INSIDE CONSTANTINOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 217, 1 February 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

INSIDE CONSTANTINOPLE

A GRAPHIC REPORT. A Leeds lady (Mrs. Rountree) connected with the foreign missions sent to the Yorkshire Post this graphic report on the condition of the Turkish capital on the day that tiie armistice was proclaimed:— "The patriotism of the Turk remains the same. Sympathy is extended to the wounded and the sick who have been returned to the hospital, and the Turkish high-born ladies have risen, as they never have done before, to alleviate the distress that has followed upon the war. Only last Saturday I saw many such ladies standing publicly on the Galata Bridge selling souvenirs in order to pro- ■ vide comforts for the men at the front and the necessaries of life for those at home dependent upon them. But it is ridiculous to suppose that the bulk of the male population of Turkey is in the lighting line. There is, of course, a conscription in vogue which takes all •men between the ages of IS) and 30 who do not pay what is known as the Exemption Tax. A tax of £4O is imposed upon such as do not join the army, and, in that way it is said that a sum of' £SOU,UOO has been raised in Constantinople alone. Details of the lighting are. of course, being rigorously censored in CoiiM-antinople, but the people there cannot be deluded. The news of the disasters speedily leaked out, but everywhere the greatest calmness prevailed. The Turks are, as I have found them, calm and composed in times of crisis, and thought one cannot tell to what lengths they might go if their religious fanaticism were aroused, I feel convinced that foreigners and Christians in Constantinople have nothing to fear. People from the Balkan States have, of course, almost entirely left the Turkish capital, though they have only been able to do so by paying what is called a professional tax. Any Serb, Montenegrin, Bulgarian or Greek'who wanted to leave ' Constantinople could only obtain his passport by paying £l2, and so the Turkish war fund has been enriched. The Turkish attitude on the matter is that men who are enemies within the gates must pay to get out. There has been a tremendous exodus of the working population in Constantinople, but | with the conclusion orf peace with Italy I a great number of Italians are being imj ported to take the vacant places.' Within Constantinople itself no one imagines I that such a thing as an investment of j the city by the allied armies- is possible. j The people there have great faith that j there will be a Turkish rally, and that ! the invaders will be driven back. So j far there is no disposition to question the lighting qualities or the bravery of | the Turkish soldiers. Their defeats are . attributed entirely to the incapacity of the generals. It is a common saying in Constantinople that Nazim Pasha, the War .Minister, has had his plans upset | : by the disregarding of his orders to his [generals. Whether the Allies can actually attack Constantinople remains to be seen; but it must be very difficult for them to do so, seeing that'before doing so they would have to cross over into Asia, and take possession of the Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus. They cannot so transport their armies with stores and artillery whilst the Turkish fleet remains intact. That fleet has, as yet, been little heard of, but I noticed as I sailed away from Constantinople last Tuesday that the great Turkish battleship Messondieh was being brought out of dock preparatory, it was said, to assuming active operations against the Greeks in the Aegean Sea. It was common talk in Constantinople that the whole Ottoman fleet was to be hurled against the one big Greek battleship, whose existence constitutes a grave source of anxiety. But no one stantinople fears that the Greeks will ever attempt to force the passage of the Dardanelles, and no Turk ever contemplates the possibility of the city falling into the hands of the Balkan armies. Nor do the English and other foreign residents believe such a thing possible. If such a thing did happen I know the feeling of tiie bulk of the foreign residents is such that they would prefer the rule of the Turks to that of either the Bulgarians or Greeks. But. as I say, the capture of Constantinople is believed to be impossible, and a siege could never he effective so long as the Turkish fleet i* able to operate in the Black Sea and keep open the source of supplies."