New-York tribune., 1902-08-30
THE TURKISH CENSOR.
SOME PIQUANT ILLUSTRATIONS OF HIS
AUTOCRATIC RULE.

contributor to the .Stampa,' Of Turin. who
lived long time at Constantinople, tells some
edifying stories about the eXtraVagances OF
Turkish censorship. It would appear that COM
pared with the Turkish mode Of handling the
censor's pencil the much DETAINED Russian CEN
sorship is one Of the most liberal of existing IN
stitutions Nothing fills the Turkish censor
with more horror and wrath than the words
anarchist" and "nhilist.' They must not even
be pronounced in the Sultans empire: all teie-
grams containing them are simply suppressed
1t occasionally happens. however, that some
police official in search of dangerous anarchist
telegraphs to Constantinople to have a look out
kept for the man. These kilograms must. of
course in some way be brought to public knowl-
edge as their suppression would make II impos-
sible TO capture the dangerous individual. In
such cases Nischan Ehendi, the powerful censor
is not embarrassed for expedient. He sub
stitutes "utopist' for "anarchist' or 'nihilist,"
and the problem is solved. One may therefore
often read in Turkish newspapers notices like
the following: 1.-The congress planned by the
'utopists' has not taken place." etc
The words cholera and "pestilence." too
are prosecuted with irnplacable hate by the
Turkish censor; they must not be uttered or
printed. Formerly Nischan Efendi had in
vented for these words the tern suspicious dis
ease" but owing to the nervousness of Abdul
Hamid, to whom the very word suspicious"
appears suspicious, they Of late indicate either
of these diseases by the term odd disease"
At the outbreak of the pestilence in CONSTANT
nople the following incident occurred: Five
cases of ''an odd disease" had been officially
established An English correspondent reported
these five cases by telegraph TO his paper. The
censor, however. ordered him to make two tele-
grams out Of the one. The first dispatch had to
a,nlx, fpre
to be sent twelve hours later, to mention the
other two cases. After all, you have all you
wanted; the total is correct, said the
censor. smlingly to the correspondent, who
could not, however. understand this strange pro-
ceeding.
masterpiece Of censorship was per-
formed by Nischan Efendi on the occasion Of
the production of Shakespeare's "Othelo" at
Constantnople. He corrected" the drama so
thoroughly to leave hardly a trace Of the
original. Among other words he expunged
Cyprus" giving ingenious reasons for this cor
rection- Cyprus" he said, "is a Turkish island
I it would be politically unwise to send Othello
to Cyprus. because the territorial integrity of
Turkey is guaranteed by treaties. Why not put
instead Of Cyprus some Greek island, such as
Corfu?" And thus it came to pass that from
respect to the Treaty OF Paris Otheo had to go
to Corfu! Baedekers is generally regarded
harmless book Not SO in Turkey. as a Ger
man traveller learned to his grief They had
found in his trunk "a guide through Turkey"
and conf1scated it. The next morning the Bae-
deker was returned to the German but with
more than a hundred pages, containing a de-
scription Of Constantinople torn out. The trav-
eller went to the censor's Office to complain Of
this inexplicable treatment OF his book. But the
censor explained TO him with irresistible logic
/ of
could not be suffered. since thorough knowl-
edge Of the locality was calculated to facilitate
an attempt on the Sultans life.
Abdul Hamid insists upon 1t that every ruler
every other political parsonage should die a
natural death. Other manners of death are not
recognized" officially In Turkey When King
-Humbert was assassinated at Monza, the Turk
fish newspapers announced this sad event in the
following form: King Humbert left the hall
amidst the frenetic cheers Of the people. The
King, much affected. bowed several times. and
to all appearance was Immediately dead" When
the late Shah OF Persia was assassinated the
Turkish papers said: In the afternoon the Shah
drove to his summer palace and there COM
planned Of illness. His corpse sent to Te-
heran. One paper, however, excelled all the
others in simplifying the piece Of news by
publishing this absurdty: 1.-The Shah felt little
i'll, but finally his corpse returned the palace
This phrase was too much even for the Turks
who have retained it to this day as one of their
proverbs.