NEW IDEAS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 17 November 1927, Page 3

NEW IDEAS

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

EXPELLING EMIGRES.

If the Turkish Government holds to its last decision on the question of expelling from Turkish territory all White Russian refugees who fail to become citizens of the Ottoman Republic by Ist February, 1928, Con-, stantinople will lose one of its most picturesque colonies. Such is the view held by Wilhelm Feldmann, special correspondent in Turkey of the Berlin “Vossische Zeitung,” who writes:—

“It is a- matter of a small remnant of the army of refugees that came to Stamboul seven or eight years ago following the occupation of South Russia by the Bolsheviks. At that time they numbered 80,000 men, women, and children. To-day there aro only 2800. The Entente had received the refugees in Stamboul as allies and found quarters for them by force. The Turkish villas on the Princes’ Isles and the Bosphorus were requisitioned .-for the White Russians. “This situation did not last long. It became impossible after the triumph of the Kemalists, which restored the independence of Turkey. When the victory of the Kemalists seeined assured the Entente hastened to evacuate the Russians. They were sent to Serbia. Bulgaria, France, and Brazil. The last few thousand obtained permission to stay in Constantinople until August, 1927. now extended to Ist February, 1928. “Turkey decided that only those who became Turkish citizens could remain permanently. Since then about 1000 White Russians have asked for Turkish citizenship, and thus far only two have obtained it. Turkey is not anxious to have citizens whose hearts are entirely wrapped up in their old fatherland, and who would return to Russia at' the first opportunity. “Russians svit the Turks better than do all other foreigners, with the exception of the racially-allied Hungarians. . . . Especially as regards the refinements of life, they have become the teachers of the Turks. The Russians’ co-operation has helped in effecting the transformation in the Turkish way of living striven for by the Kemalists, The Russian refugees played in' Turkey—and still nlay—the same role played by French refugees in so manv countries after the revolution of 1789. THEyREAL PROFESSION. “The art of Jiving was the real profession of these men and women, rhe majority of whom had belonged to good social circles at home. They sold to their Turkish hqsts the social knowledge so greatly in demand here at the time of the Kemalist revolution.. “The first ptflblic places of entertainment lit to be attended by ladies in Turkey, the finest restaurants and I coffee houses, were established by I Russians. Russian refugees brought i the modern dances, introduced boob- i cd hair. . . . Russian women sold : silk lingerie, shawls, and kimonos. | Even the turban, which Turkish • women wear as a headdress since the j abolition of the compulsory veil, is I an invention of the refugee Russian women. Thev covered their hair with gay cloths because they were too poor to buy hats. “Most of the musicians of Stamboul are Russians. Among the waiters and chauffeurs they form a high percentage. .. . Toward midnightfi when the day’s work is done, the refugees gather before the Russian confectionery shops in the upper part of Great Pera street. They talk about the only jthing that really interests them—Russia. Every report about the weakening of Soviet rule is snapped up greedily. They all live in hopes of a 'speedy return and their disappearance will leave a home. Some day they will be gone, gap. The Turks will miss them, for it is almost impossible to imagine Stamboul without these Russian refugees.”