THE CONDITION OF TURKEY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2303, 10 November 1914, Page 6

THE CONDITION OF TURKEY

A TRAVELLER'S NARRATIVE. The recent developments in Turkey lend a special interest to the following message from its Paris correspondent published by the "Morning Post" at the end of September:— Travelling from Paris I met a man who had come straight through from Southern Russia via Constantinople and the Adriatic. On 'his passage through Turkey and the Dardanelles he was able to note the preparations qf Turkey, both naval and military. He confirms the presence of over' 2000 German sailors, who at the present moment are engaged in fixing heavy artillery to command the Dardanelles. . There appeared to be no activity among the vessels of the Turkish Fleet.

The condition of Turkey is described as hopeless. There is even a famine in the European provinces, and/there are no signs of any effort on the part of the population to'help, themselves by tilling' the soil or to.Get their ravaged country in order. With • Enver Bey absent in Germany the influence oi the Young Turk Party appears to he waning, and there is nothing in the shape of a warlike feeling abroad in the land. , My informant saw the Goeben and the Brcslau sheltering behind the lie des Princes in tho Sea of Marmora on the Asiatic side. They are both too seriously damaged to put to sea at present, and apparently the shell fire has injured vital parts of their structure, because heavy steel castings are needed, to repair. the damage, which cannot bo obtained ill Turkey. Italy was asked to supply them, but has refused. There was a. curious incident in connection with the doparture of Admiral I.inipus and his staff, who had been in charge of the Turkish -Navy, and who were recalled by the British ,Admiralty. They had intended leaving Constantinople by a steamer of the Moss Line, due to sail on September 17, but instead left by the Italian steamer Sardegna before the British boat, changing at Patras to proceed to Malta. This they safely accomplished, but the Moss Line steamer was blown up in the Dardanelles.