Peeps at Many Lands: Turkey

The rulers of Turkey are the Turks, originally a nomadic tribe from Central Asia. Compelled to abandon their homes on account of the desiccation or drying up of large tracts of their country, which were converted into a desert, they swarmed into Armenia and Persia in quest of new pasture-lands for their flocks and cattle. Like the in-coming tide, they swept everything before them, and finally overwhelmed, not only Asia Minor, but also Egypt and Northern Africa.

Converted at an early stage of their history to the Mahomedan faith, they propagated it wherever they went, and, under the leadership of the Sultans of the Seljuk dynasty, they established themselves in Konia, and advanced their rule to the gates of the Byzantine Empire. But it was reserved for a kindred tribe under Ertogrul to be the successors of the Seljuks and establish the Ottoman dynasty which still holds sway over Turkey.

The events leading up to it were as follows: Ertogrul, with a band of 400 followers, was wandering about Asia Minor, and accidentally came across a conflicting Mongolian and Seljuk army in the neighbourhood of Angora. He dashed into the fray in support of the latter, and changed impending defeat into a brilliant victory. In reward for this timely assistance the Seljuk Sultan awarded to Ertogrul the district of Anatolia, which bounded the Greek or Byzantine Empire, the capital of which Empire was then Constantinople.

During the summer the new-comers drove their flocks to the mountains, and during the winter they withdrew them to the plains, but, growing bolder and more powerful, Ertogrul waged war against the Greeks. Success followed upon success, until at last, in 1326, under the leadership of Othman, the son of Ertogrul, Nicea, noted for its Council which drew up the Nicean Creed, fell to the sword of the Moslem. Brusa also was taken, and there Othman enthroned himself as Sultan of the dynasty thenceforth known as the Ottoman.

Before proceeding further it might be interesting to relate an incident which pictures the primitive character and frugality of the founders of this dynasty. When the mighty Othman died, the only possessions he left behind were a salt-bowl, the symbol of hospitality, a spoon, his sword and standards, his cloak and white turban, a pair of horses, a yoke of oxen, and his flock of sheep. His sword is still preserved in Constantinople, and each successive Sultan is invested with it on his coronation. The descendants of his flock of sheep are still the heritage of the reigning Sultan, and still browse on the ranges of Bithynian Olympus, and supply butter and cheeses for the royal household.

The victories of the Ottoman Turks were followed by the incorporation of the Seljuks, and drew into their ranks crowds of recruits thirsting for blood and plunder. The Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus were ravaged with sword and fire, and shortly afterward (in 1453) Constantinople was invested and stormed, and the last of the Byzantine Emperors slain.

Driving everything before them, the victorious Turks marched northwards into Europe, devastating, burning, plundering, slaying, and making captives of women and children, until at last they reached the walls of Vienna, and at one moment it looked as if all Europe would fall to their sway.

But this was the limit of their Northern conquests, and, like the tide which recedes after it has reached its fulness, so this assault on Vienna and its repulse marks the high tide and first ebb of Turkey's greatness.

One by one they lost their possessions in Europe, such as Hungary, Roumania, Greece, Servia, and Bulgaria, and now only a comparatively small strip of country remains to them in Europe. In Asia also large tracts of country have been wrenched from Turkey by Russia; and in Africa, Egypt and Tunis are Turkish only in name.

The splendid conquests of the Turks were due to the hardihood of a race brought up in frugality and nomadic pursuits. Their strength and courage were amazing, and their religious zeal made them reckless of their lives. Their early Sultans, too, were men of extraordinary energy and sagacity, and were the first among the Turks to organize regular soldiers. A famous corps was that of the Janissaries, who were selected from the strongest and most beautiful Christian youth forced away from their parents or captured in battle. Confined all their lives in barracks, and daily drilled in the arts of war, they grew to be as invincible as Cromwell's Ironsides.

But as discipline relaxed they became insubordinate, dethroning Sultans and nominating others, until one day, in 1826, Sultan Mahmoud IV. had them secretly surrounded in their barracks and annihilated. A venerable planetree may yet be seen in the old Palace grounds where the survivors were hanged. Its hollow trunk ultimately served as the shop of a shoemaker.

The decline of the Ottoman Empire was due to the corruption of the Turks that followed acquisition of wealth. They lost their hardihood, and their Sultans became profligate and luxurious. They filled their harems with wives and numberless slaves, and addicted themselves to pleasure instead of duty. They became tyrants, and their jealousies and fears of being supplanted made them so cruel that it became customary for a Sultan ascending the throne to kill all his brothers or near male relatives. This was usually done by strangling them with a bow-string, or sewing them in bags and drowning them in the Bosphorus, as one would an undesirable litter of puppies.

Recent Sultans, it is true, have not dared to commit such deeds openly in the face of growing public opinion, but, with few exceptions, they have been equally selfish and corrupt. Indeed, in the reign of the recent ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid, rightly styled "the Great Assassin" by Mr. Gladstone, corruption and villainy reached unheard-of enormity. He planned and carried out wholesale massacres against his Armenian subjects, and spirited away thousands of innocent Mussulmans and Christians at the instigation of the army of spies whom he employed, and who enriched themselves with the bribes he offered.

At last matters reached such a pitch that life in Turkey became unbearable, and in sheer desperation he was dethroned in 1908 by his army, led by patriotic officers who styled themselves Young Turks.

In his stead they appointed his brother, Murad V., to be Sultan, and proclaimed a Constitution; that is, a form of Government like our own, with a Parliament consisting of representatives of the people.

Turkey is now doing its best to reform itself, and we wish it all success, but naturally, after so many years of misrule and corruption, it will take time before the Turks can set their house in proper order.

For now more than twenty years Turkey has been connected with Western Europe by rail, trains starting from Vienna and crossing the Danube at Belgrade. Shortly after, the main line branches off and one portion proceeds through Bulgaria to Constantinople, while the other terminates at Salonica. The journey from London to Constantinople occupies three and a half days, but may be accelerated.

There is no railway bridge over the Bosphorus, but a railway line, of recent construction, runs from its Asiatic entrance into Asia Minor as far as Konia, the Iconium of Scripture. This line is now being extended to reach Bagdad in Mesopotamia, and will be prolonged thence to the Persian Gulf, and doubtless, ultimately, to India, and will perhaps enable us to visit our friends there within a week's journey from London.

Another railway crosses the Lebanon mountains from Beyrout, and proceeds to Damascus, and thence extends, keeping to the east of the Jordan, to Mecca, in Arabia, the Holy City of the Moslems. This line is called the Sacred or Pilgrim railway, because it conveys large numbers of pilgrims to their shrine. It was built nearly entirely out of the contributions of the faithful, both in money and in free labour.