gen
.
e rat io ns past the mothers o f the O ttoman

S ultans have b ee n Circassian s ; just as in the

bygo ne centuries when the power and infl ue n ce
,
o f Turkey were so great in E a s t er n E urope ,
the Sultanas were women mostly belonging to

o ne or o ther o f the Chri s t ian S ta t es which
were t ributary to the O ttoman empire Many .
o f the Mameluk e ruler s o f E gyp t were as ,
well as their wives Circassians The female

, .
m embers o f the K hedivial harem have always

been and are st ill o f Ci rcas sian origi n and ,
there are said to be Circassian ladies in the

household o f the P ersian sovereign .
The N i zam o f H yderabad was at o ne t ime

anxious to marry a Circassian woman I .
heard thi s from a man whose name is widely

k no wn throughout I ndia and who I believe
, , ,
has bee n in t roduced t o E ngli sh readers in a

w ell known novel u nder the fi ct i t ious name o f
’
Mr I saacs This gentleman is a native o f
.
D iarbekir in A siatic Turk ey

,
After livi ng
.
ov er thirty years in Bri t ish I ndia he paid a ,
visit to Constant inople some nine years ago .
There one day he asked my advice as to ho w

, ,
he might procure Circassian slave girls saying -

,
t hat he wished to buy o ne or t wo t o be admi t ted
to the ho usehold o f H is H igh ne ss the N izam .

THE HARE M AND W O M EN I N THE EA S T 6 1
This anglicised gentleman imagined as man y
,
E nglishmen do that there is st ill a public

,
market fo r slave t raffi c in Co nstantinople and ,
that anyone can go and purchase as many slave

women as he pleases .
I t is true t hat some destitute parents among

the re fugees from the Caucasus are willing to
p art with their young girls fo r a reasonable sum
o f money but only o n obt aini ng a su ffi cient
,
u arantee beforehand t hat these young girls

g
will be adopted by the buyers ! well to do - -
families withou t daugh ters often adopt orphans

and ot her poor girls ) o r el se that the girls sold
,
in this fashio n will be marri ed ei ther by the

buyers t hemselves or by some relation o f
theirs.
F rom the momen t o f t he fi nal conquest o f

their coun t ry by R ussia up to the presen t time ,
thousa nds o f these nat ives o f the Caucasus

have immig rated int o t he Sultan s domi nio ns
’
.
A short t ime ago there appeared a piece o f

new s in the papers s tating that an arrange
,
men t had been made be tween Russian and

O t toman authori t ie s fo r t he set tleme nt in
Turkey o f about s ixty thousand more Cir
cassians who desired to leave the Caucasus
en m asseRussia does not Object to their

.
emigrat ion nowadays as she wi sh es to coloni s e

,
their land wi th peasant s o f the Russ ian race .
On t he other hand the Turki sh Gove r nm e nt

,
grants them facili ti es fo r s ettli ng in the thi nly

inhabited portio ns o f A s ia M i nor The Cir .
cassians are a healthy and hardy people and ,
they improv e the physical co nsti tutio n o f races

wi th whom they i ntermingle .
A n E ngli sh reader will nat urally want to

k now ho w in a state o f a ffairs in whi ch boy s
,
and girl s never me et a ft er about th e i r thirt e e nt h
year the matter o f marriage is managed ; I will

,
th erefo re explai n the sy stem o f matrimony .
A s is the case in mo st parts o f th e world in ,
Turkish towns betrothal prec edes marriage ,
bu t c ourt ship is hardly possible in t hat

’
country Young girls and men are no t allowed

.
to meet o ne another and co nsequ ently anythi ng

,
in t he way o f fli rti ng is o ut o f the questi o n In .
some exceptional cases th ey may perhap s be , ,
able to get a glimp se o f each oth er from a

distance possibly from the wi ndow s o f neigh
,
bo uring houses and qui etly exc hange greetings

,
THE H AR E M A ND WO M EN I N THE E A S T 6 3
or make sign s o f mutual admiration but this,
is all they can ever do in the direction o f

flirtation Of course girl s may see though
.
, ,
they do no t speak wi th the men whose wives

,
th ey may be de st i ned t o b e come some day but ,
men are strictly prohibi ted from meet i ng the

marriageabl e members o f the se cluded sex I t .
is s carcely possible fo r a m an to admire and love

a woman ex cept o n the t est imony o f others as
t o her good looks and good quali t ies In the
.
same way the engagemen t s must be made

,
’
through the m edium o f the man s lady relations-
,
o r through t hat o f t he pro fess io nal marriage
brokers The latter are mostly Old women who

.
,
will e ndeavour t o bri ng abou t marriages not out ,
o f good will t o
-
the young couple o r fo r the
sake o f amusi ng themselves but as a matter o f
,
business They vis it hou se s where there are

.
girls suitable fo r a would be bridegroom ; they

-
make their proposal on his behalf to the family

o f that you ng lady o f whom t h e y mo st approv e ,
a propo sal which is made in a mo st roundabo u t

manner and wi th great tac t
,
The answer
.
mu st no t come from the pro spec tiv e brid e ;

that would be co ns idered highly improper The .
decision res ts with her parents o r guardians .

64 THE D IARY O F A TURK
She is no doubt consulted bu t her voice in

, , ,
the matter is o f secondary importance Prob .
ably too she does no t know her own mind so

, ,
well as do her sisters in more advanc ed lands .
The matrimoni al agent Often repeats her visits

three or four times t hat the mat ter may be well
talked over as the girl s people need to reflect
,
’
and also to make a searching inquiry about the

man If the answ e r be in the negat ive it must
.
,
be made ve ry tac tfully and poli tely I n some .
part s o f Turkey they have a cu rious way o f

lett ing the proposers know that their offer has
been d eclined O ver their ordi nary shoes
.
people almost always wear goloshes and on ,
en tering a house they take them o ff and leave

them in the entra nce hall The servants o f -
.
the house make a point o f arranging the

goloshes heel o utwards in such a way that ,
when the visitor goes out he can put his feet

straight i nto them wi thout having the trouble
,
o f t u rni ng them rou nd N ow wh en the agent

.
,
o f sui t or fo r a lady s hand

’
o n l eaving the ,
house fi nds that her goloshes are tu rned with

,
the toes towards her she k nows tha t the pro

,
posal has b een de cli ned .
Thus a man gets betrothed to a woman with

ofte n see oth er fem ale faces and his notions o n

,
t he subje c t o f what real beauty is are nec e ssarily
re s tri c t ed by his wa nt o f experi e nce He is .
natu rally o f a con te nt ed dispo si t io n believe s in

,
kis m et in t hi s as in o th e r thi ng s and s o the s e

,
phy si c al d efec ts do no t greatly di sturb his peac e

Of m i nd and it is o nly very rarely that he runs
,
away from his wi fe .
Such matters as court ship and e ngagem e nts

are quit e di ffer e nt amo ng the agri c ultural and
t ribal p eo pl e wh e re the girl s and boys work

,
togeth er in the fi elds in the garde ns and pastures

, ,
’
and thu s pa ss th eir early y ears in ea c h o t h e r s
so c i e t y ; th eir marriage in later y ears is

ge nerally the ou tcome o f natural affectio n fi rst ,
awake ned by that c ompani o nship Bu t even in

.
the towns it is some t ime s po ss ibl e fo r a m an t o
make the acquai ntan c e o f a woma n before

marryi ng her Thi s is do ne by the betrothed
.
pair arra ngi ng a se c re t i ntervi ew which it is

, ,
said ,
is us ually bro ugh t ab o ut wi th t he ki nd
ass i stanc e o f Old and trus ted servants .
Curi o usly e nough the pro fess io nal marriage

,
broker is som eti me s reported to be the p erso n

who arra nge s thi s private i nterview ; bu t o ne
thi ng is absol utely c ertai n namely that u nless
, ,
THE HARE M AND W O M EN I N THE EA S T 67
she is handsomely tipped it is to her o wn ,
advantage to stick strict ly to the good Old

cus tom .
The wedding o f a you ng couple itsel f like ,
t heir betrothal takes plac e in an in d irect man

,
ne r
. They are married in a house privately in ,
the pr esence o f perso ns clo sely relate d to t hem .
They do no t go to any place o f worship A s I .
poi nted o ut before the houses in Turkey are ,
divided into two parts o ne reserved fo r the ,
male the other fo r the female membe rs o f the

,
household and there is a long passage betwee n

,
t he t wo O n the weddi ng day the ladies fill up

.
-
the passage having in fro nt o f them the bride

, ,
while all the gentlemen present go t o the room

in the men s depart ment whi ch opens on to the
’
passage the prominent figure among them

,
bei ng the bridegroom The door b etween the .
passage and the room is closed and the most ,
profound S ilence must pre vail both in the

passage and the adjace nt room A mo ng the .
gentl e m en the fath er o f t he bride or failing

, , ,
him any e lderly m

,
an u nd er whose guardianship
o r prot ection she may b e gets up knoc ks at , ,
the door and most solem nly and impressively

,
asks thi s question My daugh te r ! we are about

,
to marry yo u to Mr S O and so in accordanc e

.
- -
,
wi th the will o f Almighty God and the o rdi n

”
auces o f the P rophet Will yo u marry him ?
.
She giv es no answer The old man repeats

.
the qu est io n ; s till S he do e s no t u tter a s i ngl e
s yllabl e
. H e asks agai n in a w earied m anner ,
and thi s ti m e t he ques t io n is follow ed by a
s ou nd o f s o bbing i ns id e t he pas sag e Wh eth e r .
the reaso n o f thi s w e epi ng b e the pres sure p u t

upo n the shy and i nexp erienced girl in that
impressiv e moment o r wh eth er it be the pi nc h es
,
she rec eive s fro m that t ermagant t he pro fes ,
sio ual marriage broke r and from her mi schi evous

-
,
girl friends who urge her to speak o u t I cannot

-
,
tell .
Meanwhile the b ridegro o m grows impati ent

ev eryo ne in the audie nc e can no ti ce the signs
o f a ng e r and a nxi e ty o n his fa c e The old man
.
rep eats his questi o n a fo u rth tim e and at last ,
t he word o f c o nse nt is u t te red in a ve ry lo w
voi ce from be hind t he do o r A t the sa m

. e
mome nt the brid egroom sho ws his feeli ngs o f

reli e f by som e mo t io ns expressiv e o f pl easure ,
or by l o o ki ng mo re than usually gra ti fi ed The .
Old g e ntl e ma n t u r ns t o him and fo r m ally a sks

h im wh e ther he will marry Mi ss S o and so - -
.
THE H ARE M AND W O M EN IN THE EA ST 69
H e makes no modes t hesitation as in his , ,
Opinion modesty is qui te uncalled fo r h ere is

, , ,
in fact an u npleasant outcome o f t he organised

,
hypocrisy o f society S O he answers t he Old

.
ge ntleman s question at once wi th the unblush

’
ing bold ness peculiar to his sex A fter this all .
th e audience b ear wi t nes s to the l egitimacy o f
the eve nt A bri ef prayer is the n recited after

.
,
which all offer their congratulatio ns to the

bridegroom They draw Up and S ign the
.
wedding co nt rac t imm ediately t hat it may be

-
,
cert i fied by the semi religious magistrate called

-
the K aaz Bu t the you ng couple are not per

'
'
.
mitted to see each other t ill all the marriage

cere monies are complet ed and that is no t till
,
several days have passed .
A nothe r c urio us custom con nected with

marriage is that o f a bridegroom s friends ’
beat i ng himo n the back with th eir fists This .
is comm o nly the case in Turk ey A t t he v ery .
moment whe n the brid egroom is going to see

the fac e o f his wi fe t he fi rs t t ime after all ,
formali t ies o f the weddi ng are over i ntimate ,
frie nds and relat ions collect j u st outside the

doo r o f the female portio n o f the house A fter .
wish i ng him a happy li fe th ey belabour him

,
fro m behind as he hurries i nto the lad ie s

quarter a proceeding which no doubt consider
,
ably accel erates his movement s The punish .
me nt is s upposed to be i nflicted in a gentle

manner b ut it may perhap s be that some o f
,
the you ng bachelors relieve their feeli ng o f

jealousy by maki ng the c ustomary blows som e
what harder than absol ut ely necessary .
Be fore closing thi s chapt e r o n the theme o f

the secluded sex I ought t o say some thing o f
,
the way in whi ch it does its shoppi ng and give ,
some descript ion o f the wome n pedlars who -
visi t the harems t o display their wares There .
are probably few people in t his count ry even ,
among those who are interested in the world s ’
trade who know much about t hese female

,
traders o f the East N everth ele ss in those

.
,
vast tracts o f the O rien t wh ere the female sex

passes its li fe in strict seclusion a co ns iderable
,
retail busi ness o f a primi t ive kind is transac ted

by wanderi ng women pedlars who carry their
-
,
goods round and display them in the ho uses o f

well to do families O riginally this trade was
- -
.
carried o n entirel y by native women but o f ,

Missions should be a sufficient indication o f what

a trading association on the same lines could
effect. E qually it should show t he Briti s h
commercial houses which have co nsiderable
connectio ns with the E ast that lady agents to
display and sell their goods would be o f great
assistance to th em There are many Mus sul
.
man women who cannot go to markets and

S hops, and their custo m would be practically
assured to the firms which se nt goods to their

houses by lady agents more especially such
,
goods as are required fo r household use .
I n T u rkey Roman Catholic nuns have

,
already adopted this m ethod o f business and ,
they have numerous cu stomers among Moham

medan women fo r the woollen st u ffs cloth , ,
stockings S hawls and such things which they

, , ,
make in their own co nve nts The need felt by

.
Mohammedan famili es fo r such means o f doing

th e ir shoppi ng is ve ry great and is rapidly
,
becomi ng greater owi ng t o the spread o f

E uropean i nfluence and refi nement which ,
naturally n ecessi t ates an i ncrease o f house

hold requirem ents and perso nal luxuries This .
adop tio n o f W estern comfort and modes o f

li fe doe s no t se em to affect the seclu sio n o f
THE HARE M A ND W O M EN IN THE E A S T 7 3
O rie ntal women to the extent that at o ne was

time expected A nd in any case in the E ast
.
women depend on others to a great extent fo r

procuring all the thi ngs they require for them
selv es and t heir households .
It is true o f course that hu sbands bro thers

, , , ,
and son s can be sent to buy these things j ust ,
as in E ngland but also just as in E ngland

, , ,
husbands brothers and sons cannot always be

, ,
relied u pon either to get the right articl e or ,
even to remember to get anything at all I n .
any case the method has many disadvantages .
With the exception o f villagers and the

poorest clas ses only wome n o f advanced id eas
,
ever go to market or to the shops in the large

t owns and even they do not and cannot know
,
the delights o f shoppi ng They are v eiled to .

,
begi n with and bei ng u naccustom ed to talk to

strangers they are no t at th eir ease or qui t e
,
sati sfi ed with the propriety o f their proceedi ngs .
N o ; the woman Of the E ast much prefers to

do her shopping in her own house from a
woman pedlar and there it is rumoure d that
-
,
she feels as much pleasure in it as her sister

o f the Wes t .
The U nchangi ng EaS t is a phrase used

74 THE DI ARY O F A T URK
often and shows the user s ignoran ce fo r the

,
’
E as t is cha ngi ng steadily Western methods .
and ideas are gradually being accepted and ,
with them the everyday need s and require

ments which acco m pany them H ome manu .
fac ture is unable to s u pply these needs and ,
t here is a constant and growi ng d e mand fo r
E uropean products We ourselves have o fte n .
had to send from F rance and E ngland to

our friends in T u rkey Cyprus and Syria such , ,
t hi ngs as pocke t knives scissors house wive s

-
, , ,
and work baske ts articles required fo r educa

-
,
tion such as drawi ng boxes and last but

,
-
, ,
not leas t children s toys Bu t thi s was no t

’
.
,
enough ; our friends hav e generally wri tten to

u s to get some more o f t he s e things fo r their
fri e nds .
N o doubt such articles can be obtai ned in

O riental countries if you know where to look
fo r them but our friends do not know and
, ,
they are no t to be found in the s tock o f the
woman pedlar H ere is an Openi ng fo r the

-
.
lady trader
-
.
C H A PT E R I V .
I GO TO CO N S TA N TI N OPLE AND P U RSU E MY

S TU DI E S .
m —
disco forts of tra e lin Precautio ns against bri ands
vl g g
— Vil a e lg o s i tali ty— Bad co ndi ti o n of
h p inns and
ho tels— B roussa, the first ca i tal o f the Otto an
p m
E mpi re— Co nstant noi —
ple The parish of the con
q u e o
r r— First i mp ess i
r o ns O f t h e E uro pea n q uarter
The questio n Of m y ed u c ati o n— S e ats Of l earn ing O ld

I amfo rced to cho o se the o ld— I beco m
,
and new — e a
so rt Of m o nk — —
The disti nctive dress Descrip tio n o f
t e o d as h i o ned c ll eges
h l f -
o — T he U le m a — Th eir po sitio n
i
and nfl uenc e .
MY residence in my uncle s home in Asia Minor

’
did not last very lo ng after my removal from

his harem as he decided to go to Co nsta ntinople
,
to liv e there again Of course I was to go

.
with his family so that I might co nti nue my

,
educatio n E v eryone in my uncle s house

.
’
began to pack and my mo ther prepared new

,
Cl o the s and all ki nds o f eatables fo r me fo r the
75
7 6 THE D I ARY O F A TURK
journey which would take seven days My

, .
’
uncle did not p ermit me to go to my mother s
house and spend my few remaining days with
her I only went t o see her during the day
.
time when I fou nd her always in deep distress

,
at the thought o f our approaching separation .
She had only one son remaining a child o f two ,
years my elder brother having been sent to the

,
same place to which I was going fo r the same

purpose two years previously In those days .
there was no railway li ne between my nat ive
town and the As iatic coast o f the Sea o f

Marmora S O our journey had to be ade in
,
a kind o f a four wh eeled travelling carriage

-
m
,
whic h was introduced into Turkey by the

emigrant Crimean Tartars and which much ,
resembles the big vans employed fo r carrying

parcels in Londo n Travelling in these coaches
.
is an extremely uncom forta ble proceedi ng To .
guard against the jol ting caused by the lack o f

adequate springs the floor o f the vehicle is
covered with mattresses but even then the ,
S haki ng is quite i nsu fferable I n those days it

.
was made worse by the primitive condi tio n o f

t he roads which indeed are little better no w
, .
S o me fifteen years ago the Government pro

I Go To C ON S TA N T INO P LE To S T UD Y 7 7
m lgat
u ed a law orderi ng eve ry able bodied -
male t hroughou t the coun t ry to work four days

a year at maki ng pu blic roads betwee n towns ,
o r to pay a workma n s wage fo r four days in

’
d e faul t . Som e well meani ng governors did

-
their b e st to improv e t he roads b u t o fficials nom

,
inat e d by th e pal ac e who form the majority

,
o f o ffi c ialdo m abused t his law and pockete d

,
the fu nds rai sed and so a great part o f the

,
public road s we re u l timately l eft u nfi ni shed ,
a nd no care was tak e n t o keep in r epair e ven
t he por t io ns that w e re comple ted Good roads.

,
lik e o ther mean s o f easy travelli ng would ,
facilita t e the i ncursion o f visitors and tourists

i nto the i nterior o f Asiat i c T u rkey and no thi n g ,
would be more repugnant to the Sul tan than to

s e e this ; and agai n nothi ng would be m
, ore
u ndesirabl e fo r t h e Sul t a n and h is entou r a e
g
than t o see part ies o f E ngli shmen and Am erica ns
wo nd e ri ng at the u nop ened unde veloped spo ts
,
o f the c ou nt ry c omi ng direc tly

, i nto co ntact
wi th h is su bj ec ts and co ntras ti ng t h eir pove rty
,
strick en and wretch e d co ndi tio n wi th the natu ral

beau ty and rich ne ss o f the land in which they
liv e .
The appoi nted day at last arrived and we ,

7 8 THE DI ARY O F A T URK
started fo r Constantinople in the jolting van

like coache s o f whic h we hired twelve seven
, ,
bei ng as signed to the ladies and their luggage ,
and fiv e to the m en A s is necessary fo r

.
travellers o f position who may carry valuables

with them we had three gendarmes put at o ur
,
disposal by the local au t horities Thi s was a .
precaution against brigands who are t o be met ,
wi th eve ry no w and the n in the thinly i nhabi t ed

and moun t ai nous r egio ns o f As iatic Turkey .
I t hardly ever happens however that these , ,
brigands are Turks E ve r si nc e the days o f

.
the Crusad e rs the ill i nform e d section o f the

-
European pu blic has mani fe sted a prej udi c e

against the Turks and as o ne result o f this
,
pre judice therefore whe n reports are h eard in

,
E urope o f cas e s O f brigandage occurri ng in

T u rkey it is unhesi tat i ngly concluded that the
,
brigands must be T u rks A s a matter o f fac t

.
,
the provincial Tu rk is ge nerally an honest
fellow. It was not the Turki sh village rs that

we feared ; no r did we fear the K urd s who ,
mostly in fes t the E as tern portio n o f A sia Minor ;

or the Gree ks o f whom the p rovinces through
,
which we had to pass were fai rly clear O ur .
pre caution s were directed agai ns t any possibl e

by the Sultan —
and they hav e usually large
—
families claim hospi tality fo r themselves and
fo r th e ir families as they travel to and fro from
Co nstan ti nople and they imagi ne that by so
,
doi ng they force the loyal S lave subjects Of

!
-
the Sultan to pe rform th eir duty Al though my .
uncle was an O fficial he would not have dreamt

,
o f impo s ing any obligation upo n poor villag e rs ,
fo r he was himsel f a native o f A sia Mi nor and ,
natu rally did no t wi sh to inconve ni e nce his

compatriots We induced howev er some o f
.
, ,
the villagers t o spare a few rooms in their mud

huts I and three o ther men had to sleep in a
.
dimly lighted lo ft above a stable in which were

-
several bullocks calves and donkeys I think

, , .
som e E nglish travellers have had the same

expe ri ence be fore no w in A sia Mi nor and they ,
ge nerally co m plai n o f the unpleasantness o f

th ese lo fts and o f the noi se and effl u v ia from
,
the animals I did no t object to these things

.
mu ch as I was used to farm li fe ; moreover I

, ,
have heard and almo st b elieve that sleepi ng in

stabl e s is good fo r the h eal th Tired to death .
by journeyi ng in a shaky v an I was ready to ,
fall asl eep at o nc e bu t hu ndred s o f fl eas coming

, ,
perhaps from the du sty floor o f the loft o r

I GO TO C ON S TAN TINO P LE TO S TUDY 81
falling from the thatc h above made an assault

,
o n me and re ndered sleep impo ss ible

, I wa nted .
to go out t o o ur van taki ng a carpet with me

,
t o lie o n b u t wh en I got o u t I s aw thre e huge

,
sheph erd s dogs lyi ng near the va ns so I did

’
not dare to leave the stable door .
These fi erce dogs are especially trained to be

savage in order to gu ard t he S heep and mohair
goats agai nst thieves and wolves They would .
t ear to pi ece s any s t ranger who might walk
through the village at night They are power .
fu lly built a nimal s mos tly light y e llow and grey

,
-
in col o ur wi th long s ilky coat s

, Mohai r goat .
breeders always faste n rou nd the neck o f these

dogs chai n c oll ars studded wi th sharp nails ,
because wh en wolv es at tack th em th ey in

variably try to sei z e the dogs by the neck or
throat and the studded collars act as preve nt ive
,
armour against the tee th o f th e assailant .
A fter passi ng the nigh t in that most nu

com fortable village we start ed fo r the next
,
’
t own. We followed the travellers cus tom in
quarteri ng at the hou se o f o ne o f the no tables ,
and enjoyi ng the nat ional ho spitali t y I have
mentioned I n towns this so rt o f hospitali ty to

.
travellers can only be given when hos t and

6
82 THE D IARY O F A TU R K
guest are personally ac quainted or whe n the ,
latter can prod uce l etters o f introduction from

some friends o f the host .
O n the third night o f o ur journey we had

arranged to stay in a Turcoman village but we ,
fou nd that the people o f the village had shut up

their huts and had removed with all their be
, ,
lo ngings to some high pasture land in the

,
vi c i ni ty where there were several lovely springs

, .
We went to this spot and S pent the night

there u nder three te nts which were woven ,
from the hair o f black goats and which were ,
le nt to us by th ese q uasi nomadic people -
fo r the night I n return fo r t his we tendered

