Turkey

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 67, 23 June 1916, Page 5

Turkey

UPRISING IN ARABIA. ARABS IN POSSESSION OF MECCA. [United Pbkss Association.] (Received 8.45 a.in.) London, June 22. News lias reached hero of a sueressful uprising of Arabs against I urkey, Mecca having been taken.

INDEPENDENCE PROCLAIMED.

TURKISH GARRISONS SUR-

RENDER.

BITTER RESENTMENT OF GERMAN DOMINION IN TURKEY.;

~ jj. , (Received 9.50, a.m.) London, June 22. Arabia; has proclaimed its independence. '' Tlx© Grand Sheref captured Mecca, Jeddah, and Taif. The Turkish garrisons surrendered. The rising although only last of a series of rebellious against the Turkish rule, was greatly stimulated by the resentment of German dominion iii Turkey. “HOLY PLAGES.”

THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF 1914.

HiNM*-V 4 dn •> •sif TURKEY’S BETRAYAL OF| .^SLAMISM.

UnITBD?KXM ABBOCIATir.IT. ; . , '/ London, June 22. Newspapers in London arc giving prominence to the Government of India’s declaration of November, 1014, regarding holy places, and the Aga Khan’s emphatic pronouncement in November, 1914, concerning Turkey’s betrayal,of her trusteeship of Islam.

OPERATIONS BEGAN ON 9th.

CAPTURES OF MEN AND GUNS.

(Received 8,45 a.m.) Cairo, June 22

The Grand Sheref was supported by tribes from West and Central Arabia.

Operations were begun on the 9th

The Sheref’s forces captured the Jeddah, Mecca, and Taif garrisons. With the exception of two small forts in Taif, all surrendered.

Forty-five officers, fourteen hundred men, and six guns were captured at Jeddah.

The Sheref is closely besieging Medina, and holds the communications to Hedjaz.

(Arabia, known to its inhabitants as Jezirat-al-Arab, and to the Turks as Arabistan, is a massive quadrangular peninsula of Asia in the south-west of the continent, lying between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman on the east, and the Red Sea on the west, with no natural frontier on the north. The length of the country from north to south is 1500 miles, with an average breadth of 800 miles, having an

area 1,200,000 square miles, or about ,one-third of Europe. British influence is predominant in the Gulf of Persia. The population of the country is estimated at 3£ millions, mainly Arabs and followers of Mohammed. Some of the tribes are practically independent, but the Oman are under the protection of the British and French Govenmcnts. The chief centres of Hedjaz are Medina (the city of Mohammed's flight and death), and Mecca (east of its port of Jeddah). Mecca, as the birth-place of Mohammed, and the scene of the annual pilgrimage (hajj), is the holy city 4 of the Mohammedan world. It stands in a narrow ‘ valley surrounded by bare hills; the new town has almost a European aspect. Mecca has always been a centre Of trade, but its industries are now confined to pottery and articles for

sale to pilgrims. One of the most important of uie sacred rites is to walk seven times round the Kaaba, a massive cube-like structure, said to have been founded by Abraham, its four sides are covered with black silk, which is annually renewed at the time ol the liajj. This covering, which is known as the ‘holy carpet,’ is sent every year from Cairo, and is carried in procession from Jeddah to -no city. Openings in the silk are left to show two sacred stones. The black stone at one of the angles is a special object ol veneration. The Kaaba stands in an enclosure capable of holding 35,000 people. The permanent population is estimated at 60,000; the pilgrims sometimes number 100,000. The railway from Damascus to Mecca was open as far as Medina (81.2 miles), in 1908. It is also proposed to construct a line from Mecca to Jeddah. Non-Mohamme-dan visitors enter Mecca at the risk of their lives; it has, however, boon visited bv several Europeans.)