THE SULTAN OF TURKEY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 278, 20 August 1919, Page 2

THE SULTAN OF TURKEY

IS HE A USURPER IN THE FAITH?

CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS FUTURE . Paris, France.—Representations were roct>ut»y made to the British Government by prominent men of Mohammedan faith 11 5 u^a * or retention of the Sultan Pf -Turkey. as ruler in Constantinople, lo the Mohammedan the reigning Sultan or' /.Turkey is always the Calipha, or successor of the prophet, and therefore any attempt to remove him from his supreme position through the disintegration of turkey, the alx>lition ot the sultanate,• or tho neutralisation of Constantinople, is regarded as a blow aimed at his faith iJkcly to have serious.consequences amon* .th 9 Mohammedan races within, the Brit" it'll Empire. ■Kepresantations to this effect were made to tho Peace 1 Conference at Paris by leadiiiK Mohammedans from'lndia. Tho arguments there submitted have been answered by ; Sir. Chailes Viamvaoas, who was formerly a member of. the Ottoman Parliament 03 a Christian subject of the Sultan.

?j. r * ainvacas i in his statement subnutted to tho conference, flatly denied the main contentions of tho Indian representatives. "To assume/' ho declared, 'that accordiiiß to tho Mussulman viewpoint, Constantinople has a sacred value, < lieneo if the Padishah of tho Osmunli is removed, from Oonstantmle/one risks to. attack tho faith or belief of the followers of Mohamet, is to eo against the traditions of tho Mussulman believers themselves/'

Capital Not Sacred. Constantinople, he says, is not a s.'idred city to the Vfurks, who actually ierm it a city of Khiaours, a conquerr 0 Idel place. Unlike Mecca and Met' ... is not a centre of Mohammedan • '' and bears'no name to' show that it i'' sidercd as holy, sacred, or illuniina.' eh "f '? conveyed by the qualifying terms shenf, moufcereui,' or munever. '•Mecca, for instance, bears the name Mefci Moukereme, Medina, JMinei-Jlounevei?'; Damas, Scham-i-Sherif, while Jerusalem is called Coudoress-i-Sherif, because to tho Mohammedan Jesus Christ is pei<jyn»ei or prophet. '

Iheso cities, strangely enough, Lave never recognised the religious supremacy o, thei Ottoman Cailiph, and to rliem must be added Bagdad, Yemen, and °Y,.- that - ■% ? ,lltan h,ls io.-ii. cii his Ijrestigp, it is important to lemcmber that the Arab chiefs have .never svbnutted to mi important regulation «iicorning .judgments, sentences, arrests or ' ® ClSloni > 'delivered b.v the religious chiefs ot the Ottoman Empire. For instance, it ?' w «.Vo understood that 110 execution could be carried out without the approbation or sanction of tlio Sult.au cr his religious the Sheik-ul-J-slani, but indispensable ns was • this regulation, according to the Caliph's le •^ ra ' : > chiefs ignored it. Abdul H-amul in his day tried to v.-hecdfc them into compliance, or to lesson Ibis disadvantage,-which shocked- his egotism by means of srifts and large subsidies, but the Arabs, notwithstanding, conserved in-. Tact their independence and stuck to their religions convictions.

Sultan a Usurper, In plain terms, they consider the SulT ( more than a usurper of tlio Caliphate. Tlio tnie claimants, according to their leaders, are in' Mecca and the representatives in the Ottoman House of Parliament from Mecca and Medina were always, according to their mandate, hostile to the Turkish flovornment.' Coming to the attitude of the Mohammodiuis of India', Mr, Vamvaeas declares that they are never seen in Constantinople, paying their Tespects to-the Padishah, On the- contrary, their objective, and that of Algerians and Tunisians, has always been. Bagdad.'' - Ro 1 • ®! moreover,, if any faith- can. be put m the opinions. of Mohammedans living away frorii the ancient Ottoman Empire and free from Pan-Islaiiio propa--1 ganda. It cannot, moreover, bo in the interests of the Allies to grant to the sultan an authority which oven interested parties havo never tried to- grant mm; and Mr. Vamvaeas se.es nothing

but a danger to the liberal pavers, a well as to tlio Christian popul ,ijons ii "•« Levant, in maintaining '> - at Constantinople, as it is •' t u the interests of the Turks On the other Jiand, Ins removai ( iirbm the city and the formation of a tnily Turkish State composed of places liko homa, Angora, Castaconie, and a largo part of t'Lio_ vilayet of Brousse, regions really containing truly compact Turkish populations, wou.ld contribute in making tho Turks an element of valuo in these vilayets. The new Turkish State would have an area more than half that of France, though its population would be ten times less. ■ ■ •

New Capital of the Turk. Mr. Vamvacas thinks "■ that .Konia would make the best capital for the Turk, since it is the depository of the Turkish sword, without tho assistance of which a Sultan cannot ascend ithe throne of tho Osmau. Their. Padishah could keop tho title of Oaliph whether the Mohammedans recognised this' titlo or not. The religious Turks have already carried on a campaign in favour of Konia. '

If tho Sultan is left in Constantinople, concludes Mr. Vnmvacas, tho same conditions internal and external aro also left there, ami there -will bo trouble in tho future as in tho past. Thoro v-ould bo a renewed struggle between Tnrkeyism and Christianism, and a perpetuation of tho antagonism between the different- denominations. The Sultan's removal could not hut be a signal for tho removal, once and for all, of all differences, and tho beginning of a rew era for civilisation in the Orient — "Christian Science. Monitor."