.
them money but they were affronted by this

,
‘
O ffer
, so we gave them some presents from
’
town .
We spent the fourth night in a large inn fo r ,
there was nothi ng there worthy o f the name o f

hotel A s a matter o f fact except in a few big
.
,
towns on the coasts and on the existi ng railway

lines there are no hotels where it is possible to
,
be tolerably com fortable The average houses .
calling themselves hotels Of which many are ,
being built in the crowded ce ntres and con ,
ducted by native Christians are in reality ,

I Go TO C ON S TAN TI NO P LE To S T U D Y 8 3
nothing more than tav e rns where th e a ppear ,
anc e o f dru nkards is a co ntinual shock to the

fe e li ngs o f sober O ttoman famili e s who m a
y
need t o put up at these places wh e n travelling .
If t hey c anno t secure a l et ter o f i ntroduct ion to

som e digni tary o f a to wn fo r the night they ,
would ra ther go to an old fashion ed ééau or inn

-
, ,
t han t o one o f th e s e modern taver ns Rooms .
in these i nns are un furnished and u sually ,
fi l t hy b e yond de scriptio n All ki nds o f vermin

.
may be exp ected and even the visit o f an

,
occas io nal sco rpion .
A ft e r passi ng two m o re nights on our jour ney ,
o n t h e s ixth e v e ning we r eached the town o f
Broussa which is si tuat ed at the foot o f the

,
A s ia t i c O lymp u s W e s topp ed in Broussa

.
several days as the t ow n is full o f pretty

,
mosqu es shri ne s and mausoleum s and large

, , ,
baths bu ilt over thermal springs which are well ,
worth se eing Broussa is one o f the largest

.
tow ns in the Turki sh empire It served as .
cap i tal fo r t he fi rst three O t toman Sultans I t .
is said that wh en the Sultan Mohammed I I .
conqu e red Cons tan t inople he brought nearly

Turkish families from Brou ssa to settle
in the new capi tal F rom Broussa we went
.
do wn to the shore o f Marmora and there took ,
boat fo r Constanti nople .
The part o f Stamboul in which my un c le

took up his residence was in the neighbourhood
o f t he gre at mo sq u e o f Mo hammed I I the .
,
conqueror o f Co nstanti nople This is the

.
centre o f the locality which is exclusively in

habited by Turkish families o f the old fashioned -
type My cousins and I were given two weeks

.
’
holiday by my uncle in which to explore the C ity

and see the sights O ne day we were allowe d
.
t o go over the Golden H orn to visit Pera the ,
E uropean quarter o f the capital where we ,
were amazed at the evident signs o f the pro s

e rity and rich ness o f its populatio n While
p .
we were en v iously imagi ning how happy these

people mus t be an Old man who was guiding
, ,
o ur little party ,warned us that to set our

ambi tions on such worldly progress was not in
accordance with the ideals Of conte ntment o f
the faith ful and remi nded us that This world
,
”
is the heaven o f infidels This sayi ng which
.
,
is wrongly attributed to the Prophet is one o f ,
t he principles o f that fatal ism the fi rmbelie f ,
in which is o ne o f the chief reasons fo r the

statio nary condition and wan t o f progress which
Mosl ems beli eve to be Christi an li fe It is .
u nfo rt unat e ly a fa c t that all t h e bad poi nts o f
Euro p ea n c ivili sat i o n spr ead with e ase and

rapidity whil e its go od and usefu l p o i nts seem
,
seld o m to hav e any effect o n li fe in O ri enta l

countri es .
A ft er thi s exc u rs ion I was no t permitt ed t o

revi sit the E uropean q uarter o f the capital fo r
a co nsid erabl e t i me I had to res um e the course
.
o f my ed u cat i o n .
In what way my cou sins and I should be

educate d in C o nstant i no pl e was a questi o n
wh ich had to be co nsidered by my u ncl e .
Th ere are t wo kind s o f highe r educati o n in

T u rkey O ne o f the m is to rec eive i nstructio n
.
in the Old fas hio ne d c oll ege s or m aar asse/ z of

’
-
,
whi ch I hav e made me nti o n befo re and o f ,
which I will in this chapte r give som e further

description The oth er form o f ed ucatio n is
.
t hat no w c arried o n in the mod e r n s chool s and
coll eges Of th ese th ere are many in Co nstan

.
t ino p le
. Th e y are mode lled o n the syste m o f
t he educatio nal in s ti t utio ns o f som e Of th e
E u rop ea n c ou ntri es In these places o f lear n

.
ing u nlik e the o ld fashi o n e d m aa r asse/ all

’
,
-
z ,
ki nd s o f what I may call u t ilitarian subj ect s ,

I GO TO C ON S TAN TINO P LE TO S TUDY 87
necessitated by mod ern requirements are ,
taught . I n additio n t o the great mili tary

acad emy and preparatory milita ry colleges ,
naval college civil and military medical in

,
stitu t io ns,
and the I mperial lycée some o f ,
which are fi fty o r sixty years Old th e re are ,
civil servants law civil engineeri ng and

’
, ,
-
,
seve ral minor colleges o f recent foundation .
Two y ears ago an o ffi c ial proj ect was in the

air fo r creating a regular U niversity in Con
sta nt ino p le But the pre sent Sultan is not
.
likely to favour in earnest such a schem e whi c h ,
would n ecessarily result in the increased

popularity o f E uropean culture F ormerly .
those colleges o f mod ern c reation turned out

men o f marked ability in all branches o f litera
ture and sci ence which existed in the cou ntry .
But unhappily A bd ul H amid s inflexible

, ,
- -
’
determinatio n to suppress at any cost what are

c all ed
‘
young Turkish ideas or lib e rali sm has
-
,
’
,
s e riously inter fe red with and paralysed the

pro gress o f these se minaries o f culture and
e du c ation .
My d esire was to j o i n o ne o f th ese colleges ,
afte r having b ee n prepared by private tu i tio n to

pass the obligatory e ntrance exami natio n But .
since my elder brother had already entered o ne

o f the modern coll ege s my u ncle urged me t o
,
affi liat e mysel f to o ne o f the old fashio ned -
maarasse/zs A s we had yet some hope o f

’
.
recoveri ng our c onfi scated property and as the ,
right o f holding the es tates depended o n the

’
heir s followi ng o ur grand fath er s s e mi theo ’
-
logical profession my u ncle i nsisted t hat I

,
should co nti nue my studi e s in one o f thes e

quasi theological m
-
aa r asse/
’
zs A l though I was
.
m o st reluctant I had to fall in with his wishes

, ,
so I prepared to go and live wi th a tutor who

had his room in t he m adr asse/ z whi ch is at
te ched to the mosque o f li t tle St S Ophia a 1

.
,
Byz antine building which is as much visit ed by

,
E uropean tourists as the great St Sophia . .
When one b ecomes a memb er o f these old

fashioned i nst i tutio ns o f lear ning o ne mu st ,
wear a professional turban and a lo ng cloak let ,
t he b eard gro w if o ne is old e nough to have

,
o ne and shave the hair O ff o ne s head They

’
.
,
procured fo r m e a turban and C loak and my ,
u nc l e sen t m e with a manservant to a barber s

’
shop t o get my head shaved The shavi ng o f .
a thick h ead o f hair is a most pain ful thi ng and ,
1
The ancient C h urch o f Serg ius and B acc hus .
M adr assek
’
origi nal names of
Medici ne ,
‘
M aarasse/z o f H is tory and so o n The
’
,
’
.
Moslem people we re formerly divid ed i nto two

—
disti nct classes the great illiterate mass and ,
the learned hi erarchy k nown as Ulem a Al .
though all instructi o n given in the m aar asse/z

’
was formed on the ba sis o f the faith o f I slam ,
the Ulem a were certainly not entirely theo
lo gians . They were c ertainly not priests as ,
I slam recognises no spiritual authori ty Mo .
hammed has stated dist inctly that there is no

”
priesthood in I slam . With the lapse o f time
human knowledge advanced and the high ,
culture which existed among Moslems in

medi aeval times decayed ; but still the Ulem a
continued to teach the A rabic language with ,
its literature and law s ec ular and spiritual

, .
U ltimat e ly coun t ri es like Turkey and E gypt

felt the necessity o f l earni ng something from
th e progressive natio ns o f E urope and in imi , ,
tatio n o f their educational institutions b egan ,
to esta blish schools and colleges fo r modern

learning and sci e nc e I n the O ttoma n empire
.
the Ulem a havi ng n early l o st their occu pations

,
as professors and judge s no w hold a pec uliar

,
position which somewhat resem bles a sort o f

,
I G O TO C ON S TAN TINO P LE TO S TUDY 9 1
p ries thood O f course this class still retai ns

.
,
its o ld pro fessio nal titles receives pensions and , ,
lives on the revenues ac c rui ng from charitable

endowments Moreover its m
. embers still have ,
a greater influence O ver the ignorant masses

t han perso ns Of modern educatio n but they ,
are no t no w o f much service to the State The .
maa rasSe/zs are notwi thstanding still full o f

’
, ,
student s who wish to become members o f that

body but the more i ntelligent o f them instead
, ,
o f a ttendi ng the O ld c ours e o f lectures in the
mosques go to some modern college in order

,
to quali fy themselves fo r pro fession s which will

be o f practical u se to t hem Many o f them .
spend their t ime in the m a dr asse/ zs idly or ,
simply liv e in them till th ey have passed an

exami natio n by which they are exempted from
mili tary service and then re tu rn to th eir towns
,
and village s Agai n some o f these students

.
,
who are really working in st ead Of at te ndi ng ,
o ne o f the mod e r n c o ll eges go to an ins titut ion ,
fou nded fo r t he training o f t he K auts o r semi

'
'
religious magist rates Th ese s tudent s are all

.
called S ofl as All t he affairs o f the m

. aa r asse/zs
’
are und e r the co ntrol o f t he o ffi ce o f t he Sh eikh

u l I s lam which t hough it s till forms a distinct
-
, ,
ministry and though the Sheikh ul I slam is still

,
- -
a member o f the Cabinet o f the Port e has lost ,
many o f the important offi cial functions it o nce

had The posi t io n o f the She ikh u l I slam the
.
- -
,
head o f the Ulem a at present re sembles t hat

,
o f the ecclesias t ical head o f a Chris t ian country ,
though as I stated be fore no ecclesiastics co u ld

, ,
be recognised as such in I slam The number .
o f the studen t s in the m adrasse/zs o f Consta n
t inOp le is estimat ed to be something betwee n
fi v e and seve n thousand .
O riginally the m zs w e re fou nded o n

aa r asse/
'
a system much resembling tha t o f t he coll eges o f

the E ngli sh U niversi t i es Th ey were built by
.
t he m u nific e nce o f t he Sultans and o f private
persons and most o f them were situated near

,
mosques to which they were attached and were

, ,
supported from the same e ndowm ents as the

mosque s themselve s fo r the charitable founders
,
o f these e ndowmen t s aimed parti c ularly at in
creasi ng the co ngregatio ns tha t attend public

worship and devised that the stude nts should
,
also use the mosques as their lecture halls -

.
E ven nowadays mo st l ectures are give n in t he

mosques E ach m . aar asse/z was sel f governin
'
g
-
,
and the princip als or so to say the fellows

, , , ,
’
me live five years in suc h a place and they ,
we re the years which o ugh t to be the best

’
o f o ne s youth .
The li fe o f the stude nts o f these m aa r asse/

zs
’
resembles that o f monks in monasteries o f t he

E astern Chu rch They prepare th eir o wn
.
modest food clean their o wn ro oms make their

, ,
o wn beds and was h their own clothes

, A new .
student not only does all this fo r himsel f but ,
he has also to do it fo r the fellow or tutor o f

the m '
aar asse/z in whose room he is placed .
Most o f the students are very poor They .
go every year during the r am aaau — the month

’
o f fasti ng — to di fferen t provincial tow ns and

villages to preach to teach and to do some
, ,
writing fo r the illiterate village rs and provin c ials ,
and after securi ng what fees alms and pro

, , ,
visio ns they can get th ey return to their re

,
sp ect iv e m aar asse/

’
z s to r esume th eir work .
The S of tas played a conspi cuous part in

some o f the re volutions fo r if once they were ,
roused and egged o n by poli ticians they ,
would assemble in the courtyards o f the great

mosque s bearing yataghans and heavy clubs
,
under their long cloaks and numberless common ,
people would follow them The viziers who .

I Go To C ON S TAN TINO P LE To S T U D Y 9 5
deposed the lat e S ultan Az iz had to get the

support o f the S of tas Midhat Pasha had to .
secure their assi stance when he was urging the

present Sultan to sanction the scheme fo r the
new consti tu tion A certain S uav i E ffe ndi one
.
,
o f the fou nders o f t he young Turkish move -
ment who had himself been a S of ta tw enty

, ,
fi v e years ago made an armed attack o n th e

’
Sultan s palace with him fough t and fell many
o f the S of tas The Sulta
. n whose marvellous ,
power and success in crushing eve rything which

might enda nger his despot ic personal rule is
undeniable has paralysed the collective in
,
fl uence o f the S ofl as so that the y can no longer

,
be the political tools o f any power that may

arise to oppose him .
D uring my reside nce in the m a dr asselz my
uncle used t o give me as pocket money twenty -
piastres ! about 3 5 5 d ) a month and to the

. .
,
tutor o f the m aar asselz in whose room I was

'
,
a novice disciple, eighty piastres to cover the

-
,
ex penses o f my maintenance This was quite .
enough fo r a m an who has t o live as abst em i

o usly and s imply as a mo nk Moreover p ro .
,
visio ns in Constant inople are very Cheap a ,
fact whi ch is no t known to E uropean visitors ,

who are invariably cheated by the L evantine and

Greek hotel keepers and tradesmen S ecretly
-
.
,
ho wev er I received further support fro m my

,
affec tionate mo ther throu gh an A rm enia n

,
merchant who came from A ngora .

t his way D uri ng a summer a fternoo n as I

.
,
was walking in the gard e n o f the m adr asselz ,
a young E uropean accompa ni ed by a prett y ,
girl was just comi ng o ut o f the mosque o f

,
li ttl e St Sophia. The y excit ed my curiosity

.
,
as the appearanc e o f all E uropeans who came

t o visi t t hose a nci e nt e di fi ces alw ays e xcite s
the curi o sity o f t he peopl e living near them .
They both lo o ked at a mulberry tree loaded

wi th frui t and the ge nt leman pi cked u p a berry
,
which had just fall en and gav e it to the lady .
I walked towards them wi th what possibly ,
was a rather forbidding air Th ey started and .

,
appeared somewhat e mbarrassed I s ig ned to .
th em to stop and taki ng Off my shoes Climbed

, , ,
up the tree and picked a h a nd ful o f t he ripe

frui t .I put the fruit on t wo large leaves o f
t he tre e and O ffer ed it to t he lady My acti o n .
s eem ed to pl ease th em Th ey had no guide .

,
which pleased me greatly fo r there are no ,
more sham el ess Ch eats than those igno rant

i nte rpreters who are as a class o ne o f the worst
,
products o f the no n Mussulman natives o f the -
L evant .Ma ny E u ro p eans who pay a flyi ng

vi s it t o the L eva nt and hasten to s it down and
,
wri t e a book abo ut t h eir e xpe ri e nce s d erive ,

A NEW P RO FE SS ION 99
all their information from t hese c icerones and

interpreters Probably it is o n account o f this
.
t hat a countrym an o f mine once remarked ,
When we read such books especially those ,
writ ten in E nglish about ourselves we always

, ,
learn somet hi ng from them which we never

”
knew o r heard o f be fore A s the E nglish .
were respect ed above all other E uropean nations

in those days in the Ot toman empire and as ,
everyone used to think every E uropean visitor

must be E nglish I took the couple fo r E nglish
,
people Whether they were really British o r

.
not is an open quest ion We exchanged a .
part ing greeting but to my regret I did not

,
speak any language then except my o wn in ,
whi ch I might t ry to talk to them F rom that .
moment however my mind was possessed by

, ,
a desire to see E ngland t hough I c ould not,
mention it to an yone because the people o f

,
the m adr asse/i would have been greatly shocked
by such a suggestion and would pe rhaps have

,
brough t a charge agains t me o f wi shing to turn

mysel f into a Christian .
I started soon after thi s fo r home The .
party with which I trav elled took a route

d i fferent from the o ne by which we ha d come
three years previously to Constan tinople I .
there fore had the opportu ni ty o f visiting o ther

towns o f A sia M inor When I reached o u r
.
o wn t own I found that my mother had alr eady

,
moved to her summer h Ouse in the country.

By a strange coi nc idenc e the British Consul
,
and his family were stayi ng in a summer

residence which they had hired close by o u r
o wn . They were the o nly E nglish people ,
and also the only Europeans to be found in ,
the town as the A natolia n railway was no t

,
then even projected and no E uropean could

,
poss ibly have found any employment t here .
I made the acquaintan ce o f the Consul o ne

day while shooti ng wild duck on the shores
-
o f a neighbouring lake The British Co nsul

.
was able to make himsel f understo od in

Turkish and we soo n s truck up an acquai nt
,
ance I made him promi se to meet me agai n

.
,
so that we might go shoot ing together When .
I bec ame more in t imate with him I was ,
privileged by an intro d uction t o his wi fe who ,
did no t associat e at all wi t h the ladi es o f the

count ry A wi sh crossed my mind soon after
.
that my mo ther and she should me e t This .
was a most delicate matter because though I , ,

1 02 THE D IARY OF A TU R K
which I shared with an Albanian fellow pupil -

.
That year I m ad e progress in t h e st udy o f
Moham medan law which is always t aught in

,
the A rabic langua ge Tw o m

. ore ye ars passed .
The next su mme r v acation I wanted to see

s om e new country so I took a F re nc h li ner fo r
,
Beyrou t whe re I had a relation O n my way

,
.
I st ayed at S myrna and v isi t ed the Turkish

,
islands o f Chi os and M ityl e ne D uring my.
trav els I s aw m any young men wh o having ,
c omple ted t heir st udies in modern colleges ,
had bee n appointed by the Governme nt to

v arious post s in the provin c es with salaries
,
whic h at that t ime s eemed to me higher than

could hav e bee n expect ed by any young man .
An idea crossed my mind that I might change

the course o f the ant iquated studies o n which I
was wast i ng my t ime O n making i nquiries
.
about a rat ional sy ste m o f e ducation to which

I could devo te mysel f and by whi ch I might
,
eventually make a fut ure career and earn a

c o mpet e nc e I found that an entra nce examina
,
tion was goi ng to take plac e in three months

fo r the newly established law c ollege Th e .
Government wished to fi nd trained o ffi c ials fo r

the new courts and quali fied advocates fo r
,
A NEW P ROFE SS ION 1 03
the bar I determined to try my luck ; and a

.
young offi cer from the military academy who ,
was residing close to o u r m

'
aar asse/l gave me , ,
as a favour some coaching fo r the examinatio n

,
in geography and arithmetic the two subjects ,
in which I was most bac kward I passed the .
examinat ion fairly well and joined the law ,
institution .
A S I said before all the progress o f the

,
educational institutions o f modern creation

has o f late been lamentably hampered by the
’
interference o f the S ultan s palace Government ,
whose principal des ire is to crush the growi ng

liberalism I should however mention here
.
, , ,
to the credit o f the Porte that these institu ,
tions were origin ally founded and have always ,
been maintai ned at the e xpense o f the State

, ,
and th at they are mostly free and O pen to
st udents o f all classes o f people without dis ,
tinction o f race or faith In o ur fi rst year s

.
’
Class at the law college in which there were

,
about fort y fi v e student s the number o f

-
,
A rmenians alone reached thirt een .
By giving som e account o f the subjects

ta ught us in the law college o f Constantinople ,
I shall be able to state in brief the nature o f

the statutes and constitution o f the O ttoman

empire an d its judi c iary ins titutions .
Besides a few subjects which are o f general

interest to all trained lawyers and legal o ffi cers ,
there are various cours es o f lectures o n the

civil code an d its proc edure criminal law and ,
its procedure land law c ommercial and mer

, ,
c ant ile law dige s t o f admi nistrative regulations

, ,
chapters o n international law and capitulation

treaties and S O forth The civil code is based
, .
upon the rules establi shed in succeeding

cent uries from the time o f the O mmiade and
A bbasi d e Caliphates down to the early days o f
the Ottomans as s et down by various A rabic
,
boo ks which were compiled by the early

,
Moslem jurists who have made many co m

,
mentaries o n them The c ivil code o f Turkey

.
,
there fore is based entirely upon the ordinances

,
o f t he Mussulman secular law I t was framed .
by a board o f men well versed in the lite rature

and the jurisprud enc e o f the Moslem E ast .
Thi s board was formed duri ng the reign o f the

late Sultan and it took nearly fi fteen years to
,
carry out the necessary researches and frame

t he code as i t now exi s ts I t is noteworthy
.
that as has been shown by competent autho r

,
cases arising from it were concerned The .
criminal law and its procedure the procedure

,
concerning the formation o f courts and co m ,
mercial law are almost entirely copied from the

F rench judicial system while the mercantile
,
law is copied partly from F rance and partly

from H olland . Mos t regulatio ns Of various
kinds promulgated since the Treaty o f Paris
have been adopted from the State regulations
of some o f the Continen tal Powers mo re ,
especially o f F rance I n many cases th ey have

.
been adopted wi thout much regard to the

local requirements o f the L evant The pres .
sure put upon the Porte by t he Great Powers

at di fferent periods fo r the i ntroduction o f
reform s is respo ns ible fo r the hasty adoptio n
o f the least sui table o f these legal and adm inis
t rat iv e laws
.
The deta ils I have given above will give

some idea o f the existi ng s tatutes and co n
st itu t io n o f t he O t toma n E mpir e .When you
open your be st books o f referenc e to see what
are the laws o f Turkey you will fi nd in o ne this
,
use ful piece o f i nformatio n !
The K oran is
the l egal and theological code upo n which the
”
fundamental laws o f the E mpire are based ,
A NE W P ROFE SS ION 1 07
while in another you will see the following

illuminati ng passage F undamental
laws o f the E mpire are bas ed upon the precepts
o f the K oran . The next to K oran the laws o f
Mult eka ! l) I have no doub t this last bit o f
knowledge is borrowed from the meaningless
writings o f Ca non McCOll o n Turkish matt ers .
I have Often poi nted out to E ngli shmen o f my

acquaintance many o f the mi sta ken notio ns
prevailing in thi s cou ntry o n the affairs Of the
n earer E ast. The answ ers and reasons given
t o me were alway s the sam —
e namely that
,
E nglishmen are no t much i nterested in Turkish

mat ters nowadays This indi fference o n the
.
part Of E nglishmen is the chief reaso n why the

prestige o f Great Bri tain is doo med to dis
appear in t he L e vant If the editors or writers
.
o f s u c h produc t io ns as tho se I have quoted are
also o f the opi nio n that E ngli shmen do no t

no w take an i ntere s t in th e Tu rki sh empire I
,
should think t hat instead o f filli ng up their

,
pages with ridiculous i naccurac ies they would

,
be better advi sed no t to write anythi ng o n

Turkey at all .
A s regards the law c o urt s o f Turkey they

,
can be divided into two main classes — the old

cou rts and the reformed cou rts The Old courts .
fo rm part o f the o ffi ce o f the Sheikh ul I slam - -

,
and they have a half religious comple xio n

-
.
Their func tions are nowadays reduc ed to a few

matters su ch as the set tli ng o f i nheri ta nc e de
, ,
ciding o n divorce actions certi fyi ng marriages

, ,
and looking aft er su ch other cases as may

arise among the members o f a Mohammedan
communi ty ! ues t ion s o f this nature among
.
t he native Chri s t i an commu nities are taken
charge o f by the Pa triarchate o f each co m

mu nity .
With the exception o f the courts which are

C harged with the trial o f all civil offi cials who
may be accu sed o f O ffences conn ec ted solely
with their admi nistrat ive dut ie s and which are ,
attached to the Council o f Stat e Preside ncy all ,
the re formed court s form part o f the Mi nistry o f
j u st ice
. L ike all t h e departmental bureaus o f
that Mini st ry the c entral courts are s ituated in
,
t he huge buildings oppos ite S t Sophia and just .

