No More Learning

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? VIII-ILLUSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
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? VIII
Illusions and Disappointments
These are the conditions with which one
has to reckon if one wants to realize how
hard a task it is to keep the Turkish rule
in Turkey. A small minority in num-
bers, they have not even the comfort of
being, as our often-mentioned Germans
in Austria, a relative majority : whilst,
against 10,000,000 Germans, there are only
6,435,000 Czechs, 5,000,000 Poles, etc. , in
the Ottoman Empire the Arabs outnumber
the Turks. The Turkish culture is one
of the poorest in Turkey, their language
is one of the least considered ; their part
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
in the higher levels of economic life is little
short of nothing. Peasants, soldiers and
officials, they rule the country only as
long as they are able to keep the sword
and the seal in their hands. Their author-
ity is not supported by any fact of the
life outside the barrack and the office ;
it is built upon itself alone and can only
last as long as every seat representing
any infinitesimal fraction of power is kept
by a Turk.
The conclusion is clear. Turkish rule
in Turkey can be assured only by autoc-
racy, and rather a mediaeval autocracy.
When we say mediaeval our intention is
to point to the well-known fact that ab-
solutism in the middle ages meant practi-
cally much more individual freedom than
for instance " V absolutisme eclair e " of
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? ILLUSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
the eighteenth century. The latter en-
deavoured to interfere with every detail
of private or municipal life. The former
cared for recruits, taxes, obedience -- and
nothing else. Such was the system of
the Old Turkish Sultans, taken as a whole
and apart from exceptions. The Old Turk-
ish imperial formula was : " sovereignty,
power, politics are our exclusive business ;
the inner affairs of the non-Turkish com-
munities are their own exclusive business. "
So the Old Turk kept every thread of
political power jealously in Turkish hands.
But he despised and avoided, as a rule,
every meddling with the communal, ecclesi-
astical, or scholastic affairs of his Christian
and Jewish subjects. They enjoyed a kind
of communal autonomy which ought to be
studied even for purposes of modern legis-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
lation. Every non-Mahommedan nation-
ality throughout the Empire was considered
as a legally constituted and organized
" millet " (Turkish for "nation"). There
was the " millet-i-rum," including all the
Greeks of the Ottoman Empire, " millet-
i-bulgar " for the Bulgarian schismatics,
" millet-i-ermeni " for the Armenians,
11 millet-i-moussevie " for the Jews. Every
millet was ruled by a representative body,
called " Medjliss," i. e. , Parliament, or Diet,
and a spiritual Chief, Patriarch or Exarque,
or Chief Rabbi. The ecclesiastical titles
must not mislead us : the functions of
these dignitaries were far from being purely
ecclesiastical. The Chief was the acknow-
ledged legal representative of his millet
before the Sublime Porte in all political
matters. On the other side he was the
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? ILLUSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
constitutional leader of his " nation. " The
organization of the little " parliaments "
was sometimes very interesting. The most
complete of all those miniature constitu-
tions was the so-called " Sahmanadrutiun "
-- the Statute of the Armenian community,
passed law in 1862. It included elaborate
provisions for the election of members of
the medjliss. The latter was divided into
two boards^ -- one for purely ecclesiastical
affairs, one for the secular matters of the
community. These secular matters em-
braced a very wide province of civil life :
education, hospitals, charity, marriages,
divorces, questions of heritage, dowries,
etc. , transfer of real property from one
member of the community to another.
Such wide inner autonomy was especially
valuable in matters of education. The
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
f
schools, elementary or higher, belonging
to the different communities, were free
from any interference of the Government :
they chose by themselves their language,
programme, school books, and teachers.
In numerous schools, where even foreign
languages were taught, the teaching of
Turkish was completely neglected. The
Old Turk did not care a snap for it.
" Speak what you like and learn what
you prefer, only do not interfere with my
State's power," was the basic principle of
his political wisdom.
