Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-07-28
TURKISH LAWS
A Comparison Between Them and
Actual Conditions.

The government OF late years has |
seldom inflicted death by hanging, |
says Harper's Weekly. When it
was desirable to get rid Of an indi-
vidual it was not necessary to bring |
him to trial, for secret dose OF
poison would put an end to compli
cations; or more cruel measures
would be resorted to, as in the case |
Of Maskabedian Of Van, who had |
been painfully mutilated, as the
physician discovered in making an
examination before the burial. Shall |
we continue to defend the Turkish !
government, and to condemn her
both Turks and Christ
ians, because they are disconnected? |
The police work of the empire is
in the hands Of policemen in the
towns and cities, and of the gen
darmerie in the country. That is,
the gendarmerie - or zabtiehs, as |
they are called (rural policemen
are to keep the roads free from high |
way robbers, accompany the post,
hunt out criminals, form cordons in
the time OF cholera, and do any
other work that is detailed by the
Vail through the Ali Bey or chief
Heretofore they received the same
pay as regular soldiers; but the new
provisions allow greater pay, and
ordain that the men shall be selected
from among the people in proportion
to the whole number of Mussulmans
and non ussulmans in the vilayet.
They are organized into companies
and regiments, and are under the
supervision Of the minister of war.
The recent recommendations of the
powers also suggested that the men
be detailed for duty to places other
than their homes, and the massacres
showed the necessity OF such ar
engagements; for the gendarmes, in
protecting some of the foreign prem
ises, intimated that they did not
want to fire into members of their
own families in case an attack was
made on the property of the foreign
ers. Even in 1875 the laws insisted
that the zabtiehs should be chosen
from among honorable persons, and
those enjoying the confidence of the
inhabitants Of each locality. But
who supposes that the good inten-
tons of the laws have been fulfilled?
Ask the Turks of many a district
whether they put full confidence in
the gendarmes, and they will answer
you with a curse, for they remem-
Der the food and forage forced from
their meager stores, and the general
rough handling they have had from
the zabtiehs. On the other hand,
the Kurds consider the gendarmes
quite decent fellows, for they seldom
go around to inquire about sheep
stolen in the night from a neighbor-
ing sheep-pen, or farm premises en-
tered, or grain carried of. But the
consulates of Asia Minor have their
scores and hundreds of petitions
from the poor people, who are
robbed of this or that property, I'M
til nothing of their earthly posses
sions is left. Particularly after the
Sassun affair the Kurds and Turks
felt at liberty to do what they liked
to the Christian population, for the
government had practically said:
Zone, two, three-ready-gog" Yet
the penal code rewards such whole
sale robbers and midnight plumber
ers with forced labor for life, or for
Is years at the least.
If good laws alone could insure the
well-being of a people, the British
consul at Erzerum would not have
had such a pitiful story to tell of
the people in Keghi, who were
beaten and bullied about by an Of
fcer and a few zabtiehs in tax-col-
lecting time. Neither would the in
habitants of Guemerek have closed
their church last summer in wrath
because soldiers defiled their place
of worship.