,
out side the gat e o f the a nci ent seraglio Both .
cri mi nal and ordinary civil courts are divided

—
into three degrees namely prelimi nary appeal, , ,
and eassatzou court s H ere th ere are also t wo

'
comm erci al courts o ne d ealing wi th cases

,
gives rise t o even more c orruption and pa rtiality

than whe n there is o ne o nly .
The evils o f the present H amidian tyranny

have destroyed all the con fi dence o f the people
in the new courts L egal o ffi cers o f capabili ty
.
and i ntegri ty are either e xiled or appo i nte d to

courts in obscure corners o f the empire and ,
the c entral courts are fill ed wi th t h e favouri t es

o f the Palace clique and t hese cre a t ures d eal
,
‘
out jus tice according to the will o f t he
’
Palace . The Sultan has given them orders

recently to c ondemn all opponent s o f his mis
rule . Lately about a h undred i nnoc ent men
have bee n conde mned to death or penal
s ervi tude and the ir properti es have been
,
con fiscated by the c e ntral criminal courts on

the charge o f high treason .
’
Just about the t im e when I was prepari ng

fo r my fi nal exami nat io n the dir ec tor O f my
,
college i nform ed me that he had re ceived a

com municat ion from the War O ffi c e to the e ffect
that I was amo ng th e li s t o f men fo r the year s ’
c ons c rip t i o n Thi s was a very di sturbing piec e

.
A NE W P ROFE SS ION 111
of n ews to me as I had just decided to adopt a

,
new pro fes sion and had le ft my m

, adrassell .
T he stud ents in m z s who have pas sed

aa r asse/
’
,
an exami nation in A rabi c and other subj e cts

taugh t th em in that language are exemp ted ,
from s ervi ng in t he army Al though our

.
college was o ne o f the e ducational i nsti tut ions

o f t he Sta te t he stud e nts o f whi c h are also
,
exempted u nder certai n condi t ion s from military

servi ce thi s exempt io n had only be en re ce ntly
,
gran t ed and the mili tary authori t ies did no t

,
k now much about it Tho se who knew o f it

.
did no t vi ew it wi th favour as they are v ery

,
a nxious to force rigid conscript io n upon every

o ne
. They will no t arg u e o n thi s point and ,
will di spose Of all arguments wi th military

brusqueness It took several m o n ths to get the
.
mili tary authori ti es at the Con sta nt inople War

O ffi ce and the Offi cers o f t he division at my
birt hplac e in A natolia to exempt me from
serving in the army and my di spute with
,
th em i nterfered very seriously with my l ast

and most di ffi cul t exami nat ion in the college ,
and as a resul t I had to co ntent mys el f with

a second class diploma o nly It was not
.
because I was afraid o f a soldier s li fe t hat I

wanted to escape it ; cowardice is not o ne o f an

’
O smanli s failings I nde ed when I fi rst came .
,
to Constantinopl e my wi sh had been to go to
a milita ry school to be t rai ned as an officer but ,
my uncle igno red it and sent me to the theo

logi cal m adrasse/z N o w after several y ears to
.
, ,
be sent compulsorily i nto the army as a private

would have ruined all my chances in the new
career I had mapped o ut fo r mysel f and there ,
is but little chance Of promotion from the

ranks .
The methods Of con sc rip tion in T urkey

di ffer from those o f other military cou ntries .
Al though mili tary se rvi c e is obligatory in t he

Turkish empi re co nscrip t ion is not universal ;
,
tha t is to say the privileged natives o f Co n

,
stant ino p le the i nhabi tants Of all fro ntier

,
di s tri c ts s uch as the Albanian s and K urdi sh

,
clans and A rab t ribes are no t forced to serve ,
in the army Moreov er the A rm enia ns

.
, ,
Greeks and no n Mus sulman nativ es o f t he

,
-
c o u nt ry are compl e te ly e x empted from military
servic e and in stead o f s erving as soldi ers each

, ,
male member o f t hese p eople s pays a yearly

e xe m p tion tax the amou nt o f which if I am
, ,
not mistaken is abo ut fiv e or six shillings

, .
of these E astern Christians into the Turkish

army I may be called a fanatic ; but s o
.
far as t he interests o f my nation are c o n

c erned I do not mind b e ing so called
, What .
would become o f the loyal ty supreme obedienc e ,
to command sel f sacrificing devotion and u n

,
-
,
daunted fighting capaci ty which distinguish

our army if the E as tern Christians were
,
admi tted into it P1

The Turkish army has
always inspired fear in the ambitious and
aspiring enemies o f o ur territories and if it ,
were not for the T u rkish army the remainder

o f the empire would have bee n divided up long
ago I t has beate n a nation which had e ighty

.
thousand trained m e n in t he fi eld and which ,
In his b o o
1
k Civili sation des A mb er ! p Dr
min nt
.
v
Gu sta e le Bon, the e e y Frenc
Le h v
sa ant, sa s :
paysan et l ouvrier Turcs so nt so bres i nfatigables au

’
travail fo rt d é vo ué s a leur fam

,
ille So l dat le Turc

meurt a so n poste sans reculer j amais De so lde cepen
, ,
.
,
d ant il n en to uche pas ’

Ce q ue je viens de dire
S ap plique uni quem ent d ailleurs aux Turcs pro p rem
,
ent di ts
’ ’
et no n assuré m ent a to utes les po pulati o ns des pro vi nc es
Asiati ques ad m ini stré es par la Turqui e On y renco ntre

le plus so uvent surto u t dans les villes un m
.
élange de races
diverses résidu abatardi de to us les envahisseurs qui depui s
,
tant de S i ecles Ont traversé ces contré es Dans c c m élange

inférieur certaines quali té s sub sistent encore m
.
ai s lo niveau
de la m
,
orali té et de co urag e est d escendu fo rt has

”
.
1 16 THE D IA RY OF A TU RK
t ians fo r the same offence E urope would call .
t hat punishment p e rse cu t ion and at o nc e i nt er ,
fere o n their behal f We know the true feeli ngs

.
o f t hes e people w e ll and whate ver co nc e ssio n

,
is granted them it is impos sibl e to i nspire in

,
them any feeling o f patriot ism fo r the O tt o ma n

empire in general Those who advocat e t he ir
.
i nclusion in the army moreover say that it , ,
would increase the num erical strength o f our

fi ghting forces . But the O ttoman army would
exceed a million men nowadays in the c ase o f
necessi ty and fo r pu rposes o f defence this would
,
be fully a match fo r any enemy A no th er .
plea fo r the admissio n o f Christian subj ec ts o f

Turkey into the army is that as they are free ,
from conscription the ir m , en stay at ho me work ,
wi thout hindrance and look after the pro sp e rity

,
and welfare o f th e ir families uni nterruptedly ,
and t heir number is o n the increase as a co use

q u e nce
. I t is q u it e t rue that co mp u lso ry
mili tary service is telli ng upon t he T u rkish

nat ion alarmingly A man is liable to fight
.
from his twenti eth year t o his forti eth whe n

ever he may be called upo n to do so and he is , ,
o f course always liabl e t o be killed

, When he .
is called to arm s his bu si ness is paralysed and

,
A NE W P ROFE SS ION 1 17
his poor family left without assistance But .
t hese di ffi culties can be re medied if the general
maladministration is improved and I hope it

,
will be improved as soon as the present régim e

is changed .
C HA PT E R V I .
TU R K EY S’
INTERNA L DANGERS .
The ano malo s po iti

u s o n Of forei ners in
g —
Turkey Capitula
i
t on —
privileges The Porte has no j urisdictio n o v er
foreign crim inals—Attempts to modify the ano m al y
Reaso n for their failure to b e fo und in the Sultan s

’
misrule The independence of Turkey a mere fi ctio n

—
e r n —
The nativ C h i sti a s Thei r separati st aspiratio ns
—
Their treaso nable acts Th eir Engli sh apolo gis ts
To lerant p olicy o f the Turks— Dangers o f th i s to lerance
— The Arm enians — Their ancient p i v leges The m
r i — as
sacres — Th ei r present posi tio n .
IN the preceding chapter I gave a summarised

account o f the jurisdict ion o f Turkey and al so ,
made an allusion to the admission o f the

A rmenians an d other no n Mussulman natives -
o f Turkey to th e judicial insti t utions H ere I .
will say somethi ng o n the position held by

foreign subjects in regard to the law o f the
country as well as on the disposition Of the
,
1 18
t he O ttoman tatesman which create insu r

s ,
moun table di ffi cul ties fo r t he thorough e nforce

ment o f the laws and which seriously impede
,
the adopt io n o f progress and r e forms Th e re .
was at o ne time a real possibility o f the Porte

ge tt ing rid at least partially o f th ese capi tula
, ,
tion privileges whi c h are really no t ju st ifi ed

,
by in ternatio nal law and some friendly Powers

, ,
notably Great Brita in appeared well disposed ,
t o discuss t he advisabili ty o f maki ng some
modi fi cation in them In fact certain co nces.

,
sions were made to the Porte in the carrying

o ut o f the sentences passed by it on foreign
crimi nals These modi ficatio ns could still be

.
suc cessfully brought about if Turkey could

earnestly set to work to reorganise the adm inis
t ratio n o f the country and to i ntrodu c e such ,
prac ti cal re forms as are nec essi tated by the

ac tual requirements o f the case and then ,
app eal to the j ust ice and eq u i ty o f the Great

Powers no t to i nsist upon exercisi ng fully the
capi tulatio n privil eges o f their subjects It .
was some thirt y years ago that the sta tesa

o f t he S ublime Por t e seriously meant to ac
Of k ing
th e wor of pitulation privileges
h
t ese ca and the
disgraceful abuse made of themby foreigners

,
.
TURKEY S IN TERNAL DAN G ER S
’
121
complish this great task But with t he be .
ginning o f A bd ul H amid s disastrous reign all

- -
’
t he previous sc h emes o f the Por t e were brought
to naught . This capri c iou s S ul tan began to

rule over an important empire which required ,
the most delicate handli ng in a man ner which ,
has never be fore been seen in the his tory o f

an civilised o r semi civilised S tat e and which
y
-
,
can only be paralleled by the mode Of governing

o f some wild tribal C hi e ftain H e proceeded .
,
’
with a tyrant s z est t o crush the influe nce o f
,
O ttoman statesme n o f capability and i ntegrity ,
and handed ov er the most important O ffi ces o f

the S tate to igno rant fanatics and to cosmopolitan
upstarts whose o ne clai m to no t i c e was their
,
dishonourable behaviour O ne o f the results

.
of the present rule has bee n that foreign

resid ents in Turkey have naturally clung more
fi rmly to their ext ra te rritorial privileges and
-
,
the old capi tulation privileges have given rise

t o new privil eges which are by no mean s based
upon the stip ulations o f the ancient treaties .
S O one can no w see in Co nstantinople the most

amazing anomaly o f many ce ntres o f Govern
ment all distinct from one another and al l o f
, ,
them utterly un affected by the sovereignty o f

the Porte Thus the independence o f Turkey

.
is qui te fic titious nowadays and A bd ul H amid ,

- -
can only satisfy his lust o f tyranny by Oppressi ng

the sec t ion o f his subjec t s who can expec t no
outside protection or sympathy .
Throughout th ese pages I have consistently

condem ned the misrule o f the present S ultan .
My feeling agai nst his ways is the stronger

because I am sure that in spi te o f the ascend
,
ancy gained by foreigners in T urkey she might ,
yet as sert and maintain an honest and sound

administration in place o f the mi serable tyra nny
,
which oppresses her no w But as it is the .

,
F oreign Powe rs taki ng advantage o f the existing

,
misrule no t only fet t er the hands o f Turkish

,
statesm en by persistently demanding fresh

ex tra t erri torial privileges fo r their subjects
-
,
but also take up some o f them the cause o f

, ,
those E astern Christians who are under O tto

man rule all eging that th ey are ac ting in the
,
’
name o f humani ty .
Their real motive however is that th ey may

, ,
”
use them as a p oint a afip u i fo r th eir political
sc hemes and designs Thus th ese subject
.
populations o f Turkey whose true racial ,
characteristics have o ft en be en made clear by

oppression but its Christi an inhabitants have

,
not been the only sufferers ; o n the oth er hand ,
m any o f them have allowed themselves to be

the cause o f oppression and hav e even acted as
,
the right hand men o f the Oppressors If there

-
.
had ever been a s erious pers ecut ion particularly

direct ed against the native Chris tians there ,
would no t now be many A rmenians o r Greeks

left alive in Turkey In past ages they were
.
entirely at the mercy o f the O tt o m ans ; t here

was no E uropea n Power and no Co ncert o f ,
Powers strong enough to stop the conversio n

,
or extermi nation o f the no n M ussulman po p ula

-
t ion o f the O ttoman empire There c ould be .
no better proof o f the tol erant policy o f the

O smanlis towards th eir subject populat ions t han
the ac tual existence at the present day in t hat
coun try o f so many millions Of native Christians
Of all d e nomi nations Moreover not only have
.
,
native Christians had their existence a ss ured to
t hem , but also th eir fre edom o f conscienc e ,
which is amply proved by the fac t that their

eccl esiastical constitut ions th eir languages and
, ,
their national customs hav e been respected

by the Turks But this liberal treatment
.
has been abused by the subject populations

TURKEY S I N T ER N A L D A N G ERS
’
1 25
of Turkey They have n ever do ne anything t o

.
S how t h eir gra t i t u d e and hav e n e v e r di s played

,
any pa t riot i s m t o ward s t he O tt o m an empire .
If th ey w e r e to do s o it m igh t p erhaps sav e

T u rkey from i nternal dissensio ns and from ,
c o nsequ e nt st ri fe anarchy and the r u in which

, ,
s tare s it in the fac e The history o f T u rkey

.
mu st hav e taugh t t he Russians wi sdom fo r they ,
ate c are fu l t o i nsis t u pon t h e Russ ifi cat io n o f
t h e ir co nqu e re d s u bj ec t populat io ns and never ,
ri sk grafti ng o n to their stem a shoot which

may tu rn o ut to have tho rns The fact is that .
t oleranc e to ward s subj ec t populat ion s o f ali e n
race and fai th as sh o w n by Mussul m

, ans ,
excell ent as it may app ear t o s ent i mental

h u mani tarians is a su re way o f imperilli ng the
,
fu ture i nd epende nc e o f a nation .
Of all her no n Mussu l m -

an s u bj ec t s Turkey
has th e greatest reaso n to be anxiou s about the
A rme nians and th eir separatist movement .
The ambi t io n o f A rme nian agi tato rs is t o form

an i nd epende nt Stat e in an i mportant portio n o f
As ia M ino r the bac kb o ne o f t he O ttoman
,
e mpire . I t herefo re wi sh to make a few t e

marks h ere o n A rm enian mat ters in particular ,
as t hough A rme nian a ffairs may seem to be in

,
1 26 THE D IA RY OF A TURK
the background at present political mischie f ,
makers will take up this playthi ng o f theirs

agai n soo ne r or later .
A s I po i nted out in t he last chap ter amo ng ,
forty fi v e studen ts o f the fac ul ty o f law thirteen

-
,
were A rm enians Thirt een out o f fo rty fiv e is

.
-
proportio nately a large nu mber consideri ng t he ,
small number o f Arm enians relatively to other

nationali ties o f the O ttoma n empire The .
A rmenians are ad mittedly ve ry i ndustrious

people They wo n good marks in the e ntrance
.
e x ami nation and th e au t hori t ie s at the Mi ni s t ry

,
Of Public I nstruc t ion w o uld no t a ffi x a limit o f
number but admi tted as many as succ es sfully

,
passed the exami natio n I do u bt ho wev er .

, ,
after those agi tat i o ns if such impartiali ty has

,
been shown to wards th e membe rs o f that race

in all O t toman i nst itu tio ns A nd if no t it .
wou ld no t b e a matter fo r surpri se wh en one

co ns id ers how the A rm enians have c onducted
th emselves towards the E m pire and their
Mussulma n co mpatriot s fo r so me t ime pas t .
Yes p eo pl e in thi s c o unt ry h eard muc h abou t

,
t he massac r es D oub t less they w e re abo m

. in
abl e and do ubtl ess many i nnoce nt persons were
,
slaughtered But it is o nly common j u st ice

.
has been maintai ned by their politi cal sym

p a th is ers in E ngla nd t hat t heir agita tio ns w e r e
fo r the purpos e o f be i ng be tt e r gove rned and ,
in no way a separat is t m ovement ; but t hi s is

absurd and was merely an after thought A s a
,
-
.
matt er o f fact the A rmenians gave lou d e x

pressio n to their new aspirations o f havi ng an
indep endent ki ngdom in E astern A sia Mi nor .
W e heard everywh ere from them that the

—
Christ ian Powers above all Great Britai n
,
‘
were going to hand over that portio n o f the de
’
caying O ttoma n empire t o t hem as th e y had
,
hand ed over O ttoman t erri t ories before to othe r

Chri stian races o f the E as t They were s i mply
.
awaiti ng the proph esi ed mome nt o f t he part i t io n

o f Turkey to e s tabli s h t heir indepe nd e nc e o n
t heir share Of t he divided te rritory I myse lf

.
heard A rmenians talki ng about who were to be

the future rulers amo ng th eir o wn peo ple The .
Turks began to ask the mselves such qu est i o ns

as,
!
Why do these peopl e revolt agai nst us
when we suffer from mi s rule much more than
t hey do and whe n more ove r t h e o ffi c ial m
, , , is
dee ds are partly du e t o A rmenia n jac ks in -
”
offi ce ? 1
The agi ta t ion among t he A r
M any of th e S ultan s h ighly placed Ofi cials and spies
’
1
TURKEY S IN TERNAL DAN G ER S
’
1 29
mni
e ans grew worse an d worse every day the
agitators resorted to the same Old method ,
namely th ey t ri ed to provoke the Turki sh

,
populace to re taliate o n it s offe nders hopi ng ,
that this would be re prese nted in E urope as

an ou tburst o f Mussulma n fanati c ism and ,
would ind uce the Powers to i nterve ne and ,
so haste n t he part i t io n The Turks or more .

, ,
widely S pea ki ng the M u ss ulman population

,
o f A siat i c Turk e y were grave ly di scussi ng

,
what could be do ne to check thi s overbeari ng

and mischievou s behavi o ur Turkish women .
and childre n were exposed to ill treat me nt a nd -
’
insult t hroughout A sia Mi nor The T urk s .
pat ience is almost in exha ust ible but wh en you ,
attack his wom en and Children his anger is

!
roused and nothi ng on earth can control it

, ,
are o f Ar menian
i li y It is worthy of no te that
nat o na t .
the A rm enian revo l utio nari es di rec ted their attack s agai nst
private individual Turk s only ; no ne o f the S ultan s right ’
hand o fficials were hurt by th em The reaso n o f this was .
that th ey wanted to pro vo k e blo o d sh ed and by thi s m eans ,
invite Outside intervention M o reo ver it was manifestly to

.
,
their ad vantage th at the m alad m ini stratio n o f th e S ul tan

and hi s respo nsibl e Offi cials sho uld c o nti nue as und er it ,
they were m uc h mo re lik ely to fi nd a favo urable o pp o rtuni ty
for thi s mo ve ment to say no thing o f b eing sure o f ex ternal

,
suppo rt .
1 36 THE D IARY O F A TU R K
an d he saw that the Government o f the Sultan

was utterly powerless to pu nish the A rmenian
agitators and revol utionists o f foreign nationality .
D id the humanitarian Briti sh publi c know these

t hings ? N o ; it does not care to know any
thing whi c h migh t be favourable to the Turks .
H ave the political journal s o f this country

mentioned the facts I have st ated ? Of course
no t because
,
— —
to speak plai nly they knew that
in the A rme nian pie there were the fi ngers o f
some o f their own poli t icians Shortly be fore
.
the massacres I heard many Turkish people

, ,
who had lived side by side W i th the Armenians

fo r ce nturies saying that it was a mistake to be
,
angry with the K urds fo r their treatment o f the

A rmenians in E astern A sia Minor and that ,
it was the right t hi ng to crush these people .
Then there came the dark days Of those terrible

massacres The A rmenian revolutio nists who
.
,
ultimately managed to go abroad scot free gave -

,
great provocation by throwing dynami te bombs

in many places and killi ng wome n and children
o f the Mus s ulman populatio n These people
.
could no longer expect that the Government o f

the Sultan wo uld do anything to settle the
agitation and prevent further mischief so at last,
of individual pro s perity protection

, and tole ra
t ion . A s an i nsta nce o f what the Turks have

been willing to do fo r the A rmenians I may ,
quote the religious di ffi culties early in the las t

cent u ry . It was at the begi nni ng o f the
missionary movement in E u rope and bot h ,
Pro testant and Catholic mi ssionaries poured

into Turkey and s et abo ut proselytising the
A rmenians wi th more zeal than discretion
,
.
The A rm enian Patriarch appealed to the

Turkish Governme nt to expel these fo reign
missio naries who were causi ng troubl e in his
com mu nity and in respo nse to his app eal the
,
Governme nt at once pu t great restrict io ns upo n

the mi ssionaries and this in spi te o f the fact
,
that by so doing it ran the ri sk o f incurri ng

E uropean enmi ty I n mentioning t his I do
.
not say anythi ng agai nst mission work ; I

merely instanc e the circumstance to show the
t olerance with whi c h t he Turk s have al ways
treat ed the A rme nians and their religio n and ,
how unt rue is the accusatio n brought against

them o f sy ste m at ic religious persecution .
H owever I do ubt if the M ussulman po pu la

,
tio n will eve r place t he same confidence in the

A rmenians agai n W e do no t see no w so
.
TURKEY S I N TERN A L D A NG E R S
’
1 33
many o f those flourishing A rmenian Pash as

in the high Governme nt o ffi ce s o f Turkey as
we did before though the y are regai ni ng some
,
o f their O ld hold in Government circles As

.
a natural result o f being out o f favour the race

,
will no t probably find it so easy a matter to

gain admission to the educational institutions
o f the State.
C H A PT E R V I I .
A NEW COS TU M E A N D A NEW CAR EE R .
I d p
a o t pean dress—The standard o f civilisation
Euro
E gli sh clothes m
n ade n A ustria
i — Euro pean dress
first ado p ted under S ul tan M ah m ud — My vai n attem p ts
to get an appo intm en t— Requisi te quali fications fo r
Go v ernm e n t e mpl o ym en t b rib ery a nd esp i o n g
a e— The
o nly li veli ho o d po ssib le fo r ed ucated m
,
en— I beco m e
l
a aw er y — I penetrate high o fi cial quarters .
W HE N I had pas sed the fi nal examination in

the law college I began to attend the Courts to
see and learn the actual working o f the forms
o f the procedures I now grew to dislike having
.
to go to the Courts and Government o ffi ces in
the Ulem a costume which I still wore

, In .
fact even in my class at the college there

,
were only a few persons belonging to m ad
r asse/zs and they alone were attired in the

,
semi religious dress and the contras t between

-
,
1 34
1 36 THE D IARY OF A TU RK
who bring theclothes ready m ade from A ustri a -

.
Th e ir goods are ridi c ulously cheap but the ,
tailori ng and the material are ext remely bad .
I t is a proverb in Constantinople that when yo u

buy a suit o f cloth es from these A ustrian shops
and put it o n it will be worn o ut before yo u
,
can cross over the Golden H or n Bridge back
t o Stamboul . Curiously enough some o f these ,
A ustrians try t o pass their goods o ff as o f

E nglish manufacture as the E ngli sh made ,
-
goods have a bette r reputation than the

A ustrian even in Turkey .
But bad though they were I was well content

, ,
with my new clothes as thi s was a step forward

,
in sat is faction o f my craz e to dress as the

E uropeans did I t is a fact that m
. ost p eople
who adopt this form o f dress in the nearer E ast
look upon tho se who have not adopted it or do ,
no t de s ire to adopt it as incapabl e o f acq u iring

,
civilised habi ts S nobbi sh as it is no doubt

.
, ,
this idea is no t wi thout reaso n A few years .
ago when there was an ant i Turkish agita

,
-
tion in E ngland I Observed in some o f the

,
Radical pap ers remarks to the e ffect that while ,
the E astern Christians who had been liberated
fro m the Turkish yoke had adopted civilised

NE W C O S TU M E AND NE W C AREER 1 37
methods the Turks themselves seemed to be

,
i ncapable o f progress or civilisatio n I n reality

.
,
these E uropeani sed E as tern Christians are

’
no more civili sed than the turbaned villagers
o f A sia Minor ; their imitatio n o f civilised

methods and habits is merely superficial ; but
they man age to make themselves look like
E uropeans ; and the world passes its judgment
on mo st matters by surface evidence No t
.
long ago I saw an arti cle in the Sp ectator ,
dealing with the i ncapacity o f dark races

to adopt civilised manners and as o ne o f
, ,
the exam ples it was cited that the late

,
Midhat Pasha used to hate some aspects o f

E uropean costume especial ly evening dress
, .
It was a re velat io n to me that M idhat and

his nation were i ncluded in the category o f
the dark races and it was also a surprise
,
to me that t he Sp ectator did not remember

that many E ngli shmen o f perfectly civilised
habi t s and high culture hate some o f the
grotesque forms o f E uropean costume It.
was however this sort o f feeli ng amo ng the

, ,
majori t y o f E uropeans that made us wish to imi

tate them at least ou twardly so that we might
, ,
not be accuse d o f being u nfit ted fo r civilised

1 38 THE D IARY OF A T URK
ways If the Turkish Governme nt woul d make
.
the women o f harems discard th e ir barbarou s

veils an d go abo ut like E uropean women and
, ,
urge all its subjects to put o n Europ ea n

costumes and al so hats i nstead o f the fez o r
,
turban its action would doub tless be hail e d

,
in many quarters as the real beginning o f th e

civilisation o f Turkey .
S ultan Mahmud I I the exterminator o f th e .