Then the Young Turks came, and " ils
ont change tout cela. " On the one side
they introduced a constitution which ad-
mitted non-Turks to the control of State's
affairs. On the other side they showed
an unquestionably keen intention to inter-
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? ILLUSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
fere with the inner affairs of the up-to-then
autonomous communities. Their formula
was : " We meddle in your business and
you meddle in ours. " It was quite the
opposite of the old system -- the old system
which kept the Ottoman Empire through
centuries, because it left to the subject
races an illusion of freedom in the things
that were most sacred to them. The new
system frightened and exasperated them
by its menace to get under the thumb
of the State the last remnants of their
national life ; it made of them even
more implacable foes of the Ottoman
idea than before. At the same time it
handed to them a big share of the State's
power !
A Parliament is supposed to reflect the
co-relation of the social forces existing in
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the country. Those social forces are con-
stituted not only of numbers of men
belonging to the different groups of popu-
lation. Their respective wealth, culture,
the part they play in the vital branches
of the country's activity -- all these count
not less than bare numbers. Votes are
not simply counted -- they are weighed
says a modern political proverb. Here in
Turkey everything was against the Turks
-- numbers, culture, economic role. How-
ever, they managed to secure something
like a Turkish majority at the first elections
owing to the unpreparedness and disunion
of the Christian races, the disorganization
of Arabs and Albanians. But it soon
became clear that at the following elec-
tions the numerical and economic pre-
dominance of the non-Turkish elements
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? ILLUSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
would inevitably find its expression in the
structure of the Parliament.
In the beginning of the constitutional
era the Young Turks overlooked this per-
spective. They were yet under the spell
of the illusion which we have just described
-- the illusion of the coming " ottomaniza-
tion " of the non-Turkish races. At that
moment they were, or sincerely believed
that they were, utterly and thoroughly
democratic. We remember the outburst
of their indignation when, in 1909, Damad
Ferid, one of the Senators, proposed to
strengthen the constitutional powers of
the Crown. His argument was that, owing
to the overwhelming predominance of non-
Turks, the only asset which was and would
remain Turkish for ever was the Osman
dynasty : therefore, the State's power
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
should be vested rather in the unchanging
Crown than in the unstable Parliament.
This Senator happened to be a Damad --
the Sultan's son-in-law. His proposal was
generally attributed to this delicate re-
lationship. The Young Turks unanimously
refused to accept his point of view. The
objections then formulated on their side
had a frankly republican accent. Even
ecclesiastical members of the Lower
Chamber declared that it was against
the spirit of the Koran to strengthen the
throne. Two years after, the Damad's
argument became the keystone of the
whole Young Turkish policy. In Decem-
ber, 1911, when Said Pasha introduced
a bill enlarging the Crown's rights for
dissolution of the Chamber, Ahmed Riza
showed, as president of the assembly con-
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? ILLUSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
cerned, the most unexpected energy in
checking every attempt of opposition to
this measure. Before the outbreak of the
Tripoli campaign -- i. e. , before the be-
ginning of the systematic destruction of
Turkey -- the republican coquetries were
entirely forgotten and the Young Turks
represented what they are now -- a purely
monarchist, nationalist, conservative party.
They abhor every idea of real political
progress, not because they like inertia, but
because in Turkish conditions progress
means liquidation of Turkish rule in Tur-
key. Life, the great Counsellor, forced
them to return to the old wisdom of the
Old Turks.
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? ? EST DELENDA"
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? IX
" Est Delenda "
This natural fear of progress is not only
felt in political matters. It can be said
without exaggeration that it became the
main spring of the whole Young Turkish
system, applied even to problems of a
purely economical character.
The absence
of a Turkish commercial, industrial or
intellectual middle class means that any
step forward in the economical develop-
ment of the country must inevitably result
in enriching the non-Turks and conse-
quently in weakening the Turkish element.
