TROUBLE IN TURKEY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3172, 24 April 1909, Page 5

TROUBLE IN TURKEY

SULTAN NOT YET DEPOSED. CONFLICTING REPORTS. | LARGE INVESTING ARMY. United Press [Association— By Electric Telegraph Copyright. Received April 23, 8.55 a.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 22. Though confident assurances are given in Constantinople that the Sultan will not be deposed, Enver Bey and other leaders of the Constitutional party insist on the contrary. The investing army numbei's 25,000, and reinforcements and artillery are arriving daily. The Constantinople police confis cated the journal Hilal for publishing a violent article disputing the Sultan's title to be Khalif, and citing the circumstances of previous depositions of Sultans. A WAVE OF FANATICISM. Received April 23,"8.55 a.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 22. The wave of fanaticism is directly traceable] t to respect for the Sheriat (the sacred law of the Turks), and the popularity of the Sultan. The unrest is spreading in the Eastern provinces. Kurds, Circassians, and Nomads, are devastating Christian villages throughout the vilayets of Sivas, in Asia Minor, and Aleppo, in Syria. GARRISON WON OVER. Received April 23, 8.20 a.m. LONDON, April 22. Reuter's Agency reports that Izzet Pasha, Chief of the General Staff, who was the principal Constantinople member of the Committee of Union and Progress, so directed affairs that the First Corps garrisoning the city was won over to the Constitutional cause. He was ablv assisted by Rifaat Pasha, formerly Turkish Ambassador, in London. The Committee detached practically every person of distinction from the Sultan, and refused to negotiate with any one on the Sultan's behalf regarding his future.

SULTAN DID NOT MAKE OVERTURES, Received April 23, 9.10 p.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 22. The Sultan did not as previously stated make uvertures to the Young Turk Party. Armenian ladies of the Red Cross Society presented Husni Pasha's troops with a flag, which was thankfully accepted. Many Armenian ladies presented them with flowers, and they were offered the services of the Red Crescent Society if needed. Contingents of the Third Army Corps sent across the Sea of Marmora (separating European from Asiatic Turkey), occupied the railway station at Eskishehr, intercepting from Constantinople.

THOUSANDS OF ARMENIANS MASSACRED. Received April 23, 9.50 p.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 23. Between ten and fifteen thousand Armenians have been massacred in Syria, principally in the Adana vilayet. The Government urgently instructed the Vali to suppress disturbances and deal vigorously with the ringleaders. The situation at Tarus has improved. The reactionariese in the districts devastated spared neither women nor children. The massacres everywhere were conducted with the greatest violence and accompanied by shouts of "Not a twig of an accursed race shall be suffered to live." Received April 23, 10.55 p.m. LONDON, April 23. The latest Constantinople advies state that the Government have unconditionally accepted the Sherket's demands, including the formation of a Cabinet and the election of a President of the Chamber. Received April 24, 12.25 a.m. LONDON, April 24. Advices from Salonica statee that the Sherket has proceeded to the front, and will direct investment operations. It is rumoured that the Sultan is preparing for resistance.