,
Janissaries was the fi rst man who perceive d

,
this prejudiced feeling o f E urope some eighty

years ago H e knew that the undyi ng hostility
.
o f t he natio ns o f Western E urope agai nst h is
empire was simply becau se Turkey was no t a

Christian State A s he could not accept any
1
.
form o f the religions o f Christendom he though t ,
1
In this connection an anecdo te is related in Turkey
whic h whether true o r no t I wil l quo te h ere A Turk i sh
diplom
, , .
ati st of the past generat io n paid a vi si t to the Po pe
o f his tim e During the interv iew the Po pe said

. I am ,
aware o f the go o d po ints o f yo ur peopl e yet yo u are so
unpo pular in C hri stendo m In eve y internati o nal dispute

,
. r
Euro pe always regards yo u as in the wro ng Do yo u under .
stand the reaso n o f thi s universal ho stili ty Th e

di plom ati st replied B ecause we are not C hristians
, .
”
Exac tly said the P o ntiff Then why do yo u not

”
em brace Christiani ty ? Upon this the diplomatist m

.
,
ade
the fo llo wing undiplo m atic rem ark The C hristians bel ieve
,
1 46 THE D IA R Y O F A TURK
a belief which is repudiated by U nitaria n

M o hammedanism The objectors moreove r
.
, ,
maintained that a m an could not put his

forehead o n the ground in prostration d uring
worship with any form o f E uropean hat S o .
the S ultan instead o f taking the E uropean

,
head d ress as well adopted the fez which was

-
, ,
worn mostly by the G reeks o f the Mediter

ranean A rchipelago .
I do no t say that Mahmud I I di d unwi d .
in d iscard i ng his forefathers turbaned crown ’
and long furred robe But it was a great pi t y

, .
that he did not retain the ancient national

costumes fo r special ceremonial occasions at
least if only fo r antiquarian interest I n look
, .
ing at pictures and drawings illustrating the

olden days one cannot help admiring those
,
gorgeous o ld Turkish dresses Persons o f .
every class and profession had their big turban

o f a particul ar shape their long robe wide , ,
trousers and so forth and in these costumes

, ,
looked no t only picturesque but al so imposing ,
an d dignified E ver since the first change

.
,
people in Turkey have been adopting the

E uropean styl e o f costum e and those who ,
now re tain the old attire are only the humbler

NE W C O S TU M E AND NE W C AREER 141
C lass of
people in the provinces tradesme n , ,
peasants and the class o f the Ul em

, a .
F ollowing my e xample four other men ,
among t he s tude nts o f the law college who

came from m adr asse/
zs also changed their
costum e O f cou rs e they had al s o to leave
.
,
their m z s on accou nt o f t heir co nduct

adr asse/ .
After I had secured my exemption from

military s ervi ce and had got over the protracted
,
fi nal exami nat ion in the law c oll ege I found ,
that my real troubles in li fe were only just

beginni ng fo r the probl emo f maki ng a posi
,
tion fo r myself lay before me I was no w .
e nt irely dependent upo n my own labours to

earn my bread A s I mentioned at the
.
begInnIng o f t he book we had no lo nger any

,
hope o f recov ering our co nfiscated lands and ,
the li t tl e i nstalments adva nc e d t o me p e riodi
cally out o f the revenue o f tho se lands duri ng

o u r lawsuit with the authori t i es whi c h last ed
,
fi ft een years were now v e ry irregularly paid

, .
I n fact I was becoming thoroughly disgusted

,
by the fact that we had to make the most

1 42 THE D IA R Y O F A TU R K
humble entreaties to the arrogant o ffi cials o f

the Sul tan in order to persuade them to advanc e
the small sums they owed to us I wished t o .
Obtain some appoi ntme nt ei ther in the Court s ,
o r the Minist ry o f Justi c e but there seeme d ,
little chance o f my doing so A s I hav e .
been endeavouri ng t o S how throughout the se

chapters the administration in the reign o f
,
Abd ul H amid has been the most corrupt that

- -
our unfortunate country has ever known N 0 .
one however highly qualifi ed he may be can

, ,
get any employment in any Governm e nt

department u nless he is connect ed with some
highly placed creature o f the Sultan or unless
-
,
he is able to bribe high O fficials or is cun ning ,
enough to con c oc t some grave politi cal charge

agains t o t hers a nd de nou nce them t o t he tyrant
at Y ildi z K iosk Those who do t hi s last

.
‘
service are k nown as Palace spies I had .
’
no relat ion in the Sul tan s p alace who might

’
have obtained a Government appoi ntment fo r

me ; and had o f course no money t o lay out
, ,
in briber y and so purchase an appoi nt me nt

, ,
while the trade o f a spy was e ntirely repugnant

to my feelings I may be asked why ins tead
.
,
o f s t riving to get o ffi cial employmen t I did no t ,

1 44 THE D I A RY OF A TURK
pretensions to any actual superiority over th e ir

depen dants The governing faction s who
.
,
were appointed and promoted b y the ce nt ral

Government were qui t e distinct from ei ther
,
the rich o r the poor populations o f mos t Turkish

provi nces This state o f society exist ed up to
.
the beginning o f the present reign When .
A bd ul H amid began to establish his perso nal

- -
rule and founded the present bureaucracy he

, ,
saw a danger in the independent manner o f
li fe o f the o ld families and in their demo

,
crati c and friendly relations with the poorer

C las ses .
A t fi rst he tried to demoralise those a ncient

families by con ferring upon them O ffi c ial ti t les
and d ecorations hoping t hus to impress them
,
with an idea o f ra nk which would bring

,
attendant jealousies and make them st rive

,
hard to gain higher rank and decorat io ns than

t he rest o f their fellows Besid es this the
.
,
Sul tan acquir ed large tracts o f land in the

fert ile districts throughou t the empi re and as , ,
a step in his policy o f wholesale acqui si t ion the ,
lands and propert ie s o f the local mag nate s w ere

radually taken po ss es sion o f o n som e prete xt
g
o r other b y the administ rators o f the Civil L ist .
Thus it was t hat t hose who had on c e been in

depend ent la ndow ners rece ived o ffic ial ti tles ,
and became part and parcel of the Palac e
o ffi cial world They now depe nd almost en

.
t irely fo r their living upon sa laries paid out
o f t he public treas ury which treasu ry is sup

,
plied fo r the most part by t axes extorted

from the poorer provincials and peasa nt p ro
rieto rs
p .
A t pres ent there are o nly two ways in which

Turkish subject s can Obtai n a livelihood .
E ither they m u st be co nten t t o pocket their

pride and labou r as workm e n small trades
, ,
men ordinary craftsmen farm labourers and so

, , ,
forth or else they must somehow get a Govern

,
me nt appointment A man o f ed u cat ion mu st

.
make a Governmen t salary his ambi t ion in li fe ,
and must direct all his en e rgies to i ncreasi ng it .
I t there fore follows that the nu mber o f un

necessary o fficials in Turkey is e normous ,
and consequ e n t ly t h e ir salarie s are s mall a nd ,
also constantly in arrears E v en the paymen t

.
o f a s al ary due to an o ffi c ial is a ma t te r fo r an
appeal the Sul tan s benevolence ; any

’
to
in c rease is naturally even more so . O nly

t hose who are able to S how loyal ty to the
10
1 46 THE D IA RY OF A TU R K
person o f the Sultan get their salaries in

creased and their arrears paid The best form .
o f showi ng t he req u i red loyal ty fo r an O ffi c ial
is as be fore stated to spy upon others a nd

, , ,
denounce them as intrigui ng against his

sovereignty Those who cannot or will no t
.
S how their loyalty in t his way are soon reduced
t o the point o f starvation if no t exiled or,
imprisoned or condemned to death

, There .
is no other mea ns o f earni ng money fo r a

Turk o f education in his own country nowa
days N 0 one can venture to carry on any
.
commerce or any legi t imate money making -
en terprise independently nor can he establi sh

,
any business relations wi th the o u tside world .
H e would be ins ta ntly harassed by the lying

and intrigu i ng Palace spies and denoun c ed t o
,
the Sul tan as carrying on some treasonable

negotiatio ns under the guise o f doi ng business
, .
A ll ki nds o f industrial commerc ial and fi nancial

, ,
C ombinations are most stringently forbidden

to Turks E ven t wo men cannot make an
.
associat ion fo r any innocent and reasonable

business purpose as such a proceedi ng would
,
doubtless be reported as the promotion o f a

conspiracy If a man is accused o f doing such
.
e xiled to K onia in Asiatic Turkey w hose

, ,
offi ce was cal led I mprimerie Ebuz z ia aft er ,

’
his own name . Th ere I read and co rre c te d

proo fs and contribu ted to his magazi ne Thi s .
was o f course be fore the Sulta n s great literary

’
, ,
pe rsecution which resulted in the clos i ng o f

,
several printing o ffi ces the suppressio n o f

,
several journals the burning o f many books

, ,
and the banishment o f many persons connected

with the literary world In this O ffi ce I made
.
the acquaintance o f a E uropean who was an ,
Old resident in Consta nti nople and was ac ti ng ,
as correspond ent to the Tim es This ge nt le .
man and his E uropean fri ends who had some ,
busi ness in the mat ter o f concessions to se ttle

with the Turkish Government occasio nally ,
entrusted me wi th the drawing up o f their

Turkish doc uments and with interviewi ng
,
o ffi cials o n their behal f The do cumen tary .
wo rk I received fro mth em enabled m e from
time to time to have ac ce ss not only to several

high o fficials appo i nted by the Palac e but also ,
to the I mperial Palace i t sel f I thus had many .
Opportunities o f ob servi ng closely the way in
which the ruling clique in Consta nti nople

performs its d ut ies I will now give so me
.
description o f the real centre o f authority in

the Turkish empire which I fancy has never
, , ,
been properly understood even by those

E nglish politicians who are interested in the
eternal E astern ! uestion.
C H A PT E R VI I I .
THE S UBLI M E PO RT E AN D YI LDI Z K I OS K .
Porte th e o ld c entre of auth ority—The M inisters

’
pre sendegraded positio n—A

t v
co n ersatio na l o pening
Meani ng of Y ildiz K io sk Th e Sultan s Ar enian
-
’
m
app earance— The reaso ns for his l iving at Y i ldiz — A
—
fortified palace Its gard ens and fo rest— Th e C hari
table H otel keeper — The apart ents o f the palace
-
m
m —
Gove ing bo dies in it A c os o po litan crew m
Expenses o f the Househo ld — The S ultan s C ivil List
’
manag d by A mni
e r e ans.
B EFOR E the reign o f the present S ultan the

centre o f the ruling power in Turkey was the
‘ ’
Sublime Porte but si nce his accession Yildi z
, ,
K iosk ! his palace ) has absorbed every scrap o f

authority in the cou ntry Although in diplo .
,
’
matic and journalistic language the Porte o r , ,
Sublime Porte is still used as the name fo r

,
’
the Government o f Turkey it can no longer ,
be regarded as a correct o ne B efore describ .
ing Y ildiz K iosk I should like to state what

,
1 50
1 52 THE D IARY O F A TU R K
be handed over to them by the Palace The .
present Cabinet Ministe rs o f Turkey are either

men whose principle and abili ty are no t o f the
sort to inspire respect or else weak nonentities
, ,
who are merely appointed to carry o u t without

question the wishes o f the Palace They are .
all appointed and protected by some influential

courtier o f the Sultan I t is an ope n secret
.
that beyond reading and talking over the pape rs

sent to them by the Palace the Cabinet M inisters
,
dare not discuss or settle any matter affecti ng

the vi tal interests o f the coun t ry on their own
account ; and it is also a ma t ter o f C ommon
knowledge that the conversation o f the M i nisters

in Council is chiefly about the weath e r and
other safe u nexciting topics The favourite
, .
conversational opening o f the late Sheikh ul -
I slam in the Cou ncil as is well known in

,
Constantinople was , U nder the benevolent

auspices o f his I mperial Majesty our august ,
”
Master the weather is fi ne to day
, N one o f the
-
.
Ministers venture to make a statement o r give an

opi nion on any poli tical situation L ike their .
subordinat es the M inisters are in honour bound

,
to spy on one another I n short the Cabinet

.
,
Ministers are no w mere ciphers o f the Court .

THE S U B L IM E FORTE— Y ILD IZ K IO S K 1 53
The S ublime Porte was fi rst recognised as

the centre o f the ruling power o f the O ttoman
empire when such statesmen were in power as
Resheed Pasha ! who was Grand Vizier during
the Crimean c ampaign ) Aali Pasha F uad
, ,
Pas ha ! who accompanied the late Sultan A ziz

when the latter vi sited this country ) and Midhat
,
Pasha who compelled the Sultan to sanction a

,
Representative A ssem bly and who was after

,
wards done to death in his exile in T ai f near

Mecca The reason why Abd ul H amid pre
.
- -
’
served the Sublime Porte although he has
,
dtep riv ed it o f every vestige o f authority is that ,
he found the Ministers useful as scapegoats at

various periods o f his reign when he had to
,
face important political crises The Sultan has

.
until quite recently succeeded in hoodwinking

even the representatives o f the E uropean
Powers and making t hem believe that the
,
authorit y which had t o settle I nternational

’
disputes was the S ublime Porte Thus he .
has avoided the possibili ty o f personal responsi

bility fo r his misrule being brou ght home to
him and causi ng diplomatic pressure to bear
,
d irectly o n himsel f The buildings which

.
co ntain the offi ces o f the Sublime Porte are

1 54 THE D IA RY O F A TURK
situated in the S tamboul quarter of Co nsta n ti

no ple and are close to St Sophi a
, .
H aving explained what the Sublime Po rt e

once was and now is and having also poin t e d
,
o u t tha t it has ceased to be even in a fi gu rat i v e
sense the O ttoman Government I will no w ,
give an account o f Y ildiz K iosk Y ildi z means .
sta r in Turkish The majestic hill which is

.
situated o n the E uropean side o f the Bosphoru s

near the Marmora end o f t he Strait is called
the Y ildiz The word K iosk or as it is spe l t
.
,
’
in Turkish Ko shq mea ns both castle and

, ,
’
cottage I believe it was S ultan A bd ul Mejid

.
- -
who built the castle o n the summit o f the hill

‘
and called it Y ildi z K o shq The story runs .
’
that this castle was built as a residence fo r a

favourite lady o f t hat Sultan t o who s e prese nce ,
in the harem o f the palace his wi fe and mother

objected Gossip also relates that she was an
.
A rme nian and the present S ultan is said t o be

,
her son A l though the physiognomy o f A bd

.
ul H amid is very similar t o tha t o f a typical

-
A rme nian and his personal characteristics are

,
more A rmenian than Turkish this story rests ,
o n a very slight fou ndation .
Twenty S ix years ago the prese nt Sul tan

-
THE D IA RY OF A TURK
I v isi ted the outside o f these walls at a tim e

when it was occasionally possible fo r strangers
t o walk in the vicini ty o f the Y ildiz Palac e .
There are many blocks o f barracks thirty o r ,
forty yards apart from o ne anot her all alo ng ,
the line o f t he wall I n these barracks are.
—
q uartered troops o f various nationalities A rab ,
A lbanian and Turkish There is little friendli

, .
ness o r intercourse between the men o f the

di fferent battalions ; but all these simple mi nded -
privates o f the gu ard have bee n so carefully

and systematically i nspir ed with unh esitati ng
loyalty towards their father as t hey call the ,

’
Sul tan that they would qui t e willingly sacrifi ce

,
the last drop o f their blood in the defe nce Of

his precious li fe Beyond these barracks t here
.
are hills and valley s which are also extensively

,
guarded by blockhouses and se nt i nels Some .
years ago when the Turkish malcontents be

,
came restless a young o ffi cer in the Sul ta n s

,
’
guard drew a carefu l plan o f the palace and its

defences in whi ch he showed its vulnerable
,
points This plan was published some years

.
ago by the Turkish agi tators in Geneva wi th ,
the title I nstructions to be carried out in the

!
as sault o n Y ildiz P alace I t is said that the.

THE —
S U B L IM E FORTE Y ILD IZ K IO S K 1 57
publication o f thi s plan caused the Sultan to

alter all the defences o f Y ildi z .
The harem apartments and various s mall but

luxuri o us kiosks are sit ua ted in the i nteri o r o f
the fo rest , whi ch is said to be laid o u t in
beau ti ful flower garde ns roads lakes and canals
-
, , .
There are several detac hed pavilions in the

palace gardens ; one o f the most splendid o f
t hem is sai d to be the o ne in which the Sultan
e ntertai ns his prin cely fo reign guests The .
E mpero r o f Germany lodged in it duri ng his

t wo vi s its to Co ns t ant i nople The Sul tan is
.
always eager to ac commodate his royal vi sitors

wi thi n the establishme nt o f Y ildi z so that he ,
may no t be compelled to leave the palace

to call u pon them It is well known that he
.
takes the utmost care to make them com fort

able and to entertain them well It is fo r
.
thi s reason that he has obtai ned the nic k

‘
n ame in certai n disc o nte nted quarters o f the
Charitable H otel keeper The Sultan always
-
.
’
enjoys his sport and takes his exercise in

his palace forest O ne o f his means o f t e
.
creati o n is the Yildi z opera house in which

-
,
be with his childre n or with his foreign

,
g ue s ts
,
patronises the drama in which
, he takes
153 THE D IARY O F A T URK
a kee n i nteres t It is wo rthy o f rem

. ark t ha t ,
while a st rict cen so rship and a rigorous poli c e

ma ke the p ro gress o f drama t ic art among h is
subjects al mo st impo ssible the Sultan s o wn ,
’
thea t re is fi tted wi t h all the la test improve
ments .
The buildings in which the o ffi c ials and

Offi ce rs o f the court and the army o f house ,
hold att endants ! as we may call them ) live are ,
si tuated at the highest part o f the Yildi z fo rest ,
while at the opposi te end at the foo t o f t he ,
forest almost o n the S hore is the Tcharagan

, ,
Palace where ex Sul tan Murad A bd ul

,
-
,
-
’
H amid s mysterious and strictly guarded cap -
tive is c onfi ned N 0 human bei ng who is no t

, .
attached to the guard o f the capt ive can

approac h the latter palace The bureaus o f .
the Offi cials and o fficers o n the to p o f the bi ll

are built just outside the walled garden The .
passage between the o fficial residences and

’
O ffi ces and the Sul tan s own quarters in the in
‘ ’
t erio r is ca lled the Mabey n an A rabic word , ,
which means a space between two objects .
I t is for that re ason that the seraglio o f the

S ultan is figurat ively called the Mabey n so that ,
it may be distinguished from those o f other

the army In the palace a highly importan t

.
espio nage and p o li ce bureau is mai ntain e d ,
though the old Mi ni stry o f the P o li ce wi th it s ,
numero us offic ials is s t ill in exi stenc e In th e

, .
palace res ide t hose advi sers t o the Sul t an

whose bus i ness it is to at tend to matt ers
co nnec ted with Mussulman affai rs and to see ,
’
t hat t he Sultan s posi t ion as Caliph in t h e
Mohammedan world is mai ntai ned ; yet the o ld

o ffi ce o f the Sh eikh ul l slamwhi ch th e oreti cally
- -
,
should b e in c harge o f su c h r e ligi o u s matte rs is ,
st ill in exist ence wi th its many o ffi c ial s There

, .
is a poli t i cal and translation departme nt at

Y ildi z whi c h is e ntru sted with the examinat ion
,
o f s uc h o f the co nte nt s o f the poli t i c al press and
poli ti cal li terature o f E urope as may deal with

Turkish m atters and whi ch makes sugge stio ns
,
o n diplomat ic affairs t hough th e s e thi ngs are

,
supposed to be do ne by the M i ni stry o f F oreign

A ffairs at the S u blim e P o r te The postal and .
telegraphic o ffi ce o f Y ildi z Palac e is the greatest

and busiest o f all p o s t o ffi c es in T u rkey
-
A ll .
gov ernors command ers age nts ambassado rs

, , ,
and emi ssaries c om muni cate di rec tly with the

palace through thi s p o s t o ffi ce -
.
The m e n who c o m p o s e the Sultan s imm e di

’
THE I T —
S U B L M E FOR E Y ILD IZ K IO S K 16 1
ate Circle an d who are ruling the country are

, ,
of many natio nalitie s ; some o f them are

E u ropeans A nyo ne who knows the o rigin
.
o f these peopl e w o uld no t h e s i tat e t o agr ee
wi th me whe n I say that in the prese nt reign

the power and rule o f Turk ey is not in the
hands o f real Turks .
H undreds o f o fficial s o ffi cers and retai ners

, ,
actually live on the premises o f the palace O n .
o ne occasio n I saw di nne r being serve d out t o
the household o f the palace N um erous ser .
vants hurried abou t in all direc tio ns carryi ng o n ,
their heads large wooden t rays full o f dish es .
The number o f the chefs and assistant c o oks is

known to be over two hundred The worki ng .
expenses o f the p alac e are ro ughly e stimat ed t o

be somewhere about 16 5 000 a day Thi s .
enormous sum is o f course paid out o f t he

, ,
Sulta n s Civil L i st The revenues o f the Civil

’
.
L ist are very great and they are drawn from

,
many sources . N early all the e sta tes and

farm s o f high value and most o f the fer tile
,
distri c t s in A natoli a and Syria and more ,
especially in t he provi nces o f Baghdad and on

th e P ersian Gul f are now e ntirely at the dis
,
posal o f the Sultan and const i tute the sourc e

,
1I
1 62 !
THE D IA RY O F A TURK
of his private income Moreover as e v e ry

. ,
vestige o f power is nowadays in his hands he ,
c an d raw as much mo ney as he require s fro m
the State ex chequer at the F inance Ministry .
The fixed income o f the sovereign is s up

posed to be 15 a month The Sublime .
Porte had at one time the courage to reduce

it to but as I explai ned before
, ,
th e Porte is now only nominally exi stent .
Fo r the last twenty years or more during ,
which t he revenues o f t he Civil L i st have in

creased e normously the o ffi cials at the head o f
,
th e departme nt have withou t exception been , ,
o f A rmenian nationali ty The first o f t hese .
A rmeni an o ffi cials a c e rtain A gho b Pasha was

, ,
the man who suggested to the Sultan the idea

o f appropriating the property o f the pro mi nent
Mussulmans in the provi nce The Civil L ist is .
never in need o f money as is the public e x ,
chequer o f Turkey yet many offi cials who serve

,
solely fo r the palace and do practically nothing

,
fo r the public wel fare get th eir salaries from the

,
public exchequer The sum which the excheq

.
ue r has t o contrib u te to the fu nd o f the P al ace
espionage system alo ne is estimated to be

a year Besides the expenses o f the
.
C H A PT E R I X .
THE CE RE MON Y OF T HE S ELAM L I K .
The i h
old r g t of a ppeal to the Sultan s perso n a th ing o f
’
the past— He o nl y leaves his palace o nce a week— The

selam lik Religious ceremo nies and the sacred cara
—
van — Its departure for Mecca A m
— ili tary display
A bd ul Ham
- id s o que Its co nvenient proxi m
-
m ’
s — i ty to
the palace—A study in precaution— Dwarfs in th e
palace .
As the S ultan has concentrated all governing

po wer in his o wn palace it might be though t
,
that the palace was the place to which all who

seek fo r justice and the redress o f wrongs would
come This is far from being the case With
. .
the exception o f the spies no o ne can enter any

,
o f t he palace departments unless he can give a
goo d account o f himself and the nature o f his

business .The un fortunate subjects of th e
S ultan who are no t connected with the palace
o ffici al s some way o r other must waste time
1 64
THE C ERE M ONY O F THE S ELA M L IK 165
and mo ney in freque nting the old ministerial

o ffices which are nowadays o nly nomi nally
,
exi ste nt to seek justi ce and t o fi nd redress fo r

