New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-15
PHASES OF THE TURKISH QUESTION

PHASES OF THE TURKISH QUESTION.
That the savage Kurds should harry and MUIR
der the Armenans is not surprising 1t is their
nature to do so. That the Turkish soldiers
should do the same is equally natural. They are
merely obeying both instinct and official orders.
But how are we to explain the feeling Of the
intelligent and humane Turks of Constantinople!
They are eager for Il reform of their Government.
They realize its inefficiency, corruption and des-
potism. Yet they Loyalty support it in the pres
ent crisis and sincerely and honestly regard the
Armenians as ungrateful rebels, who deserve
to be suppressed at the point Of the sword. AS
a correspondent of THE London Times tells
us. they say: I'VE have for centuries protected
1.-THE Armenians and lavished favOrs upon them.
They have lived among us and grown rich.
And now they turn upon lis and seek to destroy
Our Empire. They have started all this trouble.
The Moslems have acted merely in, selfde-
fence" The Turks really believe this. Many
OF them in Constantinoplc are actually afraid OF
being mastered by the Armenians. Practically
all Of them hate the Armenians and approve
whatever the Government does against them.
The explanation is easily found. 1t lies in the
ignorance OF even the most intelligent Turks as
To what is really going on. No Turkish paper
prints the news, and no foreign paper is admitted
10 the country The daily bulletins of horror
which have come to u.s. authenticated beyond
shadow of n doubt. are absolutely unknown to
the people Of Constantnople. All they know Is
what is told them in the lying statements put
forward by the Government 10 wit, that the
wicked Armenians are rcbelling and trying to
massacre their Turkish neighbors, and that the
Government is endeavoring, kindly but firmly,
to reduce them to subsection and to restore order.
No wonder they feel as they do.
II is entirely true that down to twenty years
ago the Armenians were, on the whole, ia
yored race Many Of them grew rich Not a
few rose 10 high rank in the service of the Sui
tan They were better off than the Bugars or
Macedonians or Candiotes or any other Of the
Christian peoples subject to Turkish rule The
Turks Of Constantinoplc remember that, and
are right in doing So What they do not know,
however is that all that has been changed in
recent years Immediately after the disastrous
war with Russia, the whole attitude of the Turk
ish Government toward Armenia was altered.
II seemed resolved to wrcak upon those hapless
provinces revenge for its losses in the Balkan
States. One by one the rights ana privileges
granted to the Armenians by the Hatti-IIumay1n
were abolished. Inc CONSTITUTION OF tHe ArIuehi-
an Church was violated and ignored. The re-
monstrances Of the Armenian Patriarch were
unheeled The Armenian people were officially
Disseminated against and oppressed. And final
" a systematic campaign of massacre was begun
against them, for the purpose of so decimating
their numbers that they would be, in every
vilayet and sandjak, in hopeless minority.
These facts are known TO all the civilized world,
excepting to the Turkish people. They are kept
by their Government in profound ignorance Of
the truth. and thus are led to think their Govern
ment is altogether right and the Armenians and
the Powers Of Europe are altogether wrong.
For that reason there is no hope Of reform
through the operation of aroused public opinion.
There is no intelligent public opinion to be
aroused 1t is honest enough, but it is ignorant
TO degree Of which we can have scarcely any
conception So far rs it is intelligent ii is des-
perately sedtlous, as in tie case OF the Young
Turks Any appeal to the Turks themselves is,
therefore, worse than useless. The only way Of
restoring order and removing the reproach upon
civilization which Ottoman rule has long been
is through forcible intervention by one more
Of the Powers and partition Of the Turkish En-
pirc That would be a most serious step, attend
ed. no doubt by dreadful circumstances. But
not to take it will inevitably invite still worse
occurrences w, believe the wanton destruc-
ton of life and property effected during the last
year in Asiatic Turkey has been greater than
that which would be incurred by foreign inter-
vention and forcible abolition OF Ottoman rule.
With British fleet commanding the Darla-
nelles and Bosphorus and thus cutting the En-
pire into two. and an Austrian army advancing
through Bosnia and Russian army through
the Caucasus or at Trcbizond. the force against
Turkey would be so overwhelming as to render
resistance futile 1t Is not conceivable that there
would be any attempt at serious organized
resistance. 1t must be borne in mind that both
Turks by race and Mahomctans. by creed, are
after all in the minority throughout the Empire.
In European Turkey there are not more than
100000 Turks, against more than 3.OOO,OOO
Greeks Bulgars. Albanians and Armenians. OF
the 1G,OOO,OOO in Asia, only 100000 are Turks
We may confidently believe therefore, that half
the population would welcome the invaders rs
deliverers from bondage. Ottoman rule Is a
mere composite house Of cards. held together by
ignorance and terror and rendered possible
only by lack Of unity and leadership among the
subject races. At the first strong touch Of reso-