THE REAL RULERS OF TURKEY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1974, 3 February 1914, Page 5

THE REAL RULERS OF TURKEY.

REHABILITATION OF THE YOUNG TURK ■■•;;■■ PARTY. '. MEN WHO HAVE PROFITED BY PAST MISTAKES.Now that peace has been signed with Greece,' nearly all tho disputes between Turkey and the Balkan States raised by the recent war having been at last settled, a question of interest to English readers is, Who are the present rulere'of Turkey.? Tho answerj says Sir Edwin Pears in tho "Daily Mail," may be given without hesitation. ' They are members of the Young Turk' party, men whose interests ar3 bound up in,; the preservation of constitutional government., ' Tho Younjj. Turk; party, as/I, , have often stated in these columns, has made many serious blunders since the revolution of. July, 1908, placed, it in power. But it renuins unchanged. It has. shed somo of its useless, members. After considerable hesitation most of_ tho much-decorated inanities who tried tried to ,run with the hare- and; hunt with the hounds have either sunk into obscruitv .or abandoned political life altogether. The result is that the Young Turk party, ha-3'few visible opponents. It is not too ,much to say that at' the' present time.there- is no organised opposition. ■ .'/•'■ ' :. .■

"', A Merited Popularity. One .may go-further and say that probably the Young Turks have never teen so firmly seated in the saddle sine© 1909 as they are • now.. Nor is their popularity unmerited. They nave done valuabalo work.- Constantinople has been greatly improved. All tho important have been , paved. Many of them have.beonjjvidened. In three months we shall have telephones. Preparations are,being steadily pushed forward: for electric lightl Electric traction for the tramways is'already in operation. . ■ The,, polioing' and cleansing of tho. city is better ..than over it. was. The new. gendarmes are efficient and polite, and are regarded as friends'by the population/ '• . . ■ . ■ During the. five years, wo have been in revolution the blunders committed »by the party were carefully noted. The :■ unprep'aredness;■ of tho country ' for war,'tho incompetency shown in organisation,', tho. crushing defeats suffered at'Liile Burgas, and at. Kirk Killisse were ,■ all noted against it-.. ■; The 'assassination . of-;Nnzim Pasha, and later'of Shevket, came as > apparently the culmination of Turkoy and the.,party'Br misfortunes. Each for,a time staggered- the popula-. tioh. Had the 'contest with the allies stopped at the happening of either of ' these events Young Turkey would have been: ignominiously driven into obscurity. '\The Young Turks; however, .once they had regained office in January last,; held Qxxt', and never lost an opportunity .'of trying to'regain, what, their.predece'ssors'had'losjb. ".;'./ .v . ' . ' '

Strong Man of the Party. The man who, 'more than. any other dejsewes "credit for refusing to acquiesce in the results of the defeat of Turkey iri Thrace is Talaat Bey.''Since the revolution he'has' steadily'made .his way to the front as the strong man of tho Government.' It is said that when he proposed the' reoccupation of. Adrianopie h'.s only supporter was Izzet PSsha, tho Cpmmander-ih-Chief, and that ho only succeeded in obtaining the consent of his colleagues by threatening resignation if.diisproposal.iwasjiToiectcd,' His cilleagues»arguet)(/tba't Eurbpeiad et Adriariople; should go "to Bulgaria,'-and that to attempt to' r'eoccupy 'it ; wpuld;brihg' all the 'Powers, into line■ 'a'gainst' Turkey: 'refused to believe it.' His proposal was' accepted, 'and Turkey- regained its ancirat'capital.', ~ ' ■"'" ; - ■■■ l ■ •■.■ *

The event rehabilitated tho Young Turks-in popular favour. -Public opinion had cared little about the' lossy of Macedonia because, for years they had ■regarded their hold'upon it as only temporary. The loss of Adrianople, however.; was a terrible shock to Turks throughout the empire. The display of force brought together from air parts of the empire immediately after the fall of,their second capital astonished everybody.' Turkey, never' did better, and a month ago the Turkish army was probably in', better condition 'to' mako war than it has been at any time during the last halffcentury. •'■■ The credit for'this military activity goes naturally' and rightly to the Young Turk Ministry. Of course, no ono held Talaat Bey or his colleaguesT responsible* for the' want of organisation shown at the beginning of tho.first'war, but during the last six months 'under tho' auspices, of. Young Turkeynot only.haV© wo seen prodigious and successful efforts made to bring up new men,.but all observers note that their constant.drill has mado.them much more effective, than a. year ago.

Grand Vizier's Qualities:, The Ministry is a strong one./ At its head is Said Halim Pasha', tho son of Halim Pasha, of Egypt.The Grand Vizier is thus the grandson of tho'illustrious'man'-who won .' Egypt for himself. He has many of the qualities which characterised his father • and grandfather; clear insight and a genuine Albanian liberality/of thought. Ho received a good 'education in> English and French. Added to' these qualifications is tho'fact that he belongs to the highest rank in the Ott<,ri)an~Empire. Tho men who made the revolution were raostly.of plebeian origin,. and as.the merely ornamental and opportunist adherents gradually withdrew fromthe Young Turk party, it was open to the * remark that it was composed of , upstarts and adventurers, and that ho respectable Turk would belong to it..' Tho. appointment of Said' Halim has taken awav this :eproach. /His brother, Abbas Pasha, who for four years declined to'take any part in politics, has , now consented to ho Governor of Brusa. In this manner Young Turkey has strengthened itself.