,
their cases There is no hope fo r these millions

.
o f u nhappy subjec ts in th e ir appeal U nt il .
about ten years ago a nyone who want ed redress

fo r wro ngs and i njus tice done to him had a
chance how ever sl ender o f appealing to the
, ,
Sulta n personally and this he used to do by

,
forc i ng his way through the crowd and pres e nt

ing a peti t ion to himwhil e he was drivi ng t o
t he mo sque o n the o cc as ion o f t he s e lamlik ,
the o nly t ime when A bd u l H amid ve ntures o u t

- -
o f h is for t i fi ed palac e But there is no w no

.
poss ibili ty o f prese nti ng a p e tition to the Sul ta n ,
as the ceremony o f se lamlik is conducted

differently .
F rom time to time the T u rki sh term selam

lik m ay be s een in the E nglish papers but ,
only those who are fortunate eno ugh to travel

in foreign countries o r t hose whose posi tion
,
affords t hem excep tio nal opportu nities o f ac

quiri ng i nformatio n on matters co nce rning other
lands know what thi s term signi fies The
, .
selamlik is a great military ceremon y which

takes place when the head o f the O ttoman
1 66 THE D IA R Y OF A TURK
empire goes forth from his palace t o a plac e o f

worship wit h pomp and circums tance e v ery
, ,
’
F riday afternoon Selam m eans salutatio n
. ,
and the selam lik is the name given t o t he

milita ry honour rendered t o the soverei gn o n
that occasion .
Besides the usual selamlik t here are fi ve ,
annual occasio ns when the same pagean t tak es

place ; o n th ese occasio ns how ever the c e re , ,
mony is o n a grander scale and the sovere ign ,
meets all civil mili tary religious and legal

, ,
fu nc t io naries o f the S tat e who may at th e t ime

be residing in the capital Two o f t h e s e .
selamliks are held o n two great yearly fest ivals ,
the third o n the fi fteen th o f t he mo nth o f t h e
fast when the whol e body o f Gover nme nt from

, ,
the monarch downwards pays homage to t he ,
relics Of the Prophe t and the fourt h o n t he

,
’
Prophe t s birt hday wh e n the high S t ate dig ui
,
tari es assemble in one o f the great mosques to

liste n to t he choral rec i tation o f the poem o n
the N at ivi ty .The fi fth is o n the day o f t he
sacred caravan wh en a grand pagea nt takes
,
’
plac e to celebrate its start ing Al tho ugh the .
Sul tan doe s no t come o u t he is supposed t o ,
salu te this quaint pro cessio n from the wi ndow o f

The cavalcade is escorted by mounted t roo p s ,
and is followed by an immense crowd It is a .
really picturesque S ight when the long t rai n

mounts the hills o f Y ildi z to proceed to t he
palace ; the road leadi ng to the pal ac e is lined
by the magni fic ent I mpe rial G uards and t he ,
wooded hills o n both sides o f t he roa d are

crowded with a great mul t itude o f lady spec
tato rs clad in cloaks umbrellas and v eils o f
, , ,
every colour imagi nabl e This is an e ntirely

.
Mohammedan gatheri ng and a very orderly ,
one too ; quarrelling or even disputing between

,
i ndividuals is hardly ever to be seen ; profou nd

,
silence prevails among the crowd ; o nly a

m u rmur here and there o f someone prayi ng fo r
’
the success o f the year s pilgrimage is no w and
then to be heard . Afte r Offeri ng a public
pray er in front o f the palace o f the Caliphat e ,
the cavalcade proceeds downward to the shore ,
wh e nc e in a spe c ial boa t it crosses the Bos

, ,
p ho ru s to the A sia t ic side o f the c ity .
In bygone age s thi s cavalcade used to

p ro ceed by land all the way from Sc u tari to
H ijaz but it is now d espatched to Beyro u t by
,
steamer and the real sac red caravan is no t

,
formed till the gi fts reach Damascus whither ,

THE C ER EM ONY O F THE S ELA M L IK 1 69
t hey are brough t under the superi ntende nce o f

a court offi cial who is s tyled the Sorra E m ini ,
that is t o say the l ntendant o f the O fferi ng

,
.
Thousands o f pilgrims await the start ing o f the

carava n from D amascus and go to H ijaz along
,
with it fo r as the caravan is escort ed by t roops

, ,
they are thus securely protected agai nst the

attacks o f the B edoui n briga nds the o nly ,
e nemies o f the harmless and God fearing pil -
g rims . Still , n otwiths t anding this protection ,
there are cases o n record when the sharp and

dexterous Bedoui n thi ef by approachi ng quietly
,
at night and hiding himself behi nd the long

legs o f the camels has succeeded in robbi ng and
,
murdering poor pilgrims and then disappeari ng

,
amid the waves o f sand There are many .
pilgrims who prefer the desert route to the sea

j ourney via Jeddah no t o n account o f any
,
material advantage but S imply that they may

,
suffer greater hardships hOp ing that they will

,
be more highly rewarded by Provide nce fo r ,
they imagine that their recompense will be

proport io nate to the su ffering th ey en dure in
ful fi lli ng th e ir religious duties Thi s is the same
.
spirit whi c h moves many R ussian devotees ,
who when going to Jerusalem do not take the

, ,
t rain from J affa but pre fer walking all the way
,
to the H oly City carry n their sacks and bags

,
o n their shoulders Bes ides these a nnual p ro

.
c essions and the progress o f t he sacred caravan
pro cession there is as I have said the usual

, , ,
ceremony which takes place every F riday

,
.
This ceremony is better known to E uropeans .
The Sultan usually receives the diplomatic

representatives o f the Powers and any foreign ,
digni taries who may happen to be in Constanti

no ple o n a visit after this F riday selamlik
, .
The procession o f the sovereign from the

palace to o ne or other o f the great mosques
every F riday aftern oo n attended wi th an im
,
posing military display is a strictl y observed

,
ancient usage The Sultan must go to the

.
mosque in public unless pr evented by some

urgent matter over which he has no control .
Fo r dynas tic considerations however e ve n s uch ,
urgent matter must if po ssIble be set aside as

, , ,
’
some suspicion as to the Sultan s being no
longer alive might spread among the pOpula
tion and might bri ng about a public restl ess ness
,
no t un fraught with danger and perhaps ,
some revolutionary complications The present .
S ultan is much more careful than any o f his

the m arines and now the battalio ns o f the A na

,
to lian in fantry They form several lin es d e ep

.
along the short road Cav alry regiments ta ke

.
up their posi t ions in two lines just behi nd the

in fantry G endarmes form another li ne at the
.
back o f the horsemen and behi nd them police

,
men stand in group s o f two at every few steps .
Spi e s who may be recogni sed by their

,
treacherous and suspicious appearance wander ,
about in the imm ediate ne ighbourh o od The .
wretched public can nowadays see nothing but

the arrival and the re turn o f the troo ps W o e .
to any educat ed looki ng Y oung Turk who

- -
’
may be suspec ted by these dirty spies o f

attemp ti ng to approach the li nes ! Stude nts o f
the military colleges are ordered no t to go to
the n eighbourhood o f the palace o n that day .
A ll t he o ffi c ers commandi ng these battalio ns

are raised from t he ranks because such ignorant
,
o fficers re cognise no one so sac red after A ll ah

as the Caliph whereas an educat ed and intel
,
ligent o ffi c er might in all probability be a

Young Turk
-
.
’
What goe s on i nsid e the walls form ed by

t he bod ies o f so many t housand arm e d m en ?
When the time approaches fo r the departure

fro m their resi dence in o ne Of the ancien t

palaces cry o ut in chorus
, Become not over
proud my Padishah ; the re is o ne who ru les
,
—
over yo u also that is A llah ! This is o ne o f
the few o ld customs which have bee n prese rved
to the present day The Sulta n remains in his

.
private gallery in the mosque fo r the prayer ,
and from the window he views the march pas t
Of the troo ps and then after twenty mi nutes o r

, ,
so returns to his palace wi t h a little less pomp

, .
N O doubt he feel s v ery happy when he has

returned in sa fe ty to his fort res s palace from
-
,
which he will not issue till the dreaded F riday

comes round once more when he must however
, ,
unwillingly venture o ut again

, .
C H A PT E R X .
’
THE S ULTA N s POL I CY .
Sultan s
’
personal —
po wer The impo rtance of ter
un
rito ries A prés mo i le dé l g e

u — Interested Euro pe
The po o r native C hristians S q ueen bil ity o f the
—
Sultan Every m an ha s hi s r —
p ice Bakhsheesh and
—
deco ratio ns The Sultan s vast ability His favourite
’
—
literature .
THE O bject o f the Sultan in sacrificing so much

money and in making such strenuous efforts to
,
c oncentrate all the ruling power in his o wn
hands is simply that he may satis fy his ex tra

,
ordinary and insat iable lust o f ty ranny To .
gain this end he deceives bri bes and intrigues

, , ,
and to this end also he exiles impri son s and , ,
even makes away with anyone who seems likely
to be an obstacle t o his ambi tion o f abso lutism .
H e has lost the fai rest provinces o f his em pi re

through persisting in carrying o n his ty rannical
17 5
mi l and he will no t mind los ing more in

sru e,
the same man ner so long as there are e nou gh

territori es to keep him goi ng d uri ng h is li fe
time fo r his motto is A prés m
, o i le d él u ge .
”
H e has destroyed all semblance o f perso nal

li berty in the country There c an be no longer
.
any hope o f checki ng his oppression which is ,
beco ming more and more se vere as the years

o by as any united mov e me nt o f opposition is
g ,
impossible among so many commu niti es as are

found in Turkey whos e as piratio ns thoughts
, , ,
and racial te nde ncies are s o wid e ly di ffe re nt .
O n the other hand the F oreign Powers woul d

,
not tolerate the outbreak o f an open revolutio n

in Co ns tantinople whatever the grounds or
,
reason fo r it Some o f them eve n are much

.
interested in as suri ng the exi stenc e o f t he

Sultan s rule and would probably active ly
’
interfere in case o f a movement to up se t it .
Fo r the purpo s e o f T u rkey s ru i n this S u l tan

’
has been much more useful to Russia than all

her great armies o f Cossack s .
There are no w new fac tors in the o ld E ast ern

! ues t io n whi c,h also serve the Sultan well in
times o f political trouble That is there are .
,
certain Powers whi ch are much i nterested in

mighty influence and consequently su bmit t o

,
his autocrat ic will .
There are other Powers which are equally to

’
be con demned fo r conni v ing at the S ultan s
tyran ny F rom time to t ime they hypocritically
.
take up the cause o f this o r that Christia n

population o f Turkey fo r their o wn political
pu rposes an d put pressure upo n the Sulta n
, ,
’
because they know well his squeezabili ty ,
as a L o ndon paper once termed his m ann e r of

receiving pressure I n individuals such co n
.
duct would be regarded as a speci e s o f black

mailing but it is pe rhaps compatible with the
,
political morality o f civilised States The .
conduct o f F rance in the temporary occupat io n

o f Mitylene and o f Italy in making a n in
,
t imidating naval display o ff Tripoli in b o m ,
barding an O ttoman town o n the Red Sea ,
and in forcibly opening I talian post Offi c e s in -
A lbania are the most recent e xamples o f this

,
international morali ty H oweve r Abd ul

.
,
H amid will never be much affect ed by Turkey

havi ng to submit to such indignities so long as
‘
his precious person is left u ntouch ed and his

perso nal rule u nch ecked N ever did a self
.
respecting man carry sel fishn ess so far !

THE S ULTAN S P OL IC Y
’
179
The Sultan has many ways o f making his

person safe against responsibility and reproach .
A mong other things I may mention here his

,
employm ent o f agents o f many nationalities in

E urope who co nstantly wri t e and say nice
,
thi ngs about him E v en his o ft quoted presents

.
-
to o t her O riental digni tari es and his innu mer
able gi fts to E uropeans are offered from the

same calculating motive ; no sentimental gener
o sity could be expecte d from so practical and
selfi sh a man In order to give an idea o f how

.
largely the Sultan employs this method I will ,
and gi ft s . m
say something about the nature o f his presen ts
F ro the mome nt Of his accession
up to the present ti m e Sul tan A bd ul H amid
,
- -
has co nstantly believ ed that he can win the

golden opinions Of the humbler and g ain the
sympathy o f the higher members o f the political
circle s wi th whom he is brought into co ntact
by presen ting them with some sort o f grants
or gi fts I n fact he is fi rmly o f the Opinion
.
,
that everyone has his pric e that every person

,
may be bought if no t always by Offers o f

,
gold then indirectly by ho nours o r gi ft s

, .
I n order to make his Offi c ials submissive he ,
gives some o f them Government appointments

of much higher grade than they really deserve ;

he grants them purses o f bakhsheesh and he ,
d ecorate s th em lavishly To gain som e idea.
o f how much the Sul tan spe nds in k e eping h is
creatures submissive o ne wo uld hav e to pay a

,
visit o f inspection to the Privy Purse D epart

ment at the impe rial palac e o f Y ildiz ; t here
o ne could s ee gr e edy ey e d yet grat ifi ed looking
-
,
-
individuals carryi ng away in white li ne n purses

quantities o f t he pre cious metal s Then if one .
,
glances at the page s o f t he C o nsta ntinople

papers o ne will s ee that doz ens o f unknown
,
and probably u ndeservi ng cre atures are de

co rate d promoted o r else appoi nted t o some
, ,
newly created post s A correspo nden t o f a

.
c ertain F re nch jo ur nal at the Turki s h capital
o nc e cou nted the nu mbers o f o ne part i c ular

orde r distributed that call ed S izef ekat N iséa ni
, ,
which like many oth er d ecorations has bee n

, ,
created by the prese nt S u lta n and is given to ,
ladies o f di st i nc t ion whether O ttoman or

,
fore ign .A ccording to the F ren chman s ’
recko ni ng abou t twenty fi v e thousand gi fts

,
-
o f thi s order hav e b ee n mad e up t ill now .
The old Tu rkish ord ers o f the M etijiazelz and ’
Osm au i elz are nowadays being so freely dis

Minister fo r example speak favourably o f h is

, ,
Majesty s rule by conferring o n him so m e

’
order set with brilliants o r by quietly offering

,
him a big bakhsheesh ? Certainly no t But .
the Sultan has an unshakable belie f in th e

wisdom o f an A rab proverb which says , ,
Man is the slave o f favours and so if he ,
cannot offer mon ey or deco rations he will ,
request the acceptance o f som e ke epsake with ,
a hypocri t ical affability peculiar to himself .
The presents o f the Sultan vary o f c ourse , ,
both in quality and quantity D ecorations set .
in brilliants gold snu ff boxes cigarette cases

,
-
,
-
and holders watch e s i ni tialled and ornamented

,
with pre c ious stones magni fi ce nt A rab horses

, ,
richly worked O rie ntal swords daggers and , ,
pistols from the imperial Tre asury which was ,
most sacredly preserved i ntact by all the former

Sultans o f the H ouse o f O sman : such thi ngs
form the greater part o f the gi fts sent to
E uropean pote ntates and notabiliti es O thers .
are made in the imperial facto ries .
A mong the great personage s who ge t

presents from the Sultan the German ,
Emperor is the most highly favoured Be .
s ide s having received numerous and valuable

THE S ULTAN S P OL IC Y 1 83
’
k eepsakes during his two visits to the O ttoman

c apital the K aiser gets from time t o time A rab
,
h orses and O bjects o f the rarest E astern skill

a nd art . The Emperor o f Russia also receives
re sents from the Sul tan every no w and then
p ,
b ut his R ussi an Majest y is generous in sen ding
p resents t o the Sultan in ret urn A summer .
mansion o n the Bosphorus was given by the

S ultan to the Prince o f Montenegro about ten
y ea rs a
g o and, a ste am yacht which was built
-
,
in the State dockyards on the Golden H orn ,
was recently sent to the Adriatic fo r the use o f

the same pet ty ruler L ord S al isbu ry received
.
some two years ago a very large and m a nifi

g
c ent vase which was brought to E ngland by a
,
special aide de camp o f the Sultan and was

- -
,
presented to the P rime Mi nister by the late

Turkish A mbassador .
Whether these various devices had any

real effect or no the Sultan has certainly
,
succeeded in attai ning the object he desired ;

he still remains o n his throne and his power ,
is absolute This alone when one reflects

.
,
upon the history o f the reign o f the present

Sultan makes one fully admit that he is a man
,
o f vast ability H is ability has however been

.
, ,
productive solely o f evil If he were a good

.
as well as an able man his country wo uld be

,
powerful and prosperous H is i ndi ffere nc e to

.
insults and hatred his calm ness in deali ng with

,
di ffi cult ies o f the most perplexi ng kind and ,
his tenaci ty o f purpo se are remarkable Un .
like many o f his predecessors he is not much ,
under the influe nc e o f wome n ; no r do es he care

fo r their compa ny though he s till mai ntai ns in
,
his palace the o ld system o f the harem with ,
its numerous i nmates and slaves possibly only ,
fo r the purpose o f impre s si ng the u ncu ltivat ed

sec t ion o f his subjects wi th the sigh t o f ba rbaric
spl endour . His ph enome nal shrewdne ss is

shown by his maki ng the Mussulmans believ e
that the mi sfortu ne s e ndure d by Turke y under
his caliphate are e nt irely due to the hostile
i nterferen c e o f graspi ng E urope wi th Turkis h
affairs. To E uropea ns o n the other hand
, ,
he often s ucceed s in c o nv eyi ng the impre ssion

that the people in who se name he rules are
incapabl e o f appreciating the value o f p ro
res siv e and c o nsti t u t i o nal governme nt a nd
g ,
in order to jus ti fy thi s he puts eve ry obs t acl e

,
in the way o f the ir maki ng progress in i ndustry ,
scienc e and literature Sul tan A bd ul H amid

.
- -
,
THE S ULTA N S P OL IC Y
’
185
al though he has played so notabl e a rOle in the

pre servatio n o f his o wn p e rsonal sov ereig nty ,
is a man o f but poor educational attai nm e n ts .
It is said by tho se who k now him well that

before his acce ssio n he was considered far
i nfe rior to the o th e r royal pri nces o f his house
in at t ai nme nts and cul t u re I n spi t e o f this
.
drawback he has fo r over twenty six years

,
-
shown himsel f superior to all Opposition ,
rivalry and attack

, .
There is no dou bt that he works harder than

any m an in Turkey ,and that he reads and
makes his secretari e s read to him a great deal

but what he reads pri ncipal ly co nsists o f the
report s o f his spies and age nts which pour in
,
in hu ndreds e very day . B eside s these his ,
favouri te lit e rature which is tra nslated from

,
many languages and read aloud t o him is ,
composed o f biographies and historical sketches

o f the despo t ic sovereig ns o f the world and
th e ir doi ngs and also o f their e nemies so that

, ,
he is i nteres ted in accounts o f the organisation

o f secr e t s oc ieties and co nspiracies . H e is
also passionately fo nd o f all ki nds o f d etective
s tories
.
C HA PT E R X I .
THE S T R U GG LE W I T H YOUN G -
TU RK EY .
The Sul tan s

’
oppo nents— His manner of dealing with them
— The h m
u anity o f Europe — A ttem pts o n the
’
—
S ultan s life Lack of organisati o n in Y o ung Turk ey -
A efuge fo r the refo rm

r ers in England — The short
lived Parliam ent suppressed by the S ul tan— Oppo si ti o n
o f English Russo p hiles to Turkish schem es o f refo rm

—
What Young Turkey wanted Persecution o f Y oung
-
Turks A long t l e of vi cti m

— a s— Th e po ssibili ty of a
IN spite o f all the measures taken by the S ultan

to preserve his perso nal rule he has m et at
,
times with serious opposi t ion from a section o f

his Turkish subjects the only people in Turkey
,
who see the state o f affairs clearly and can read

the signs o f their country s decade nc e They
’
.
understand that amo ng the p eoples o f the

,
O ttoman empire the Turkish race in whose

, ,
name the misrule o f a cosmopolitan Palace

1 86
who was ng at Lucerne and requested him

stayi ,
no t to go to I ta ly becau se the Gover nm

, ent o f
that cou nt ry wished to be o n good t erms wi t h
the S ultan ; and this was at a time when I taly
was m aking an intimidati ng naval S how in the
A lbanian and Tripolitan waters I t is an open .
secret that the Sultan s representatives have ’
often approached some E u ropean F oreign

O ffi ce s with the promise o f concessions to be
granted o n condition that the T urkish refugees in
their territories were handed over to the Sultan ,
o r at any ra te expelled across the frontiers .
Y et in spi te o f his u ni form success in the

,
st ruggle with his Turkish subjects the Sultan ,
has more than once bee n face t o face wi t h

imminent danger owing to the efforts o f this
party The most dari ng o f th e se attempts was
.
made by a c ertai n S uav i E ffe ndi whose name ,
I mentioned before who was a very cultured ,
as well as courageous member o f the Ulem a
class and was one o f the organi sers o f the once

,
powe rful Y oung Turkish movement -

S uav i .
Effendi was in L ondon about thirt y fi v e years -
ago fi nding it safer to print here the poli t ical

,
literature o f the moveme nt to be smuggled in to

Turkey but before the fall o f the late Sultan
,
S TRU GG LE W ITH YOUN G TURKEY
- 1 89
he went back to Constantinople and was ,
engaged in educatio nal and journal istic work .
Soon after the accession o f A bd ul H amid - -

,
S ue vi collected a band o f some hundreds o f

d e sperate refugees who had flocked into the
,
capital from the provinces which were lost as

t he consequence o f the Russo Turkish W ar -
,
and wi th them he attacked the Sultan s palace ’

.
B efore however they could release the ex

, ,
S ultan Murad from his ca p tivity to be rei n ,
stated in his place they were overtaken by

,
t he guards in the pal ace garden and after , ,
a fearful struggl e S uav i and most o f his fo l

,
lowers perished The m ere rus tic private

.
who is credited wi th having cu t S uav i E ffendi

himsel f dow n is no w the all powerful H assan -
Pas ha the present head o f t he police guarding

,
those quarters o f the capi tal whic h border o n

Y ildiz K iosk H e is a man o f great physical
.
strength and ferocity Most men who are .
denounc ed as bei ng Young T u rkish adhere nts -
are hand ed over to him before being sent

into exil e and terrible tale s are related about
,
his beating the priso ners The Sultan not

.
long ago con ferred o n him the rank o f a

F iel d Marshal fo r his l o yal service though ,
H assan is so ignorant that he cannot eve n w ri te

his o wn name .
A nother attempt to depose the Sultan was

made some twenty years ago by a Circas sian
caval ry regiment which was quartered near
Y ildiz K iosk The m e n o f the Circassia n
.
regiment who evidently had lady friends in the

,
harem o f the palace laid a plot agai nst A bd ul

,
-
H ami d They also fai led at the last moment

.
in their attempt and the regiment speedily and

,
mysteriously disappeared The las t projec ted .
attempt o f a serious nat ure was reporte d to
have been nearly carried o u t d uring the

A rmenia n troubles A t that time the door o f
.
the Sultan s room was guarded by two K urds

’
and these men w ere the disciples o f a religious

order which prescribes to it s followers a sel f
sac rifi c ing d evo tion t owards their sheikhs or
chie fs The sheikh o f thi s order who was won

.
,
over by the adhere nts o f the Reform Par ty ,
explai ned to his t wo K urdi sh followers the t rue

charac ter o f the man who occupi ed the o ffi ce o f
the caliphate and according to the same re
, ,
port they both bound themselves by an oath

,
to get rid o f him when their t urn came to guard
his room F ate was however again on the

.
, ,
p e rhaps known to few that the fi rst O tto m an

reformer was a member o f the fi rst O tto m an
’
diplomatic mission to the Court o f St J am es s .
A gah E ffendi the fi rst Turki sh A mba ss ador

,
who was accredi t ed in E ngland some hundred ,
years ago was accompanied by a you ng m

,
an
named Ra if Mahmud E ffendi who ac ted as

-
,
his private secretary This young s ec retary .
remained in E ngland many years and dev o ted

himse lf t o the s tudy o f scient i fi c subj ects ,
more especially geography and aft erwards ,
published a t ranslat ion o f an E ngli sh atlas in t o

Turkish the fi rst ever prepared in that langu age
, .
While in E ngland Mahmu d E ffe ndi u sed t o ,
send reports to the Sublime Porte o n the form s

o f admi nis t rat io n and sys t em o f governme nt in
thi s c ountry Whe n Sul tan Mahmud 11 came

