TURKEY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 504, 11 May 1909, Page 5

TURKEY.

THE YOUNG TURKS AND THE ARMY. GRAND VIZIERSHIP. RIVAL CANDIDATES—THE SULTAN'S , PREFERENCE, (or TJLBGRArn— pazss association—copyright.) (Rec. May 10, 10.40 p.m.) London, May 10. Tho, Constantinople correspondent of the "Daily Mail" states that tho decision of Chefketh (? Shevkot Pasha, Commander of tho Third Army Corps) that the Government must govern without tho interference of an irresponsible committee is causing friction with the Young Turks. Hilmi Pasha (who has just formed a now Cabinet) is. Shevket's choice, the Young Turks desiring Fend Pasha (Minister of the Interior) as Grand Vizier. The Sultan, Mohammed V, is said to prefer Mubhtar Pasha, lata Ottoman Commissioner. in Egypt. A GERMAN MOVE. REACTIONARY SYMPATHY IMPUTED ' TO BRITAIN. • (Rec. May 10, 11.58 p.m.) Constantinople, May 10. : The "Ottoman Lloyd," a' German 'newspaper, published in Constantinople; is accusing the British Foreign Office and press of supporting the recent reactionary revolution. • ! A BETTER OUTLOOK IN RAVAGED ARMENIA. ; THE SULTAN SENDS FUNDS. Constantinople, May 9. The outlook in Armenia and Anatolia— the scenes of the recent massacres—has greatly improved. . ; The Sultan has sent-£30,000 for'the relief of sufferers by the outrages. ■

THE SHEIK-UL-ISLAM. ;■' • HEMOVAL OF JEIIAL-ED-DIN. .Perhaps, the. most striking thing in recent news from Turkoy is that Jemal-ed-Din has been replaced in'tlie saored office, of .Sheik-ul-Islam by Mollah Sabid. The Sheik-ul-' Islam is the interpreter of the faith, whose divine office it is to decide infallibly whenever questions of religion are' involved. A day. or two ago . the Fetva of Jemal-ed-Din as Sheik-ul-Islam sealed tho ■ dethronement of Abdul. Hamid; to-day; Jemal-ed-Din himself knows his office no more. Thus two figureheads which but recently seemed to be the'only permanent ineituations in Turkey are no longer; their places remain, but other candidates fill them. What survives is the military power, which, optimists maintain, is, tho spear-head of a bene•volent constitutionalism. '..v. : The inner history ?f: the last fortnight, and particularly the story of how Jemal-ed-Din comes to follow i Abdul Hamid to retirement would be interesting. Did the Constitutionalist, leaders dissemble to each of them in turn, in order, to displace each 1 when the time came? The sacred ink is hardly yet dry on the Fetva: by which the Sultan became er-Sultan at tho hands of the Sheik,'now the■'ex-Sheik. "No; he must be dethroned, or he must abdicate," wrote Jemal-ed-Din; and the Deputies shouted : "Dethrone him." It is true that Jemal-ed-Din was called on' by the Constitutionalists to answer a 6et question, which question; assumed facts that the Shoik-uI-Islam on his" own responsibility rnieht not have accepted, viz.: the Sultan's alleged tampering with -the 6acrcd writings, his shedding of innocent blood, and squandering of the country's wealth. Even so, however, wculd Jemal-ed-Din have given the desired answer could he have foretold the immediate future? Venerable and Sly. The spiritual headship, of Turkey is by no moaas free from the characteristic .trickery of Turkish political life: For a long time Jemal-,,cd-Din held his lumd, hesit&ting to declare for the present Sultan ;llohammea. V.. as against' other claimants, and. endeavouring to ,balance one' faction against .the other to his own advantage. Towards the close of 'last year "Current Literature" wrote: VJluch • will.;depend upon the attitude, when .the crisis comos, of that venerable interpreter of the faith, the bheik-ul-lalam; '.whose divine office it is -to decide infallibly . questions of religion are involved. Suspicion is rife that this venerable and serenely grand ■ Jemal-ed-Din, with his superb black and oily beard,, trailing through Yildiz in his: white turban and long robe, has . been , won over Secretly to the'cause of the Sultan's third' son. Tho Sheik-ul-Islam 13 W :P? is accused of attaining his lofty post by.intriguing ogpinst his'predecessor in the dignity. . " act ■of the Sultan has any validity without the .Fetva of the Sheik-ul-Islam representing tho spiritual power.- So, at any rate, contend the interpreters of the Koran : some of whom not only pronounce this a fundamental law of the Ottoman Empire, but insist that _any Sultan' who openly dared to put hatt, firman,, or irMe in force without the spirtual sanction would incur the penalty of deposition. Now, Jemal-ed-Din is a stalwart champion; of his ■ own • divine supremacy in The fact that no one at Yildiz Kiosk has the slightest idea whether this •refined and learned Mussulman will or mil not declare for Keshad Effendi ; when . the time comes 18 responsible for. much of the intrigue at Constantinople. * " , , 6