Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, APRIL 8th, 1920. TURKEY IN EUROPE.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 April 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, APRIL Bth, 1920. TURKEY IN EUROPE.

The renewal of the military spirit in Turkey and the uncertainty of the fate which the Supreme Council will defj’ee for the Ottoman Empire, lend additional interest to “The Turks in Europe,” a. recent publication, by Air W. E. D‘. Allen. Mr Allen traces their history from the crossing of the Bosphorus, in the 14th. century, to the Treaty of Bucharest, in 1913, which marks a decisive epoch in Turkish annals. The chronicle of subsequent events, as Mr Allen observes- should be styled not “A History- of the Turks in in Europe,” but “A History of the Germans in Turkey,” and though the historian can catch some dim glimpses, of the forces at work, and of those who manipulated them, the fulfilment of his task must await the provision of more authoritative material. Mr Allen unravels with, an expert hand the tangled skein of politics in the Near E'ast and devotes detailed consideration . to the “Young Turk” movement, in which a specious constitutionalism was merely the cloak for pan-Islamic ambition. The lesson of his book is twofold. In the first place, if the? Supreme Council decides upon the Expulsion of the Porte from Europe, it will have ample justification in Turkey’s record, whish has been one of unrelieved blackness. The massacres which have periodically shocked the world are not isolated acts of oppression; they are merely, so to speak, the intensification of a routine system of misgovernment and calculated persecution. In the second place, for 250 years the history of Turkey in /Europe has been one of the disintegration, every phase of which has embroiled or threatened to embroil Europe. Turkey, whether strong or crumbling has been a constant menace to peace; her expulsion would remove at least one of the factors of unrest. Although no one would credit the Turks with statesmanship, they have always shown a considerable degree of cunning in establishing their position, and turning the rivalries of European Powers to account. They are opportunists with a talent for letting others do the work while they take the profit. Even, their original conquests were not, in the main, the result of their own feat of arms. The renowned Turkish Janissaries, who from the 14th century onwards were the most dreaded body of troops in Europe, were for the most part not Turks at all. The Turks recognised the fighting qualities of the, Balkan mountaineers. In lieu of tribute the Serbs, Bulgurs. Albanians, and others each supplied a thousand hoys a year between the ages of 10 and 12 years. The healthiest and most intelligent' were taken, were forcibly- converted to Alohammedanism, and after six years of training were drafted into the Janissaries (liberally- “the New- Army”). This corps of 12,000 men lived under an iron discipline: to its members the excitements of war came as a relief from the rigours of 'barrack life. Liberal pensions, great opportunities of promotion and unstinted loot, made the service attractive, and by the middle of the 16th century these Janissaries had carried the Crescent almost to Vienna on the one hand, and deep into Russia on the. other. But the collapse of the Turkish Empire, which began at the end of the 17th century, is a signal illustration of the truth that those who live bytho sword, shall perish by the sword. Giaour armies defeated the redoubtable Janissaries. Vassal states asserted their independence, nad gt-dually added to their domains. After the treaty of Bucharest in 1913, Turkey in Europe was but a shaow of her former self. From the Treaty of Versailles the most she can hope for is the carefully supervised possession of the. capital though even that may be denied her.