. .
to the thro ne the you ng dipl o mat ist was in

,
v it ed t o Co ns ta nti nopl e to assis t in t he work o f
re organi si ng t he admi nis t ration ; but d uring

o ne o f t he fanat ic al ou t burs t s whi c h pr e ced e d
th e ext erm i natio n o f t he Janissary corps this ,
fi rs t mode rni sed s ta tesman o f Turk ey was

accused o f be i ng a man o f broad vi ews and ,
’
killed in a m ‘
elee The seeds o f reform s own
’
by him however were no t e ntirely d es troye d ;

, ,
S TRU GG LE W ITH YOUN G TURKEY -
19 3
and it was chiefly owi ng to the work o f the

later Turkish state sme n who followed his ,
example in reorganisi ng the syst em o f their

country that the famous H att i Sheri f or fi rst
,
-
,
reform charter o f the O ttoman empire was ,
drawn up and with the assista nce o f the

, ,
friendly Powers proclaim ed

, .
A s I said before it is no t correct to call the

,
O ttoman empire a part o f the unchangi ng

E ast ; Turkey has se en many esse ntial changes
’
duri ng the last century though no t always ,
fo r the better Shortly after his access io n to

.
the throne the late Sul tan A bd ul A ziz at

,
- -
tempted to disregard the newly established

statutes o f the e mpire and to rule in a mos t
,
unconsti tutional fashio n I ns tead o f following

.
the constitutional methods o f the cou ntry which

had previously contribut ed to the con solidat ion
o f his empire he adopted the absolutism o f
,
the Russian autocracy and a Pal ace Party ,
was formed to combat the th en growi ng

national liberali sm The yo u ng re formers o f
.
that period ventured to cri ticise veh emently

the arbitrary co ndu ct o f the S ul tan ani his
advisers . But the country was not su ffi cie ntly
educat ed to give them support so their ,
13
remonstrances were severely puni shed by the

Governmen t Some o f the leaders were im
.
pri soned in d i fferent citadels throughout the

empire but o thers managed to escape to
,
E urope Som . e o f these fugi t ives settled in

L ondon It is now more t han thirty years
.
since an active movement fo r reform was started

‘
by the Y oung Turks as they were the n fi rst
-
,
’
styled . The reformers published pamphlets

and journals in E ngland an d sent t hem o u t to ,
’
Turkey by means u nknown to the Sultan A z iz s
o ffi cials Being men o f l etters o f rec og nised
.
abili ty they co nt ributed co nsiderably by t h eir

,
wri t ings to the enlightenmen t o f public Opinion

in their cou ntry and did a good deal fo r the
,
cau se o f educat io n among t h eir countrymen .
The effe c ts o f their agitation began to be felt

by the Palace Party and the corrupt o ffi cials o f
the old school in the Sublime Porte .
A bo ut the begi nni ng o f the un fortu nate reign

o f the pre sent S u lta n the r eformers fou nd so
,
many adherents among the educated classes o f

the people as well as in the army that A bd ul
, ,
-
H amid tho ugh t it imperative to promise to

M idhat Pasha the chief reformer that imm e
, ,
diately a fter his coronation he would proclaim

p olitic a l fri end s however , never rea lly s y m ,
pa t h ise d with the attempts to es tablish suc h a
governm ent in Turkey The late D uke o f

.
A rgyll sai d in o ne o f his books o n E as tern

,
matters , We in E ngland laughed at their

”
consti tutio n . A s a matter o f fact these ,
politicians o f E ngland wanted reforms o nly

fo r the Christian subjects o f the empire .
Thus after t he Russo Turkish war t he

,
-
,
country was no t able to give material support

to the R eform
’
Party while o n the other
, ,
hand this party rec eived no effective support

,
from the well wish e rs o f the O ttoman empire

-
in E ngland The Y ildi z junta took full adv an

.
tage o f this made the constitution a dead let ter

, ,
g o t ri d o f the most power ful and most ho nest

reformers by sending them as governors or
mere exiles to distant provinces and established ,
a bureaucratic au thori t y o f t he most i ntolerably
oppressive kind the misrule o f which has

,
caused the O ttoman empire irreparable harm .
In the hOp e o f preven t i ng the formation o f an

Oppo si tion party A bd ul H ami d began to s tir
,
- -
up the o ld religious and rac ial hatreds which ,
were then al m ost dead among the various ,
nationalities o f the empire and to crush every ,

S TRU GG LE W ITH Y O U NG TU RK EY 1 97
sort o f industrial e nergy and collective enter

pri se Of the people H e further threatened .
private property more espec ially o f the reform

,
adherents with co nfi scatio n o n t he slight est

,
e xcuse . In spite however o f fi e ndish and

, ,
system atic persecu tio n o f t he reformers and

their followers the Sultan has never succeeded
,
in e nt irely stampi ng o u t the re form movement .
H e was to o lat e in his attempt to suppress

educat ion and the spread o f Western learning
,
among the Turkish peopl e has brought about

the dissemination o f the id eas o f W estern
E urope as to the l egi timate liberty o f the
peopl e and the responsibility o f the govern
me nt ; hence disco nt ent among the more
,
thought ful o f the commu ni t y has steadily gone

o n i ncreasing .
A bout the begi nni ng o f the A rmeni an revolt

there was an e nergetic revival o f the reform
agi ta tion . The would be reformers earnest ly -
tried to up set the misrule o f the Sultan

A bd ul H amid They wanted a brave Sultan
- -
.
to rule ov er a brave people ; they wan ted an

honest sovere ign not an intriguer clever
, ,
e nough when his personal safety is concerned ,
but o th erw ise a l unatic who has shut himsel f ,

up in his fo rtified palace fo r the last six and -
twenty years ; they wanted a worthy Ca liph ,
who would impre ss the Mohamm edan worl d

with the fact that as a Mohammedan power
Turkey had a respectabl e position amo ng the
civilised powers o f E urope ; they wanted a
responsible Turkish Minist ry not a cosmopolitan
,
clique o f adventurers whose mis rule brought the

,
very name o f the Turkish nation into co ntempt .
Persecution o f some twe nty fi v e thou sand Y oung

-
Turkish adherents did no t prove su ffi cie nt to

suppress this movement There fore the Sultan
.
had to devise further ingenious means fo r

bringing it to naugh t . Many o f his spies
fl ed to E urope as t hough they were Young
Turks and joined the di fferent Young Turkish
,
-
committees ; they reported secretly everything

they discovered co ncerning them to the S u ltan ,
and tried to sow discord among the members .
A S most o f the fugi t ives depended fo r th e ir

livelihoo d o n their resources in Turkey t he ,
Sultan succeeded in driving them in to the

utmost destitutio n by c u tti ng o ff these resources .
Meanwhile his emissaries came forward with

large sums o f money and with promises o f
appointments in Gover nm ent O ffices to induce
,
C H A PT E R X I I .
EN G LA N D AN D T HE CA LIPH AT E .
A bd l Ha
-u - mid u
’
s se Of power as Caliph—W hat the
his
l m thi nk
Mos e s o f h im— B ri ti sh Mo ham medan subjects
— The val idi ty of th e Otto m an c lai ms to th e Ca li phate
— The m istaken policy o f B ri tish S tatesm en in o ppo sing
'
them Danger o f alienati ng th e M o ham

— medan world
The errors o f Engli sh wri ters .
T HE RE can hardly be found in the histor y o f

nations a more fortunate tyrant than the auto
erat o f Y ildi z K iosk B esides all the circum
.
stances I have noted A bd ul H amid has at his

,
- -
back the authority o f the Caliphate which he ,
can whe n he C hoo ses

, inge niously employ fo r
,
his own e nds The d evotio n o f the Mussul

.
ma ns o f Turkey and the respect o f orthodox

Mohammedans o f other countries fo r the Caliph
are very great and becoming greater eve ry
,
day . A s a matter o f fact the at tachmen t ,
200
EN G LAND AND THE C AL IP HATE 20 1
of Mohamm edans is to the o ffi ce o f the Caliph

rather than to his perso n and according to the
,
qualities necessary fo r the m an who holds it a ,
true Caliph must be a perfect specimen o f

humanity If he cannot fulfi l the prescribed
.
condi t ions o f the I slamic religious law that law ,
orders the faith ful to depose him and justifies ,
the election o f a prope r Caliph Th e re are no t

.
lacking in the history o f I slam in stances in which

the Caliph has b ee n deposed solely on these
religious grounds I t is almost impossible fo r

.
th ese people to comprehe nd that the present

Sultan does not possess any o f these good
qualities and is therefore quite unworthy o f his
,
o ffi ce . The Sultan employs subtle methods

that he may pose before the Mohammedans as
the true Caliph and the sole champio n o f the
I slamic c ause and spe nds imme nse s ums o f

,
money fo r the same purpose I n reali ty how

.
,
ever he should be known as the worst e nemy

,
o f I slam as no Moslem ruler has ever brought

,
by his mi sdeeds so much sh ame upon his fai th

as he has A nyo ne who has observed his
.
career closely knows that his actio ns are

diametrically opposed to the principles o f the
Mus sulm an law and creed But it is the
.
202 THE D IA RY OF A TURK
hardest thing in the world to make Moslems

understand this . Those in Turkey are jus t
beginning to understand what he really is ,
but outs i de Turkey he is held in blind ven era

tion by all Moslems . A n E nglishman who,
had great experie nce o f the E ast and who

,
follo wed the Prince o f Wales d uring his tour

ro und the Colonies told me that the further
,
o u o aw ay from T u rkey the great er is t he

y g
i nfluence o f the Sultan among the followers o f
I slam.
I n pursuance o f my remarks o n the way in

which the Sultan makes use o f the influence o f
the Caliphate fo r his personal ends it may ,
perhaps be of some interest if I make some

general remarks o n the Caliphate and the infl u
,
ence o f the Caliph among the Mussul m ans o f

the world I t must be remembered that Great
.
Britain has under her rule o r protection a

very large number o f the followers o f I slam .
Some authorities say that her Moslem sub

c ts are fiv e t imes as many as those who
j e
belong to Turkey itself I t follows that this

.
immense Mohammedan population in Grea t

’
Britain s E astern domi nions will some day
prove o f the highe st importan ce in determining
204 THE D IA RY OF A TURK
Britain and
, they read or hear many o f th e
so
hostile sentiments published and utte red in

England against the O ttoman Caliphate and ,
become suspicious and irritated In fact the .

,
more this hostili ty is displayed the closer ,
will become the attac hme nt o f the Moslem

subjects Of E ngland t owards the O ttoman
Caliphate Such alienation o f feeling which
.
,
is at prese nt latent will be anything but favour

,
able fo r E ngland in case o f in te rnational

complicat ions in some part o f the O rien t .
There are E uropean Powers who may take

advantage o f it and use it again st the interests
,
o f the British Gover nm e nt The speech o f

.
the K aiser delivered at D am as cus mus t still
be fresh in the memo ry o f many people I t .
was certainly wi th the object o f i ncreasing the

i nflue nce o f his country in the E ast that he said
that he would sta nd side by side wi th the head o f
three hu ndred millio n Mohammedans A highly .
co nne c ted R ussia n once told m e that during

’
! uee n Victoria s reign Grea t Bri t ai n waged over

fi fty di ffere nt wars small and great and added
, ,
that most o f these wars were carried o n against

Moh ammedan peoples in di fferent parts o f A sia
and Africa in order to crush their i nde pendenc e
,
E NG LAND A ND THE C AL IP HA TE 26 5
and take their countries Very likely he used.
t o relate t his to other compat riots or co religion -
ists o f mi ne whom he m et so that the idea ,
became popular and would add t o the belief

,
that Great Britain is the worst enemy o f the

cause o f I slam. Suppo si ng that the f anati
!
cismo f the Moham medans u nder our rule were

stirred up by Turkey what could they do ?
,
a proud Ji ngo once asked me at a time when ,
som e persons were urgi ng L ord Salisbury to

s end the British flee t ove r t he mountains o f
As ia Mi nor to avenge the A rm enian wro ngs .
”
!
We could put them dow n added this J i ngo , ,
with an increased air o f proud confide nce any ,

!
tim e and anywhere Y es in the E as t we

.
,
know E ngland s migh t and we all admire

’
the E nglishman s great t e nacity in de fe nce o f

’
the in t e rests o f his c ou nt ry But there are .
in s ta nces in history o f small and backward

natio ns havi ng infli cted irreparable damage o n
migh ty Powers and Mussulmans will no t
,
—
always fight if it should u nfortunately ever , ,
—
come to fighting wi th spears and m edi ae val
weapons . They will no t easily be extermin
ated or subjugated ; nor is it true that the
Mohammedans will ever be wo n over by
THE D IARY OF A TURK
conv ersion as the miss i o naries assert Th es e

,
.
millions o f Mohammedans will continue t o

exist and some day t here will certainly be a
,
general awakening among them which wil l ,
make the adoption o f modern methods and

means o f war imperat ive I do no t imagi ne.
tha t it would be to Turkey s interest to al i e na te

’
Great Britain by att empting to stir u p her

Moslem subjects and I am sure t hat when
,
once the pres ent regim e is over ev e ryone in ,
Turkey will heart ily welco m e the re establish -
ment o f E ngland s prestige There is the re

’
.
,
fore no sound reaso n fo r t he attitude o f

,
malignant jealousy towards the O ttoman

Caliphate which some E nglishmen have
chosen to adopt It seems to me th at past
.
ge nerations o f Bri t i sh states men must hav e

had sounder statesmanlike qualities than the
present generatio n fo r they used to benefi t
,
their coun try by the influenc e o f that Caliphate .
Fo r i nstance duri ng the earlier periods o f

,
the co nq uest o f I ndia the E nglish rept e

,
sentat iv e in Turkey request ed t he Porte to
use its good o ffi ces in the court o f c ertain

Mohammedan ru lers o f I ndia in favour o f his
country .
legi slato r would no t S how partiality toward s

his o wn family and people by restricting t o
them the privilege o f being his Caliphs .
A ccording to his doctrine community o f fai t h ,
is tantamount to commu ni t y o f race and he ,
founded a perfect democratic equali t y b e

tween his followers whatever their race o r
,
colour and called them all o m

, metee that is ,
’
’
my nation . A Caliph there fore need no t, ,
necessarily be a desce ndant o f the Prophet .
Besides he le ft no male issue ; and accordi ng

,
to the Moslem law female issue has not the

,
right o f successio n the Caliph being a temporal

,
and no t a spiritual head .
A no ther strong argument is the length o f

time fo r which the O ttoman sovereigns have
held the title o f Caliph This title was fi rst
.
as sumed b y the O tt omans during th e conquest
o f E gypt b y S ul tan Selim I in 1 5 1 7 A D whe n . . .

,
t he k eys o f the sacr ed places o f Mec ca and
M edina were handed over to him at Cairo by a

deputation whi ch came from H ijaz expressly t o
acc ept him as Caliph F rom that mome nt up till
.
no w the O ttoman sovereigns have uni nte rrupt
edly hel d the title and have been the guardians

,
o f the stan d ar d o f Mohamme d The p ro .

E N G L A N D A ND THE C AL IP HATE 26 9
v inces o f M e cca and Medina have ever since

that t ime formed an integral part o f the
O ttoman empir e A Caliph must be an
.
independent ruler and must in particular be

,
ruler over those holy places I t would

.
certainly never do if an A rab were appoi nted

as the spiritual head o f I slam by a Power o f
alien fai th. Such mischievous suggestio ns are
merely an expression o f the political ho stili ty
which is often shown by some individ ual s in
E ngland to the Turkish Caliphate A n ultra .
pa triotic evening paper once s aid that there
could not be a be tter Caliph than the Briti sh

”
Raj . To make the Mussulma ns recognise the
British Raj as the supreme religious head o f
.
’
their community is as impossible and ridiculous

as to attempt to convert this country to I slam .
If Englishmen are really pat riotic in guardi ng

d promoting the interests and prestige o f their
country in the I slamic world they should no t
,
attack the O ttoman C aliphat e but make goo d

,
use o f its influence Such a suggestion as I

.
have quoted would not appear to the Moslem

mind to be a friend s advice as the ge neral
'
tende ncy amo ng the Mohammedan s is to

strengthen the posi t ion o f the existing Cali
14
phate This tendency is becoming so evident

.
that some Conti nental journals have al rea dy

believed it to be the result o f Pan I s lamic
-
organisation though in reality there is no s uc h

,
o rgani sation
.
212 THE D IARY OF A TU R K
began to suspe ct t hat my movements were

being shadowed by s ome mysterious individu als ,
tho ugh I could hardly be s ure I in form e d my .
E nglish friend the late correspondent o f the

,
Tim es t hat I had reaso n to fea r that the S pies

,
were after me and that I thought the time had

,
come to carry out my old intention o f goi ng to

E ngland H e agreed wi th me as to the ad
.
visability o f my ge tti ng out o f Turkey but h e ,
warned me that u nless I secured some mea ns

Of livelihoo d be forehand it was a most ri s ky
,
matter to give up my work my hopes and ,
probable chances at home an d go over t o ,
a count ry which was absolutely foreign to me .
A strong presentiment however possessed my

, ,
mind that I should sooner o r later be added

, ,
to the list o f the vi c tims o f the prevaili ng
t yranny . Taking advantage o f the approach o f

the summer vacatio n I thought it would be
,
better at least to go away fo r some little

time from Constanti nople My E nglish frie nd .
recommended me t o the director o f the then

newly opened A natolian railways and he gave ,
me a first class free ticket to A ngora which I

-
,
had no t seen fo r seve ral yea rs A few days later .
I crossed over the harbour o f Constanti nople to

A LA S T V IS IT TO A S IA M INOR 213
the A siatic shore and from the H aidar Pasha

,
termi nus I took t he t rai n which carried me

away at once towards the heart o f A sia Minor .
The distance betwee n H aidar Pasha and

A ngora is shorter I should say than between
, ,
L ondo n and Glasgow yet the express trai n

,
takes two whole days to cover it The German .
Railway Company does no t seem generous in

affordi ng facilities to the people o f the count ry ,
and the customs o ffi cers and the rough in

spectors employed by the Tobacco Régie
Company ! one o f the E uropean compa nies )
give the traveller an intolerable amou nt o f
trouble by seizing and exami ni ng his belongi ngs
at di ffere nt places o n the journey The train .
stops wh en it has go ne hal f way on the fi rst

-
e ve ni ng
, as it is no t allowed to run at night .
The traveller s inland passport is examined and

’
he himsel f is subj ect ed t o a perfect inquisi t io n

o f questionings first in t he capital
, again on ,
the fi rst night and fi nally o n th e second night

, ,
when he reaches his d esti nation .
Wh en the A natolian li ne was fi rst construct ed

as far as A ngora the ge neral belief in the
,
country was that the long projected trunk line

from the O ttoman capital to the Persi an Gul f
wo uld pass through A ngora This has no t .
been the case and the main li ne changes

,
its course at E ski Sh ehir which is si tuated

-
,
hal f way between the capital and A ngora and

-
,
runs to the south towards K onia ! a nci en t

,
Iconium ) I t is no doubt wi thi n the recollectio n

.
o f many people that the scheme o f short e ning
and facilitating communication between E urope

and the nearer E ast and I ndia by const ructi ng
a great line over A siatic Turkey was fi rs t
projected by E nglish engi neers supported by ,
the Bri tish Government This ente rpris e ho w

.
,
eve r could no t be realised The Germans

, .
,
ever ready to sei z e all commercial and p olitical

ground lost by the E nglish in the neare r
E ast t ook the matter into their o wn hands
, ,
and are no w going to have the control o f

what should have been e ssentially the British
route to India through the fri endly O ttoman
e mpire I do no t know whether the possession
.
o f this line by Germans is a lo ss to E ngland ,
but it is really a loss fo r my count rymen that

thi s e nt e rprise should no t have b ee n in the
hands o f an E ngli sh company be cause th ey are ,
aware that in d eali ng with the E nglish there is

a fair possibili ty o f mu tual be nefit ; while in
fi rs t came to the ci ty I was part icularly

.
surprised that the grea t time worn sto nes o f the

-
anci ent citadel should hav e been so monst rously

dis figu red by a vulgar coat o f whitewash The .
governor was a certain A bideen Pasha and he ,
is now the Vali o f t he Turkish A rchipelago .
H e is an A lbanian by birth an d was fi rst ,
educated in A thens H e can write poem s in

.
ancient Greek and is k nown to be a linguist

,
and scholar H e had been governor o f A ngora

.
fo r se veral years yet he had don e almost

,
nothing to improve the condition o f the

province I n ot her cou ntries such a man would
.
p erhaps have been given a pro fessorial chair in

some educational i nst itution but he wo uld ,
hardly have been put in a responsi ble govern

m ent post which requires pra ctical administrat iv e
capac i ty
. Turkey canno t expect ben eficial
reforms from suc h learned theorists any more ,
than from the ignora nt i ncapable offi cial s who

are st ill e ntrusted by the Palace with the ad
mi nist ration o f many o f the important
provinces .
S o me years had elapse d between my last t rip

and t he presen t o ne i nt o A sia Minor and ,
d u ring this period I found that serious changes

A LA ST VIS IT TO A S IA M INOR 217
had taken place in the state o f the interior .
A mong other things the number o f useless ,
o ffi cials se nt by the central Gove rnme nt had

i ncreased alarmi ngly to the detrim ent o f the
,
i nhabitant s o f the provinces F or instance .

,
there is no piece o f land in A ngora which could

properly be called forest yet a D epartment o f ,
Wood s and F orest s had been created the re ;

direc tors sub directors and several subordinate
,
-
,
o ffi c ials had bee n sent o ut by the central

government and in connection with t his offi ce
,
new ta xes and unaccust om ed laws had bee n

imposed upon the inhabitants The fact is .
that in order to show the Powers that it had

,
been i ntroducing reforms the Governm ent o f ,
the Sultan had adopted amo ng oth er laws the

F re nch regulat ions relati ng to the management
o f forests ,and a ne w depart me nt had been
created in Co nstant inople This central d epart .
me nt had ope ned branch o ffi ces in all vi layets

o r coun t i e s and many Palac e favourites were
,
s ent to t he m as forest o ffi cial s wi thout regard ,
to the circumstan ces that in som e vilayets t here

was no t an acre whi ch could be cons id ered
fores t land In ord e r to crush local influ ence
.
in the governme nt o f the provi nces the admin ,

istrative councils o f the towns o n which t he ,
notabilities and religious heads Of all c o m

munities in each locality Mussulman and no n ,
Mussulman sit ex Offi c io in company with the

,
o fficials o f the Sultan s Government were dis ’
co uraged from atte nding meet ings .
S uch events as would occasion the gatheri ng

o f large crowds were either prohi b ited or re
stric ted after the c us t om o f the capital

, He .
who is a t raitor is also a cowar said the

Prophet and A bd ul H amid who has caused
,
- -
,
irreparable harm to Turkey is afraid that s uch ,
gat herings might be the prelude to a general

uprising I will mention here two things
.
which used to cause great m asses o f people to

collect O ne was a wedding entertainment
.
,
’
and the o t her the war game o f jer eea The - .
restriction o f the former to a simple r form

was according to the reasons op enly give n
,
’
fo r it one o f the Sulta n s so called pat ernal
’
-
,
measures I t was alleged to be nec essary

.
because people on su ch occasions indulged in

ruinous expenses and thus fell into the ha nds
,
o f the A rm e nian and o t her money lenders and -

,
became victims o f t h eir ext ortions A s a matter .
o f fact to m aintai n a wi fe is not an expe nsive

,
fact the only music o f the humbler class o f

people and peasants The old nat io nal game .
o f jer eea which used to att ra c t an imme nse

’
,
crowd o f s pectators was I learn ed on this , ,
v i s it also prohibi t ed in A ngora This game

, .
pipes on the fi rst ldo mthat he gets

hearing , and it is se
tired Of them Of co urse there is m. u c h si m ilari ty bo th in

the so und and in the m anner o f playi ng between bagpi pes
and a certain po pular Oriental instrum ent wh ic h is played
mostly by Turks Arabs Kurds and Armenians Altho ugh

th e to ne and th e style o f playing th i s Oriental i nstrum
, , , .
ent
resem ble those o f the bagpi pes so much there is co nsider

ab le difi erenc e in the fo rmand m
,
ake The bag o f th is

'
instrum ent wh i c h is call ed to o lo o m is m ad e fro m a sh eep s

’ ’
sk i n ; besides the sm
,
all m
,
o uthpi ece there is o nly o ne large
reedpipe fro mwh ic h the no tes are Ob tai ned and wh ic h thus ,
replaces the c hanter and th e three d ro nes o f its H igh land
c o unterpart The player plac ing the blown up sheepski n

.
,
-
agai nst his c hest and suppo rting it by th e upp er part o f his
,
left armm o ves h is fi ngers up and do wn o ver the ho les in
As a m
,
the larger pi pe atter o f fac t the so und o f thi s
instrument lik e m
.
,
, uc h o ther Ori ental m usic appears to ,
Euro p ean li steners d ull and di scordant b ut it pl eases the ,
uncultivated taste o f the o rdi nary Ori ental s A t the po pular

mo n thing to see many peo ple middle
.
fetes it is a very co m ,
aged as well as yo ung danci ng to g ether in a c irc le while

, ,
pipe and drumfi ll the air with ceaseless clamo ur It is

diffi cul t to trace the o riginal ho me o f this instrum
.
ent It .
may be co nj ec tured that it was bro ught fro mth e West by the
perso ns who went to the East with the Crusaders o r it may
have been co p ied fro mt hemwi th certai n m
,
o di fi cati o ns in
,
fo rmby th e Eastern peo p les

,
.
thing to avoid being hit by the sticks and in ,
order to avoid it they play risky tricks such as ,
bending from the saddle down towards th e

neck and belly Of their galloping h o rses A ny .
o ne who has thrown away all his sticks is free
to pick up an y stick lying o n the ground with ,
a pole which has a boo k at the end or by ,
dexterously be nding down and snatching it up

with his hand as the horse gallops by Some .
times o f course the horses o f two opponents

, ,
collide and then most likely both men fall in a

,
heap and very o ften under the horses The

,
.
most exciting way to play the game is that

adopted by a man whose horse is unusually
swi ft . After throwi ng his stick at the e nemy
he does not hurry back towards his o wn line ,
but dashes away toward the open country and

rides as fast as he can Some o f the enemy
.
pursue himfar away down the valley until he ,
is either caught up o r escapes .
D uring this last visit the game was no

longer played because some serious accidents
,
h ad happened and lives had been lost and the ,
kind Government accordingly prohibited it .
Seeing all these prohibitions I was perhaps

,
rather injudicious and outspoken in criticising

A LA S T V IS IT TO A S IA M INOR 223
th e Governm ent So a relation o f mine re

.
minded me o f the O ld proverb which runs A ,
' ”
man s sa fe ty li es in holdi ng his tongu e He .
,
moreover warned me that times were now

,
di fferent and added

, If yo u are no t c are ful
,
y ou will go I understood what he

allud e d to H e meant o f course that I shoul d
.
, ,
be S ent into exile o r thrown into prison if I

went o n criticising the existing regim e I did .
no t stay long in A sia Minor d uring this last
v isit and after settli ng my a ffai rs I h astened

,
my packing and returned to Constantinople ,
where it is comparatively speaking easier to

, ,
fi nd m eans Of getting o ut o f T urkey With us .
th ere is fi lial O bligation fo r a m an o f right
feeling no matter ho w Old he m

,
ay be to ,
se cure his parents consent t o any venture on
which he is going to embark S o guardedly .