This fatality lends a dangerous political
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
flavour to the most harmless enterprises,
such, for instance, as creation of electric
tramways or building of harbour-quays.
What is the use of it since directors,
officials, clerks, engineers, foremen will in-
evitably be Greeks, Armenians, Jews,
Levantines, if not foreigners altogether ?
It had been thought that the Old Turk's
instinctive dislike of introducing foreign
capital in Turkey was caused only by
fear of international complications. Now
in the case of the Young Turk we see that
it was and is rather the apprehension of
inner complications.
We have repeated the word fatality
several times. Let it not pass unnoticed
or be taken for a mere rhetorical ornament.
The progress of Turkey is a thing of objec-
tive impossibility. After all, the Revolu-
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? " EST DELENDA "
tion of 1908 was not the first attempt to
open the gates of progress to the Ottoman
Empire. Midhat Pasha was once a greater
Liberal than any of the Young Turkish
leaders of to-day, and he was surely a
great and wise statesman ; and even before
Midhat's time the important reforms of
1839 and 1856 -- the so-called Tanzimat --
were unquestionably inspired by broad
liberal ideas. The Tanzimat resulted
practically in failure, and Midhat's career
in tragedy. It would be naive and
short-sighted to attribute these miscar-
riages simply to personal attitudes of
Sultans or to intrigues of Ambassadors.
Nor can they be fairly ascribed to the
influence of Mahomet's law. Did Islam
prevent the mediaeval Arabs from becom-
ing the leading race of western civiliza-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
tion ? We sometimes hear travellers and
journalists talk of a " negative spirit of
Islam. " It is a mistake. A great religion,
whatever be its minor errors, is always a
positive and a constructive driving-force,
unless it becomes a weapon in the hands
of a Power which has negative interests.
Such a Power is the Ottoman Empire. The
Ottoman Empire : not the Turkish race.
Were the Turks, so to say, left alone in
the limits of a strictly-national State, with-
out the burden of ruling a huge majority
of other races, they would unquestionably
have shown themselves second to none in
that corner of the world where the standards
of modern culture are kept by Bulgars
and Roumanians. They would have de-
veloped a quite decent commercial and
professional middle class ; they would have
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? " EST DELENDA "
created an industry, a literature, a theatre
of their own. But fate, glorious and
tragic, made of them gardeners in a garden
too big for their resources. So it inevitably
became their only concern to prevent grass
from growing, buds from flowering -- if pos-
sible, sun from shining. This was their
only way to keep, somehow, the colossal
household from overgrowing, throttling and
ejecting its masters.
Optimists may ask : is there no possi-
bility of a change in the Turkish psycho-
logy ? Could they not make up their
minds to submit to the inevitable loss of
their own dominating position in Turkey
for the sake of Turkey's unity ? Could
they not give in to the necessity of their
own submersion by a flood of non-Turkish
elements for the sake of the preservation
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
of an Ottoman Empire that would be
Ottoman no longer ? To all these questions
everyone who has any understanding of
what is called a nation's soul will find only
one reply : No, never. Ruling races hardly
submit to such transformations even where
the change evolves slowly and gradually.
Since it became evident in Austria that
the growth of the Slavs menaced, though
in a remote future, to undermine the
dominating part which belonged to the
German element, the German Nationalists
lost every interest for the conservation
of Austria's unity. On the contrary, they
began to look for a possible reduction of
Austria's size in order to carve out a
country not so vast -- but with a solid
German majority. Their programme of
1882 -- so called " Das Linzer Programm "
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? " EST DELENDA "
-- asked for the " Sonderstellung " of
Galicia, i. e. , for exclusion of the main Slav
province from the number of the " king-
doms and lands represented in the Reichs-
rath. " Their battlecry was, as an ironic
verse put it, " Das Vaterland soil kleiner
sein " -- let the Fatherland be smaller.
