Constantinople

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 7, 25 February 1925, Page 49

Constantinople

.v __ 'f The following should be of interest at the ''wu'esent time in view of the strained rela‘ykous (as indicated in cable messages to the ■ r press) existing between the Govern*V-•; ments of Turkey and Greece: ■i “The selection of Angora as the capital of the Turkish Republic has already* meant,

and will increasingly mean, the growing neglect of Constantinople by many important foreign factors,” says the London Times correspondent in Turkey. “The stark fact remains that, however ' corrupt and incompetent the old regime may have been, many of those in high places were at least educated and courtly men of the world. Whatever the benefit to the country at large, the social life of Constantinople is at least much poorer for the gradual disappearance of this class. 'sr “If ever there was a city marked out by > ’ nature and by the course of historical events to be a bridgehead between two civilisations, , that city is Constantinople.

GROWING NEGLECT.

“Constantinople, in spite of the evil days through which it is passing, is still a considerable port. Straddling two continents, and so situated that it can be regarded almost as a port either of the Mediterranean or of the Black Sea, Constantinople has a constantly fluid population of cosmopolitan

sailors and business men. Nor is that all. Just as the scanty. Railway system of the Balkans comes to its terminus in Stambul linger the grey walls of the Old Palace of the Sultan, so, too, Haidar Pasha, a mile or so away across the waters, is a starting point for a no less meagre ribbon of line that threads its tortuous way through the Anatolian uplands. Whether, in short, you travel by "land or by sea, on pleasure or on business, no comprehensive tour can be made in this part of the Near East without a visit to Constantinople. “But, although these are the merest truisms, and must in all probability long remain so, there is equally no doubt that the

—...p > recent changes both inside and outside Turkey have combined to make Constantinople less distinctively the supreme meeting place between East and West, Of all the changes, then, due to external affairs, the most striking has been the altered position of Constantinople due to the territorial losses incurred in the Great War, and -in the preceding Balkan wars. , ■ “As Jong as Turkey stretched out* along the northern shores of the Mediterranean and, through Albania, touched the Adriatic;

Constantinople was comparatively easy of access to many nations. The redrawing of the political map, the still inflamed .chauvinism and suspiciousness of the different States, and the eventual completion of the exchange of populations, must all combine to discourage a large influx of Balkan visitors.”