,
and in confidence I broke to my mother my

,
intention o f going to the land o f I ngli s The .
poor Mussulman lady was terri fied at the idea ,
and began to put to me such questions as

W ho would look a fter me ? Who would take
care o f me in cas e o f my falli ng ill in that distant
stran ge land ? A nd if I died there should I ,
des ire to be buried according to the rites o f the

infidels ? I t perhaps never occurred to her tha t

there was a danger far greater than th o se s he
—
instanced the danger o f falli ng into de st i t uti o n
in a fore ign land This was the possibili t y
.
which I dreaded most as I knew that anyo ne

,
who left the Sultan s domi nions wit hout his

’
augus t pe rmission could no t depend fo r his
living upon any reso urces he might have at

home S O while I was making ready to return
.
,
to Consta ntinople my mother entreated me to

,
renounce the idea Of going to E ngland and to ,
calm her I was wicked enough to make some

evasive promises which to me meant nothing
, .
lati ng how thi s o ccurred I will d escribe ou r

,
baths . The Turkish baths are much favoured

in E ngl and an d pe rhaps th e re may be some
,
among the readers o f this book who may

like to know something abo ut the bat hs in
T urkey . I s the Turkish bat h known in
Turkey ? This curious question is not infre
quently put to travellers from t he E ast by
E nglish people .It is true that t here is
no t much resemblance between the ext ernal
appea rance and management o f the s o called -
T urkish bath in E ngland and those o f t he

nam mamin Turkey O utwardly the Izammam
.
usually presents something o f the appear ance
o f a domed sepulchral edi fi c e Of the li t tle

.
domes or cupolas which rise from its roo f that ,
in the middle is t he highest and is set with

,
many small windows fo r the purpose o f light

ing the bath The massive walls that form the
.
sides o f the n am mamhave no windows as it is ,
thought that if the wal ls were pierced the o ut

side air would penetrate into the interior and
ca use variations in the evenness o f temperature

which it is h e ld d esirable to maintain The .
interior thus o ften becomes very close as ,
v entilation is v ery slow being only through t he

,
A SP Y IN A B A TH AND HIS M E THOD S , 22 7 ,
Opening b y passers to and fro o f the double

doors o f the pas sage which leads to the cool
e ntranc e hall -
E ve ry no w and then attendants
.
burn frankincense in the i nterior o f the bath

with the idea o f puri fyi ng the air The great .
warm hal l under the ce ntral dome has generally

three large niches two on each side and o ne in
,
front as well as two little chambers

, E ach o f .
these niches and chambe rs has a roo f in the

S hape o f a half hemisph ere which contains a few
-
,
t i ny glass ape rtures and which is joi ned to the

,
ce ntral dome roo f In all these niches and .
chambers there are accordi ng to the size o f the

,
bath o ne two or three marbl e basins which are

, , , ,
fi xed to the low part o f the wall each basin ,
bei ng provided with hot and cold water taps .
Round t hese basins people sit on marble o r

wooden seats whi ch are rai sed about fiv e or six
,
inches above the floor and s eated thereon they ,
have their bath The little chambers can be

.
engaged fo r private use o n application O ne o f .
these is excessively hot bei ng situated close to ,
the ho t water reservoir Some people go to this

- .
hottest chamber not only in order to perspire

more freely but also fo r the purpose o f washing
,
them se lves with the warmest water in the bath .

THE D IARY OF A TURK
In the ho t hall just under the central roof there

is a wide circular marble seat raised about two ,
feet above the floor E ve ry bath e r sits or li es

.
o n this seat be fore goi ng up t o one o f the basins
to h ave his bath and he stays there till he has

,
suffi ciently perspired While he is rest ing there

.
an atten dant comes forward and rubs him with

a rough glove which is made o f horse hair ; -
and also massages him if this is required , .
A fter this Operation the bather goes up to o ne

o f the fi xed basins and the attendant follows
,
him with a large copper hand basin and a big -
piece o f cretan soap The atte ndant the n.
turns o n the ho t and cold water taps letting as ,
much water as may be requ ired run from both

in to the marble basin he next proceeds to wash
the customer by soaping him wi th his loo fah ,
and then pouring water over him with the

COp per hand basin
-
Most Mohammedans a fter
.
,
thus having a bath make their ablution with

,
the flowing water as is prescribe d by their

,
religious law Whe n this is over the atte ndant

.
claps his hands loudly enough to be heard in

the entrance hall another bath servant then
-
,
-
e nters and rubs the customer with one o f the
dry Br ossa towels which he brings with him ;

time fo rthe use o f customers N ear it a man

.
may be seen al ways busy making coffee o n the

charcoal fire ; fo r most people are ready to
take a ti ny cup o f co fl ee at almost any ti m e
'
du ring the day Th ere are some persons who

.
stay in the bath fo r a ve ry long time and at ,
the meal hours attenda nts may frequent ly be

observed bringing trays covered with dishes
from neighbouring restaurant s .
The stove room where a huge fire is kept up

-
,
day and night all the year round is situated at ,
the back o f the bath building It is under .
ground and a large portion o f its floor is

,
covered wi th piles o f logs the fuel us ed fo r heat

,
ing the water o f the ba th The furnace its e l f

.
is very much like an oven upon which is placed

a huge boiler This boiler receives cold wat er
.
from one side and aft er heating it gives it to

,
the re servoir . Man y homeless young vagrants

g o t o this underground place at night in winter
and sleep on the heaps o f dried horse droppings
which are used as fuel along with the woo d ,
and which are piled up oppo s ite the fi repla c e .
It is a dismal sight to see those poor you ng

fellows lying in t hat foul and filthy place They .
are allowe d to shelter there by the fi rema n ,

A SP Y IN A B ATH AND HIS M ETHOD S
, 231
b ecause he em ploys them in the hardest part

o f his work without giving them any money .
Many o f the Turkish baths are built double ,
o ne p art being assigned fo r t he use o f l ad ies .
I n some places ladies go t o the bath only o n

certain days o f the week which are given up
to them .Certain baths again are used by them
every day up till seven o clock in the evening ’
after which hour they are made over fo r the
use o f men The charges are very reasonable

. .
Am an can have a complete bat h and may stay ,
o n the premises o f the establishment as long as
he pleases by paying a sum o f about 1 s 8 d

,
.
and when going o ut after payi ng this he will

, ,
be respectfully greeted by the bath keeper and -
the attendants Ladies pay much less than

.
this sum ; their expenses can h ardly be much
O ver sixpe nce as they take all their o wn soaps

, ,
towels and clogs with them What they pay is .
‘
really the water fee and a penny o r two fo r
’
the attendants .
Women go to the bath o ftener than m en ,
and they go in groups o f three or four or more ,
always taki ng their children wi th them Boys .
over eight o r nine years o f age are no t allowed

to go to the women s bath and even tall boys
’
,
under that age are somet imes pushed back fro m

the door by the manageres s who is alway s a
,
ste rn and unbending personage S he u su ally .
says to such tall boys , Good heav ens ! I s

yo ur father comi ng too and she will liste n t o
no expostula tions from the boy s mo ther as to
’
his real age The women s bath is al ways

.
’
crowded and free fights fo r the fi xed basi ns are

,
o f no t un fre quent occurre nce Shrill voic es

.
,
mingled wi t h the howli ngs and cryi ngs o f

children anxious to be ta ken o ut o f the almost
suffocati ng ho t room may s ometimes be h ea rd
,
from outs ide . This has give n ris e to a well

know n sayi ng in Turkey whi c h is used t o
desc ribe a noi sy gath eri ng whe re many p ersons
t ry to speak at the sam e time the plac e was
turned i nto a women s bath ’

. When wome n
g o t o the bath they sta y t h e re all day lo ng an,d
o n such occ as io ns the poor husba nds do not get
much to eat in the eveni ng .
Me n go t o th ese establishme nts in order t o

have a complete bath at l eas t o nce a fort night
but th ey visi t th emo fte ner e sp ec ially in wi nte r
, ,
fo r the purpo se o f perfo rmi ng the ablut i o nary

washi ng ordained by the Mohammedan religion .
It is said that o nce an A rm enian was a nnoyed

who wash themselve s in these private baths in

wi nter not u nfrequently run the ri s k o f tak i ng
a chill. A new feature which has been intro
duced into the o ld Turkish bath is the co ld
water douche which it is becomi ng customary
,
fo r the people to take after their ho t bath .
Whether the Turkish bath was originally

mo d elled o n the system used by Ro m ans or,
whether some o f the bath houses in Turkey

-
were fou nded by the By zantines it is quite,
certain that all the good baths in large Turkish

towns were constructed and organised by the
O ttomans centuries ago ; and although mo st
o f them are no w owned by privat e persons a ,
certai n portion o f their revenue was origin al ly

as signed to mosques schools and other religious
, ,
o r charitab le institu t ions I n Constantinople

.
there are about seventy fi v e public baths

-
.
I remarked that the fi rst i ntimation o f danger

fro m the Palace espio nage came to me in a bath .
O ne night I happened to be in a public bath in

Pera with a few friends I must explain that
.
some o f the Turkish baths are ope ned at night ,
and so young men who work duri ng the day

time make up par t ies to go to them then .
There they eat drink and amuse themselv es

, , ,
A S PY IN A B A TH , A ND HIS M ETHOD S 2 35
and after the bath rest o n the couches which

always ready in the cooler secti o n Of the
bath house I was feeling particularly cheerful

-
.
that ev ening ; there were a few other men in the

baths besides o ur party and a short and feeble
,
looking man who was si t ti ng close to me o n the

,
raised m arble in the centre o f the ho t ch am b er ,
entered into conversation with m e A s it is .
usual in Turkish baths t o take a lemon squas h ,
he o fl ered me o ne H e was very amusing and

'
.
,
talked Of trivial matters at fi rst ; but presently

’
his conversation tu rned upon other subjects ,
which were decidedly o ut o f place No t being .
able to draw from me easily any remarks o n

internal politics he himself began to comment
,
o n the state o f a ffairs in o ur country in a way
which was unusually frank fo r a Turkish subject

in the present reign Of co urse like most o f
.
,
my yo ung countrym en I was o n the lookout,
fo r possible p eril from spies so I pro fessed ,
ignorance and feigned to have little i nterest

,
in the po litical s ituation which he wanted

me to discuss I n spite o f my reticence the
.
man became annoyingly persistent and said ,
that I m ust be well in formed because I was

-
,
ac uai nte d with several E uropeans This l ast

q .
remark disturbed me no t a little The man .
knew something about me A lthough t h e .
aggressive attitude o f the fellow was pro voki n g ,
and al though I was physically more than a

match fo r him I refrai ned fromejecting him
,
from the baths or thrashing him wi t h a

,
wood en bath patten To chastise the Palace .
spies as they deserve is a very risky proceed

, ,
ing fo r they are the most trusted serv ants o f his

,
I mperial Majesty If I had given way to my .
then still excita ble t emper and had thrashed ,
m y aggressor I should certainly have bee n

,
sent into exile on the usual poli tical charges ,

’
and the man himself would have bee n rewarded

by his imperi al master I prete nded t o be very .
s leepy and yawned constan t ly

, t hus eventually ,
persuadi ng him to give it up and leave me

alone A s a matter o f fact I was not sleepy
.
,
and I did not sleep that night at all I did not .
tell my c ompanions in the baths a nything about

my experience N ext morning wh e n I left the
.
,
baths my first busi ness was to see my E nglish

,
friend S eeing that I was in rath er a nervous

.
state o f mi nd he asked m
, e what was the matter .
I requested him to h elp me to get out o f thi s

’
cursed country The Old ge ntleman said in a
.
,
C H A PT E R XV .
F LIG H T TO EN GLA N D .
I o btain a passage on a merc hant vessel— A fortune o f forty

—
pounds The peopl o board e S hi p Th e difii culty
e n t h —
o f co nversatio n — —
Engli h coo king Cofi ee and p ig !
m
'
i l
G bra tar 2 firs t i m p res s i o n o f B ri tish so l i
d ers—
Hull to Londo n An instance o f fem
,
— inine c o urtesy
Lost in t he U d g
n e r r o u n — m a —
d Oly pi An i nterv iew
with the Turkish A m b ado A pro m
a ss r— ise o f j ustice
conditional o n m y re tu r n to T u rk e y
.
’
WHE N I desc ri bed m y last night s experience ,
my E nglish friend promised to see about getti ng

me o ut o f the country and to let me know soon
,
what he could do in the matter A few days .
after this he sent word telling me to come and
see him . I went and he info rme d me that

,
another E nglish resident who had so met hing

,
to do with the British ste amers which pas s
through the Bosphorus carrying ca rgoes ,
between the Black S ea ports and E ngland ,
2 38
FL IG H T TO EN G LAND 2 39
woul d r nge with a captai n to take me o n

a ra
board his ship and after some days it was,
actually do ne I must no t give here the name

.
o f the latter g e ntleman who is still in Constan ,
tino ple because he asked me no t t o tell anyone

, .
F orty po unds of ready money was all I

po ss essed in the wo rld I t was no longer .
possible fo r me to get any more money from

my confiscated lands and moreover whatever , ,
t he excuse I felt asham

, ed to ask fo r any
further help from my mother no w that I was ,
o f an age at which I ought t o have been able t o
help her and increase the com fort of her life

, .
I think m y venture in coming t o t he great

capital o f the British empire wi th forty po unds
in my pocket was more risky than that o f tho se

who come to it with the proverbial half crown -
,
because they are at least ei ther British born o r -
E nglish speaking people whereas I was coming

-
,
fro m an E astern country without knowing any ,
o ne in E nglan d and wi thout spea king E nglish

, .
H owever I did no t thi nk much about what

,
might happeh to me I eagerly hastened my .
departure from the capital Of my country to

England I knew that there whatev er else
.
,
might befall the perso nal freedomo f a law

,
abi ding i ndivi dual was secure My idea was to

.
remain in E ngland u ntil a more tolerable state

o f t hings should be established in Turk e y wh e n ,
I would return to Co nstantinople ; o r in c ase o f

,
no t be ing able to remain in E nglan d I wo u ld ,
learn so m e E nglish and go to som e British

,
po ssession in the E as t where I should fi nd

mysel f more at home .
I t was o n the morning o f April 2 2 1 8 94 , ,
that I was informed that an E nglish s teamer

had just arrived from a Russian port on the
Black S ea and that she was going to leave
,
the harbour o f Constantinople the same after

noon . The E ngli sh gentleman kindly spoke t o
the captain o f the ship about me and obtain e d
,
his promise to take me on board if I paid

him fiv e pounds fo r the whole journey e very ,
thing included . O f c ourse I had be e n wai t i ng

,
fo r some days fo r the arrival o f an E ngli sh

boat in which I could take my fligh t I had .
placed all the clothes and documents which I

wanted to take with me in a portmant eau A s .
an additional ki nd ness the E nglishman offered

,
t o bring my portmanteau to the ship as in this ,
case it would be free from examination by the

customs and police officers in the port A fter .
a ged m an o f somewhat stern appearance had ,
with him o n board his wi fe and her sister a nd ,
t hey were all very kind t o me We were very

.
cheerful and the steward who was an Irishman

, , ,
was full o f fu n and particularly fond o f address

,
ing me wi th what I imagi ned to be hu moro us

remarks and thus m aking me and t he o t hers
,
laugh though unfortunately I did not under

, , ,
st and a word he sa id My E ngli sh was as yet

.
confi ned to a very limi ted number o f words ,
and whenever they wanted to tell me somethi ng

they wrote it down on a slip o f paper and ,
with great labour I managed to translate th e ir

s natch es o f conversation by looking out every
word in my pocket dictionary A lthough there

.
was no possibili ty o f my learning any E uropea n

language in my sc hool days in A sia M inor I ,
had neverth eless picked up some F rench by

reading a F rench grammar in T urkish while
res iding in Pera and I thought that my F rench
, ,
li t tle as it was would be o f some help to

,
me in talki ng to the people o f the S hip but ,
not a single perso n on board seemed to know

any F rench My chi ef amuseme nt o n board
.
playing wi th t he t wo baby daughters o f

the captain who were typical specimens o f
,
FL IG H T TO EN G L A ND 24 3
the clean healthy and lovable children o ne so

, ,
o ften sees in E ngland I spent hours every .
day with these two pretty babies and my ,
voluntary assistance must have been a great

relief to the ir good looking fair haired nurse
- -
,
who while I was playing with the children

, ,
either read a boo k or amused hers e lf by chat

t ing and laughi ng with the o ffi cers o f the ship .
I could not understand their conversation o f ,
course but it was obv ious that t he men found

,
t he task o f amusing he r pl easant e nough The .
captain who appeared to be part ow ne r o f the

,
-
boat was a man who appreciat ed good living

, ,
and b e supplied us with satisfactory food The .
E ngli sh cooking which I tasted fo r the fi rs t

,
time on this boat seemed to me quite di fferen t

,
from the E uropean dish e s to be obtai ned in

the new restaurants and br asseri es in Co n
stant ino ple I t was also quite u nlike Turki sh
.
cooking which though I lived in foreign

, ,
countries and become accustomed to their

food I still maintai n is e xcell ent
, A lthough I .
had no reason to be fastidious and grumble ,
abo ut the food on board which was decidedly ,
superior to that which famili es o f limited

means and residents in boarding houses get in -
E ngland there were two things I did no t li k e

,
.
O ne o f these was the E ngli sh coffee which w a s ,
given to us both wi th breakfast and with the la s t

meal served o ut about six in the afternoon I
, .
missed very much the coffee o f my coun t ry 1

.
1
Most peo ple who v l d in the Levant are
ha ve tra el e
enthusiastic in their praises o f the Turk i sh cofi ee wh ic h th e y
'
drank out there There is no reaso n why cofi ee pre '
pared in the Turkish style sho uld no t beco me po pular here

.
There is no difi culty abo ut m That the co fi ee m

.
aking it
'
ay .
have the delicio us flavo ur it has in the Levant the beans m us t
The water m
,
be freshly roasted and gro und very fi ne us t .
be bo iled in a tin o r co pper co fi ee po t To supp ly say

'
-
.
, ,
fo ur o r five perso ns wi th c o fi ee in ti ny cups two o r th ree

'
teaspo o nfuls o f the po wder sho ul d be put i nto the p o t wh ile

the water is actual ly bo iling therein So m e peo ple do no t .
like sugar in their cofi ee but if sugar is required it S ho uld

'
be put into the bo i ling wate r and al lo wed to m

,
el t be fo re
the cofi ee is added Greet sweetness is no t appreciated by

'
co nno isseurs in c o fi ee d rinki ng When the g ro und cbfl ee is

' '
added to the bo ili ng water th e p ot sh o uld be tak en o ff the

,
fire and the co ffee stirred up in th e water wi th a teaspo o n .
Then it sho uld be pu t o n the fi re agai n until the fro th ris es

up . It is th en po ured into th e c up s It is better to po ur .
o u t the c o fi ee S lo wl y placi ng th e po t o n th e fi re at sho rt

'
i ntervals and thus g etting mo re fro th fo r p o uring o ut into

,
th e cups as the taste o f th e co fi ee is suppo sed to be b etter

'
wi th the yello wish fro th o n th e surface It is o n ac co unt .
o f thi s idea that g reedy peo p l e in Turk ey c h o o se t ho se c ups
that have the m o st fro th when c o ffee is handed ro und o n
a tray l eaving t ho se with l ess to th e o thers who are wait ing

,
their turn to be served .

salaa mand t l ked t him A t fi rst he appeared

a o .
rather reluc tant to e nter into c o nversati on wi th
me I think be suspec ted m

. e o f being a fraud ,
posing as the follower o f the same Prophet in

order to Cheat or swindle him H owever we .
,
parted on friendly terms H e ente rtained a .
poor Opinion o f the Spani ards but liked the ,
E nglish I n thi s town I saw Bri t i sh soldiers

.
fo r the fi rst time They were o n parade I

. .
admired the neatness and newnes s o f their

uni form which was dec idedly muc h superior to
,
that o f o ur troops ; bu t o n the other hand I

, ,
thought the bearing o f the Turkish soldiery

was more nat ural ly military than that o f the
E nglishmen But I was much struc k by the
.
appearance o f some hardy weather beaten and ,

-
,
determ ined looking blue jackets who were

walking about I t may be that what I had
.
already h eard o f the men who had helped to

build up Great Britain s s ea power made m
’
e -
admire these brave sailors the more A fter .
seeing o ne o r two more o f the sights o f Gibraltar ,
I hurried back to our ship which started about ,
an hour later fo r E ngland H ow dread fully .
slowly cargo boats move ! I t took seven days

to go fro m Gib raltar to H ull .
F L IG H T TO EN G LAND 247
O n May 8th boat reached H ull at dusk

our ,
b u t she could not enter the docks before the

ne xt morning . N ext day early in the mo rning
, ,
I landed and the captain s sister in law kindly

,
’
- -
accompanied me t o ok me to the sta tion

, and ,
put m e into a train fo r L ondon O n the .
j ourney I wa s d elighted and wonderstruck

with the beauty o f the scenery the high state ,
of cultivation visible the canals and the

,
railways with what seeme d to me a pro d igious

,
n um ber o f trains constan tly passing to and fro ,
t he activity apparent at the crow d e d stations ,
and many signs o f prosperit y everywhere all ,
o f which were then st range to me A lready I .
could perceive ho w great a di fference existed

between little E ngland and l arge but poverty
stricken A sia Minor If an E nglishm an o f
.
the eightee nth century could rise o ut of his

grave and see what I saw o n that day his ,
bewilderment at the advancement o f his

country woul d no t I think be greater th an
, ,
was mine . A t every large station I anxiously

tri ed to find o ut whether we were in L on don .
A t o ne place putting some o f the few E nglish