This is the natural attitude of a ruler who
has to choose between loss of power and
reduction of his State's boundaries. Un-
less he is a saint -- which peoples never are
-- he will prefer to remain the chief in a
village rather than to become one of the
crowd in Rome. Old Turks or Young
Turks, they will never accept the perspec-
tive of an Ottoman Empire where the
power of the Turkish race would be reduced
to a share proportionate to its numerical,
economical, and cultural nullity. Shall this
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
be the reward and the result of centuries
of glorious military exploits and wise
statesmanlike decisions which made the
names of so many Sultans and Viziers
immortal ? The Turks -- Old or Young --
will try their utmost to prevent this national
catastrophe ; and, as the only way to
prevent it is to block the natural evolution
of the vital forces of the country, that is
what they will do.
Turkey under Turkish rule is doomed
to remain backward, unenlightened,
barren. This doom is irremovable so long
as the Ottoman Empire shall last, and
its heavy burden crushes and condemns
to death every spiritual bud that sprouts
from either Turkish or non-Turkish stalks.
The destruction of the historical absurdum
called the Ottoman Empire will be a bless-
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? " EST DELENDA "
ing for both Turks and non-Turks. The
latter, independent or placed under pro-
tection of mighty civilizing Powers, will
freely develop their long-subdued vitali-
ties ; the former, liberated from the op-
pressive load of Imperial responsibilities,
will enter an era of peaceful and productive
renaissance. He who wishes Turkey's
destruction is a friend, not a foe of the
Turkish race.
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? PART III -- CONTROVERSIAL POINTS OF THE
PARTITION SCHEME
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? X -- A LIST OF CLAIMS
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? X
A List of Claims
The purpose of this introductory chapter
is simply to recall the extent of the various
territorial claims which have any serious
chance to be considered in the emergency
of the coming dismemberment of the Otto-
man Empire. We say to recall, and this
term marks the exact limits of our present
task. We are not prepared to try to explain
all such claims, to defend them, to sup-
port them : our object consists mainly
in, so to say, drawing a map of the existent
aspirations. To discuss whether the rea-
sons and interests upon which they seem
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
to be founded are valid in every case is
beyond our intentions. Such discussions
are, as a rule, useless and in the majority
of the cases impossible. The arguments
generally employed to support territorial
claims are mostly as hard to refute as to
prove. Is, for instance, the presence of
French-speaking inhabitants a sufficient
reason for the establishment of a French
protectorate ? It is and it is not : it is
in the case of Beyrouth, but it is not in
the case of Salonika or Constantinople,
although French is much more frequently
spoken in the two latter towns than in
the Syrian harbour. Or, to take another
example, does the existence of invested
Italian capital constitute a fair base for
Italian annexation ? It certainly does for
Valona, but it would not for Syria, al-
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? A LIST OF CLAIMS
though, from a pure economical stand-
point, Italy's capital is much more in-
terested in Syrian than in Albanian enter-
prises. What matters is the will of a
great nation to expand in a given
direction : interests, reasons, arguments,
historical recollections, religious senti-
ments and what not are only of secondary
importance.
In one case only does it seem to us
advisable to call the reader's attention to
the real interests involved in the issue :
when the situation shows germs of a
controversy between the Allies themselves,
or between Allies and neutrals. To make
a comparison between two contending
claims is much easier than to give
a plausible proof of the absolute well-
foundedness of one. We only know of two
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
instances where a unanimous agreement
between the Allies (although attained and
secured between the Governments) is not
fully realized by the public. One is the
fate of Constantinople and the Straits.
It has been ascertained from reliable
sources that the Entente Cabinets have
arrived at a full mutual understanding on
this secular problem ; but public opinion
in England and Italy does not yet seem
sufficiently prepared to welcome the solu-
tion foreshadowed by the Allied diplomacy
in accordance with the vital interests
of Russia. The second question which
is still unsettled so far as uninitiated
circles are concerned is the delimitation
of French and English spheres of in-
fluence in Syria. It seems that a com-
plete and satisfactory agreement in this
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