CRISIS IN TURKEY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3170, 22 April 1909, Page 5

CRISIS IN TURKEY.

MINISTRY ACCUSED OF * COWARDICEUnited Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright, Received April r ,21, 8.30 a.m. ATHENS, April 20. Mukhtar Pasha, who commanded the Turkish army in Armenia during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, has reached Athens on board a German vessel. § Mukhtar states that the Ministry and the Parliament were too cowardly to proclaim a state of siege in Constantinople, otherwise the revolt would have been nipped in the bud. YOUNG TURKS DEMANDS. Received April 21, 8.5 a.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 20. Izzet Pasha, Chief of the General Staff, who was sent to parley with the forces advancing on the capital, reports that the Young Turks reiterate their demands, and intend to send five battalions to assist the authorities at Constantinople in the maintenance of order. JJ British warships have landed eight hundred bluejackets at Mersina. (on ! the south coast of Asia Minor, 36 miles south-west of Adana). A /VELLEQUIPPPED FORCE. SECRET AGENTS ARRESTED. Received April 21, 10.50 p.m. CONSTANTINOLPE, April 21. All the food and live stock required for Hasni Pasha's troops were paid for in cash. One military attache counted thirty machine guns, and another learns that the corps as 60 field pieces and is well horsed. Hasni Pasha, considers that besides taking he must be able to patrol and control the city, which contains one million inhabitants with many dangerous mob elements. Trains full of visitors arriving at Sanstfanc yesterday included many secret agents seeking to converse with the troops. Fifty were arrested, several of whom were disguised as hadjas.

CONSTANTINOPLE PRACTICALLY SUKROUNDED. Received April 21, 11.C5 p.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 21. The city is practically surrounded, and a force with several heavy guns from Tchataldja are -approaching. Cabinet is discussing Hasni Pasha's terms. , One report states the Sultan has been allowed until to-night to abdicate. YOUNG TURK PARTY MORE CONCILIATORY. Received April 22, 12.50 a.m. VIENNA, April 21. Immense surprise has been caused in Vienna by the statements of the Austrian official telegraph agency that a more conciliatory mood is apparent among the Young Turk Party, and that the authority of Abo-ul-Hamid is likely to be maintained. This is interpreted as pointing to some diplomatic intervention—probably German or Austro-German. LONDON, April 21. The Vienna correspondent of "The Times" states that the German Ambassador is reported to be using all his influence with the Constantinople members of the late Committee of the Union and Progress with a view to retaining the Sultan.

A PROCLAMATION. Received April 21, 10 p.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 21. The Sultan's yacht, after getting up steam, tooK ammunition on board. Hasni Pasha, the commander of the Salonika troops, has issued a proclamation addressed to the garrison and inhabitants, assuring them of the safety of their lives and property. Hasni Pasha's troops are spread in a semi-circle within calling distance of the walls of Constantinople, and intersecting all roads thence. The force is well fed, and disciplined and confident. Military attaches are amazed at the excellence of the equipment.

"THE SULTAN HAS NOTHING TO LOSE, GAIN OR FEAR." THE ADANA MASSACRE. TERRIBLE SCENES. Received April2l, 11.30 p.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 21. Tewfik Pasha was the only counsellor who received an audience at Yildiz, and he spent 30 out of the last 48 hours with the Sultan, who is secluded in his favourite pavilion. The Sultan professes to await the arrival of the |Constitutionalist Army with benevolence and equanimity. Tewfik Pasha declares that the Sultan has nothing to lose, gain or fear, since he is the supreme guardian of the Constitution. The Sultan has ordered that not a shot be fired against the Committee's forces. Consular telegrams estimate that there were 2,000 deaths at Adana, and 3,000 [elsewhere in the vilayet, which is in a state of anarchy. The position at Marash is still precarious, owing to the renewed attacks on Armenians. Advices from Laranaca state that the massacre at Adana began in the markets on Wednesday. A Moslem mob, impelled by fanaticism, and a desire to loot, kiMed five Armenians. They then withdrew to their own quarter, and resisted the mobs for 48 hours. Hordes of Moslem villagers then arrived, and were supplied with arms by the authorities, who affected to regard them as a military reserve. Terrible scenes followed, |and women and children were horribly mutilated, and the town resembles a shambles. There were similar scenes /at Tarsus. Four thousand persons took refnge in the American College.