,
word s I knew together I made up an inter

,
rogatory sentence and addressed it to a

,
middle ged well dressed lady who was si t t i ng

-
a -
opposite me in the carriage I want ed to as k .
her whether we were far from Lo ndon The .
lady could no t understand my meaning and ,
turning her face towards the other people in

the carriage she said wi th a thoroughly ,
unsympathetic air F oreigner !,

I rem ember
this word so well I was sadly impress ed by
.
this lady s rudeness S he was quit e right in

’
.
saying I was a foreigner but I was no t one o f

,
thos e foreigners who are so narrow mind ed as -
to think evilly o f a whole nation becau s e t hey
have been treated rudely or without sympathy

by o ne or m ore o f its membe rs H appily she .
could no t know I was a Turk as like most o f , ,
her class she would probably have taken fo r

,
Turks those short dark shabby persons with

, , ,
t urban o r fez who occas ionally come to this

,
count ry from di fferent corners o f the vas t

O rient If S he had k nown I was a real Turk
.
,
a member o f the much mal igned nation against ,
which her Chri stian heart must n eeds have

be e n full o f medi aeval prejudice s I fancy her ,
rude ness towards me would probably have

been still more marked .
A t a huge station the train again stopped

passage down to the Underground and put me ,
into a train which I believe was no t goi ng

direct to O lympia I lost my way in the
.
U nderground go t o ut at many stations change d

, ,
Often into many trains and paid several fares

, .
I t was nearly dark by now and the trains ,
were all full I mixed up K e nsingt on o f

.
,
which the porter had told me wi th the some ,
what similar nam e o f K e nnington I found .
it v ery try ing to rush in and out at ev e ry

station with my heavy bag in my hand Many .
people laughed at my stupid exc itement but ,
some better bred than the others attempted

, ,
to assist me though their e fforts were not

,
o f much use to a person who was p racti

cally speechless A t o ne station my F re nch
.
v o cabulary came to my assistance so I ,
succeeded in hiring a bo y to come wi th me ,
and at las t I go t to A ddison R oad statio n .
O uts ide O l ympia I saw a man with a red fez

o n his head and wearing s ome sort o f O dd
,
O riental dres s which I had ne ve r seen in

Turkey I spoke to this man in Turkish and
.
,
from his accent discovered t ha t he was a

Turkish Jew Through this fellow I engaged
.
a roo m in a nei ghbouring lod ging ho use -

.
FL IG H T TO EN G LAND 25 1
O n the day following my arrival in L ondon

I addre ssed a l ette r to the Sultan e xplaini ng ,
t o him how I and my people had been rui ne d

’
by our many years law suit in his courts agitat ,
ing fo r the restorat io n o f our property and ,
requesting him to issue an i r aae granti ng us

' ’
if no t all t he righ ts we had los t at least the

,
inc om e from our lands which had accumulated

during our lawsui t and was being misapplied
,
by some o f his o ffi cials I based my appeal on

.
the imp erial fir m ans and l egal docum ents o f
the case and stuck to my point fi rmly

, I .
learned the result o f this pet i tion a fortnight

late r whe n I was invited to the O ttoman
,
E mbassy The late Rustem Pasha who was

.
,
then A mbas sador rece ived me with a cheerful

,
courtesy which was I though t more than

, ,
a private i ndividual like myself cou ld deserve .
This was at a tim e wh en the Sultan was

extremely anxious lest his discontented sub
s should form revolutio nary committees in
j ec t
E urope to stir up an agitation fo r general

re forms in his dominions H e was particularly
.
suspicious o f those o f his subjects who cam e to

the free capital o f Great Britain as relations ,
between th is country and the S ultan we re

then an th ng
y i but friendly The Ambassador
.
as ked m Ob ec t in coming to E ngland and I

y j ,
to ld him that I :had me rely desired to learn
English and gai n ex pe rience abroad which

might be o f use to me later in my o wn country .
I sa id that all I wan t ed was the payment o f

my o wn mo ney so that I might devote mysel f
,
to study . The o ld Ambassador said that most

care fu l co nsiderat ion wo ul d be i ven t my
g o
case and t hat

, I should be given a s uitable
Go v ernm ent p o s t if I wo uld ret urn to C o n
stantino p le at the S ulta n s ex pe nse I declined

’
.
again whene ver I wished to do so Thi s

.
o ffer was in reality an appea l to my vanity ,
fo r h umble i ndi v idual tho ugh I was I was

, ,
no w led to suppose seriously that I was

beco ming a more im portant person than I
had suspected . The aged diplo m atist was
very emphatic in impressing me with the
necessi ty o f accepting the invitation I asked
.
him what guarantee I c ould have t hat I should

be allowed to remain u nmoles ted on ente ring
Turkey and to return to E urope when I
,
wanted to do so H e gave me a distinct

.
promise that my requests would be granted .
The Pasha was one o f the O tto m anised E uro
pean s was Cat holic by religion and was

, ,
known to be a ge ntleman if he had been a

native Chri s tia n o f the L evant I should mos t ,
dec ided ly not have put faith in his word s .
I n thi s connection I should like to remark

t hat fo r a go od many years past t he O t toman
A mbas sadors to the British Court have been

appointed from among t he Christ ian subj e ct s o f
Turkey It is reported by the entour ag e o f the
.
S ul tan that the reason fo r thi s was the Obj ection

o f t he Bri t i s h Governmen t to t he appointm ent
o f Mussulman A mbas sadors This report must
.
A RE TURN A ND A S E C OND FL IG H T 255
have bee n purposely spread with a v iew to

represent E nglishme n to Moslems as hostile to
Islam The real reason m
. ust I t hink he that , , ,
as there are some bigoted politicians and

publicists in this country who always cry o ut
fo r the appoi ntm e nt o f Chris t ian Offi cials at the
head o f all affairs in the O ttoman empire the ,
Sultan wi shes to show them that he employs

Christians even in important diplomatic posts .
A s a matter o f fact in days gone by there have

,
been Mussulman A mbas sadors accredi ted to the

1
Court o f St James s ’
.
1 m
Th e first Turk i sh A bassad o r in Lo nd o n was Agah
m m
Efi endi, a M ussul an, who ca e o ver to thi s co untry in
’
1 7 93 The fo llo wing paragraph is translated fro his m

mmi
.
e o rs
We proceeded to the village o f C helsea wh ich is abo ut

m L nd
,
an hour s distance
’
fro o on The K i ng s Master
’
of
mny m
.
Cere o ca li i
d us on o ur arrival and con
e and fe c tate
pliments o f the King The ceremony o f o ur

,
veyed the c o m .
recepti on havi ng been fi xed fo r the fo llo wi ng day I sent o n
Next day the state carriages cam

,
th e presents . e I entered
o ne that was drawn by fo ur ho rses ; with m
.
e were a no ble
man and the Master o f the Ceremo ny M y suite were in .
the o th er carriages alo ng wi th so me co urt Offi c ial s .
When we were passing alo ng the ro ad called Piccadilly

th ere were co ll ected to see u s so m any peo pl e that never in
my life had I seen so great a crowd ; indeed I afterwards

heard that several perso ns had been inj ured thro ugh the
pressing of the cro wd trying to get a glimpse of us Our .
A fter m y second interview w i t h Ru st emP asha
ano ther fortnight elapsed duri ng which I co n

,
s idered anxiousl y what might happen to me if
I retu rned ; and what I should do if I remained

in London Mea nwhile I was feeli ng very
.
u nwell m y mone y was rapidly decreasing and

, ,
there was no t the slightest prospect o f my find
ing suitable e m ploy me nt and no possibili ty o f

,
m y com m unicat ing wi th my people at ho m e to

ask fo r help so I d ecided to re turn ; I thought I
,
now had a chance A s the Sul tan k new me.

,
I could get my money from the Govern

men t and come back to E ngla nd But I was .
sadly mistaken in my conjectures It would

.
have been impossibl e fo r any man who was

no t e nd owed by na t ure wi t h that particular
cunning so necessary fo r gett i ng on in li fe to

play such a r ole I discovered my error to my
'
sorrow whe n I arrived at Co nstantinople A .
dress and o ur turbans m u st I th ink have appeared very

,
am
,
curio us to them We arri ved at S t J es s Palac e and after

’
I had presented m
.
,
y c red e n t i a l s w e w e re invi te d to di n n e r
What most imp essed me was the c harmi ng manners and

.
appearance o f the ladi es Som. e yo ung l adies b el o ng i ng to
the K ing s fam

’
ily bound round their heads the emb ro idered
si lk handkerc hiefs I had O ffered o n b ehalf o f m y s o v ere i g n ,
an d sai d laug h in g ly a n d wi t h i n fi ni te g race N, o w w e be lo n g

to the haremo f his M aj esty the S ul tan
258 THE D IAR Y O F A T URK
rule at hea rt I n t he Y ildi z Pal ace I was real l y

.
s hiveri ng wi th anxi et y kn o wi ng that h e r e ,
t housand s o f pe ople wh o were denou nc e d a s
Y oung Turks we re impri so ne d e xami ne d

-
, ,
and tort ured and t h en se n t i nto exil e Whil e

, .
awai t i ng my fate in the palace a c e rtai n Fa I k

' '
Bey o ne O f the Sul tan s t ru st ed c ourt i ers a ma n

,
’
o f no good r e put e cam e to m e wi t h a v e ry ki n d

,
message fromhis Maj e sty He was glad t ha t .
I had obeyed him and com e bac k from th e ,
c ou nt ry which is nurs i ng h o s t ili ty to T u rke y

!
,
”
and pl o tt i ng agai ns t t he ca u se o f th e Caliphate .
I am no t ce rtai n w het h e r t he se were t he words

o f t he Sulta n or wh et her his c ourt i e r mad e
,
t h e m up . The Sul t an s e n t m e t w e nty po u n ds
as po c ke t mo ne y and wi s he d me to go home and

-
rest W e ll thi s appare ntly k i nd t reatme n t wa s

.
,
co nso li ng bu t howe v e r foolhardy I had se nse

, , ,
eno ugh t o see that it was no t a go od om e n fo r

t he fut ure J u st as I was l eavi ng t he palac e I
.
was o rd e re d by the c o u r t i e r no t t o m ix wi th
peopl e muc h and to live as qui etly as po ss ible
, .
He al so asked me to com e and s ee h imaft e r

t wo days F ro m the pala c e I w ent to Pe ra
.
and e ngaged apart m e n t s I was no w afraid o f .
oi ng t see m r la t i n a nd fri nd I m t
g o y e o s e s e .
A RE TURN A ND A S E C OND FL IG HT 259
s om e o f th em later on whil e going about in

C o ns tant i no ple and we had to pas s eac h othe r
,
wi t h a mere salut e as th ey were als o afraid

,
o f b e i ng repor t ed by t he spi e s fo r talki ng t o
me si nc e they k new all abo u t my escapi ng to

,
E ngland I t is a very depress i ng and lo ne ly

.
co ndi t i o n to be in to have to avoid o ne s fri end s

,
’
and re latio ns becau s e a tyra nt has i ssue d a

warni ng to that effec t .
In c ompliance with the ord e r I w ent t o th e ,
Palac e agai n and saw t he sam e C hambe rlai n .
He ha nded me o v e r ano the r t wen ty pou nds as

a mark o f i mpe rial be ne vo l enc e and said he ,
wou ld pay me the sam e amou nt e v e ry m o nth

‘
as private salary A nd th e n he said in a low
.
’
vo i c e co mi ng nea re r to me His Maj e st y our

, , ,
be nev o le nt mast e r c ommands me to as k yo u t o

,
wri te a report if yo u hear a ny thi ng i mpo rt a nt o n

”
the poli t ical s i t u at io n My h eart fro z e o n h ear
.
ing t hi s c o ntempt ible p rOpo sal By a mo nt hly

.
s ala ry o f t w e nt y po u nd s the S u l tan wa nt ed t o
make me a Palac e spy ! A dow nrigh t re fusal

wo u ld bri ng ru i n o n me so I to ld the c o urt i e r
,
t hat as I had bee n ord e red no t to c om e i nt o
i nt imate co ntact wi th o th er peo pl e I co ul d no t ,
hear anythi ng o f imp o rtance He said there .

would be no harm in my meeting E uro peans .
I did no t un de rs tand t he signi fi canc e o f thi s

las t remark at the mome nt Proceedi ng in his .
talk t he courtier said t hat as I had graduat e d

,
in law the M inister o f Jus tice would be orde re d

,
to make me a d e puty pros ec u t or gen e ral in t h e -
central criminal court s o f Constan t inople I .
carefully avoided alludi ng to the promi s e o f the

Sul ta n made to me by his represe ntative in
L o ndo n that the i ncome o f my propert y would
,
be given to me and that I should be all o wed

,
t o go to E urope No r did I e xpre ss any d es ire

.
‘
to go to E urope agai n I was made a d epu t y .
prosecutor gen e ral in a few days by a s pec ial

-
i r aae‘ ’
Before I went to E ngland they would
.
neve r hav e give n m e a po s t even in ferior t o t hi s
had I appli ed fo r it agai n and again fo r m o nths .
There are abou t a doz e n deputy or ass i sta nt

pro secutors like mysel f in these central c ourts ,
a nd each o f them gets a sal ar y o f n early £ 1 8 0
a year A s a rule they are not very bus y

.
,
peo ple A s my sup eriors c o uld not urge me to

.
att e nd the o ffi c e imagi ning I was highly in ,
favo ur at the Sul tan s palace I d id no t c are

’
mu ch about goi ng to the court and maki ng o ne ,
o f t he idle s camp s there I was hard at work .

so suav ely info r md me e o f t he imperial be ne v

o lence on the two for
i ns This mer o ccas o .
m hi
ti e s manner seemed grav e and coo l and so ,
soo n as l was seat e d he sai d t hat he was

mp i r r sed that
b sho ul
the generous
I d a use
kindness O f o ur augus t b enefac t o r On my .
anxio usly as king hi mt he natu re o f my fault he ,
said he had re c ei ved a report ! an es pionage
repo rt o f c o urse ) that I was reveal i ng c o nfi

,
dential matters o f S ta te among the E uro pea ns

o f Pera He showed me the rep ort carefully
. ,
h iding howe v er the s ignature be neat h it with

, ,
his thum b I at once di sco vered the author o f

.
t he sham eles s do c ument from the handwriting .
The m an who nev er p erhaps suppos e d t hat t h e

,
repo rt would hav e been sho wn to me had ,
hospita bly i nv i ted me to dinner t wo days

pre viously The courtier ga ve m. e a s harp
warning t o avoid spreadi ng the confi de n t ial
matt ers o f the Sultan s Government among ’
fo re igne rs A lt hough my safe ty se emed to be

.
hangi ng o n a thread at that time I nevertheles s ,
co llect ed m y facul t i es and v e nt ure d o n a bold

s tro ke I said t hat as he was the o nly court
.
o flicial I had had the ho nour of see ing I as ked ,
himwhet her he would be goo d enough to t ell

A RE TURN AND A S E C OND FL IG H T 26 3
m e what w ere those secret matt ers whi c h he

had c o nfid e d to me and whi c h I was acc used
,
of s preadin
g a m ong the E uro pea n s H e .
appe ared somewhat embarrassed by t his and ,
his evide nt pe rplexi ty was a relief to me We .
parted in a frie ndly man ner and as I was ,
l eavi ng he said , Remember your private

”
salary will be du e in t e n day s Thi s was the
.
mo nthly t we nty po u nd s which he was goi ng

t o pay m e p riva t ely if I s tai ned m ho no ur by
y
do i ng the dirty w o rk o f espio nage .
O n re t ur ni ng hom e in a great st at e o f wor ry I

had a t i ny c up o f Turki sh co ffee which I u sed ,
t o fi nd a gre at relie f in t imes o f t roubl e and ,
c o u nt e d m y fo rtu n e whi c h amou nt e d t o l es s

,
t ha n fi ft y pou nds . Thi s was ho weve r amply

, ,
s u ffi c i e nt to c ar ry m e t o E ngla nd The fi rs t .
di ffi c ul ty be fore me was to fi nd a nother E ngli sh

c ap t ai n t o take m e a nd the n t o su c c eed in
,
gett i ng o n bo ard his ship A ll the bo atmen .
in t he harbour had bee n threat e ned w i th p u n

is h m e nt if they carried su s pi c io u s perso ns to
any fore ign s hip s o t h e r t han those passe ng er
boat s whic h are watched by the po li c e A s a .
pre lude to my plan o f es capi ng I t hough t it ,
would be wise to take a boat and go fo r a row

on the sea every day I told everyone I met

.
,
including those Palace detectives who were

alway s at my heels t hat I had b e en advised by
,
my doctor to get as much sea air as possible ,
and there fore was goi ng fo r a ro w e v e ry day .
O n the next day aft er d ec iding to begin boat ing

I went down to o ne o f t he many landi ng place s -
o f the Golden H orn where several b o atmen

,
are alway s in waiti ng to pick up pas s e nge r s I .
hailed o ne o f t hese boat men and t o ld h imto ,
take me fo r a ro w up the Bosphoru s A fter .
some t ime the boatma n wanted t o know where
I wished to go I told him curtly to go s t raight

.
ah ead ,and he did so When he stopped t o

.
ligh t a cigarette I as ked him how much he

earned in a day and he said t hat h is profi ts
,
fluc t uated between seven and t en pias tres If .
a Turki sh boatman gai ns ten piastres ! about

.
)
I S 8 d a day he may consider himsel f lucky
. I .
told him the same story o f my medical pre

script i o n o f sea air and offered him fi fte en
,
piastres a day if he woul d take no o ther

c ustome rs but plac e himsel f at my disposal
,
every day A S I expected he readily agreed to

.
,
this arrangement My boating t rips lasted a

.
week I wen t o n the s ea som et imes in the

.
ditio ns . One was that thi s t ime I mus t see

,
abou t co nveyin g my luggage myse l f to th e boa t ,
because the Government supe rvision ove r th e

movements o f E nglish ships had become stricter ,
and so he would no t compromise hims e l f I .
did no t mind this at al l But the second co n .
dition he laid down was alarmi ng H e said .
that as the captai n o f this ship was no t al lowed

to take any passe ngers I must go to the Briti sh
,
Consulate and sign my name in the capta in s ’
book as a seaman Of cours e t here was no

.
harm in my doing this as in reali ty I shou ld,
no t be e xpected t o do a sailo r s work ; b u t an

'
O tt oman subject who has just be c om e k nown

,
to the Palace au thori t ies is no t w ell advi s ed to ,
g o t o the British Consulate f o r it is known t o ,
be watched by the spies and he is certain to be ,
seen H owever I ran the risk w ent to the

.
, ,
Consulat e and pu t down my nam e as a s eaman

, .
The captain directed me to t he e xac t spot

where his boat was anchored and told me that ,
’
in about three hours time she was to st art I .
did no t go to my rooms where I had le ft all my

belongi ngs The house in whi c h I was living
.
belo nged to some Germa ns who aft erward s , ,
without the slightes t justi fication refused to ,

A RE TURN AND A S E C OND F L IG H T 267
deliver up my property to the peo ple who ap

plied o u m y b eh al f fo r it u ntil I had paid a
considerabl e sum o f money Well it is perhaps
.
,
t he poli c y o f t he Teutonic invaders o f Turkey
to ro b th e Turks as m uch as possible as t he ,
price o f their friendship to the precious person

o f t he Sulta n .
I mmediately after gett i ng o ut o f the British

Consulate I called a cab and orde red the cab
,
man to proceed to the palace o f Y ildiz as fast

as he c o uld My objec t in goi ng to the Palace
.
in this c ritical moment was that I thought t hat

if my e nt ra nce t o the Consulat e had bee n se e n ,
the spi es would imagine that I was in charge

o f an o ffi cial me s sage and moreover they would
,
no t follow a m an whose des t i na t ion was the
Palace and who might in all probabili ty turn

,
o ut to be o ne o f t he Sul ta n s c reatures like

’
themselves . I reached the Y ildiz K ios k and ,
we nt up to the O ffi ce o f my fri e nd the court ier .
H e was o ut and his abs ence at that moment

,
s uit ed m y p u rpose capitally as t he excuse which

,
I should have had to conc oc t fo r this unc alled

fo r visit would have been b ut wea k . F rom
Y ildiz I too k another cab and we nt down to
the shore My boatman was yawning being
. ,
tir ed o f waiting inactive I jumped i nt o the .
boat and told him the directio n in whi c h he

was to ro w which was o f course t o wards the
,
stea mer though he did no t kno w that I had

,
determined to sail fo r E ngland in it When .
we go t nea r the steamer I obs e rved to my bo at

man it seemed a peculiar vessel havi ng its ,
funnel rather far back and no t in th e m , iddle

o f t he deck as is u sual The boatman k new
.
t hat it was an oil b o at and tha t it s e ngi ne was

,
t herefore co ns t ru c t ed at t he back I pretended .
t o be curiou s t o see t he ship and t he s i m ple ,
minded boatman readily ro wed to its sid e I .
got o n board wi th great reli ef .
I was now prac t ically o n Bri ti sh terri tory ’

.
A fter seei ng the c ap tai n I we nt t o t he s ide and

sh o uted down to the boat man tha t as I talked
the language o f t he p eopl e o f t he ship th ey had
asked me t o stay a li t tl e while o n board and
1
It my b
id that v l her h men Of war co uld
a e sa esse s o t t an - -
no t in internatio nal law b e exactly co nsidered parts Of th e

, ,
territo ry o f the State to wh ic h they b el o ng when th ey are in

fo reign po rts But o wing to the pri vileged state Of fo rei gn
ship s in t he Otto m
.
an em pire the Sultan co uld no t no w ,
stances have taken m

,
under any c irc um e bac k fro mt hi s
paraffin o il ship had he been informed of my taking refuge

,
-
,
h
t ere .

The Diary of A Turk

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The Diary of A Turk

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TO THE M EMORY or

A LTHOUG H no Western Power has ever played

country in Western E urope is Turkey more

to me : the o ne was to compile a d eta iled work ,

the other to write a smal l and light book To .

take the former advice was no t possible to

g reat an d technical work . Besides, I t hought

help I could to some extent correct some o f

now bring it o u t under the title o f Tlze Bit”?

talk a little o n many matters connected with

book o n which to express his opinion but do ,

no t le t him charge me with ignorance o f the

fac t t hat the somewhat unexci ting experiences

i ntere st to the public

I n the chapter o n women s affairs I have

quoted a few paragraphs from two art icles which

my t hanks to the E di tors o f these papers fo r

I . MY HOM E I N ASIA MINOR

VI I A . NEW COSTU ME AND A NEW CAREER

I! . THE CER EMONY OF THE S ELAMIJ K

! I . THE ST RUGGLE WITH Y OUNG TUR KEY -

! II . ENGLAN D AN D THE CALI P HATE

! III . A LAST VI SIT TO AS I A MINOR

! VI . A RETURN AND A SECOND FLI GHT

PRIN CES I N LANCERS

A ILLAGE WEDDI NG PROCES S ION

His m iracles My grandfather and S ultan Mahm

— An d l by wine— My father s Chari table extrava

gance— H is d eath — P ri mi t i ve su rg ery in Asia M i no r

pean ancestors—Writing a forbidden acco mplishment

I WAS born in the ancient town o f A ngora A sia ,

Mi nor famous no t alone fo r its silky haired cats

and goa ts but also fo r its historical and archa

logical importance and with it m y memories o f

early days and there fore the pages Of my

desulto ry journal naturally begin

learning who have engaged in researches into

A lthough Of course it was conqu ered and held

during later gene rations by the E as tern in

there is a di fference both o f character and ,

physique between most o f the inhabitants o f

our province and those o f other provinces more ,

especially O f Southern and E astern A sia Minor .

By remarki ng on this I do not wish to seem

race though I am aware that many people in

thi s country are unsympathetic and e ven , ,

pe rhaps prejudic ed whe re O rientals are con

cern ed My paternal ancestors cam e across

from Central A s ia and ﬁ rst s e ttled in K ho ras

followers o f the orthodox creed o f the A rabian

whom and t he orthodox believers the hi story o f

the result o f th e ir doctrinal antago nism My .

ancestors were compelled eventu ally to emigrate

to A sia M inor over a hun dred and ﬁft y years

rece ptio n .My great gra ndfath er was the -

sheikh o r head Of a religious ord er called

The name arises from o ne Of the strict rules

to the outsid e public doubtless a measu re fo r ,

the pre vention o f h y pocrisy H isto rical research .

has t raced the foundatio n o f t he order to Ali ,

the s o n in law o f Mohammed Shortly after

sett ling in A sia Minor the di sc iples o f the grea t

monast ic dwe lli ng from all the neighbou ri ng