The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-30
ABSURD TURKISH CENSORSHIP.
OttOmsn Newspapers Are ridiculous TraVes-
les-stupid watch Over kilograms.

ASc AD HHAAoHI OU1IoAfAh
OttOmsnN Newspapers Are ridiculous Traves-
~tics-stupid watch Over kilograms.
CoNsTANTINoPLE, Sept. s.-Nishan En-
fendi Seferian, who died suddenly yesterday
on his way to his summer residence on the
Bosporus, was officially styled Second
Translator to H. I. NJ. the Sultan and Di-
rector Of the Foreign Press This mislesd-
ing title gives no adequate idea OF the real
meaning Of ia man and his office. He was,
in reality, the chief censor OF newspapers
and kilograms, and he might even be put
down as the originator OF the vile and ha-
RAISING measures which have destroyed
every bit Of free movement in the Turkish
press.
higher sense Of the word) and historic
interest is carefully excluded from the
Ottoman newspapers, no matter whether
they are printed in the Turkish, Greek,
Armenian or French language. Turkish
newspapers have thus been reduced to
ridiculous travesties OF journalism. They
revel in essays on all sorts Of Indifferent
and trivial matters but dare not say a
single word respecting the politics OF Tur-
key. and only the most harmless and I'M
interesting political topics Of other coun-
tries are permitted to be printed in the
form Of q few short agency dispatches or
clippings from European papers.
Foreign books, too, are submitted TO a
most rigid and grotesque censorship. No
foreign book which contains any critical
reference to the Ottoman Government or
the Mohammedan religion Is allowed to
pass the custom houses, and this prohibi-
ton is carried 30 far as to exclude from
Turkish soil not only poets like Dante and
Shakespeare, who spoke unexpectedly OF
the Prophet, but even all encyclopedias and
guide books. The list of prohibited books
includes among others such immortal works
as Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered Chateau
brands Martyrs" Victor Hugo's Les
Orientales," La Fontaine's Fables and the
works Of Voltaire, Rabelais, lola and several
modern French authors. Pierre Lofts re-
cent book, Les Desenchantees," dealing
with Turkish hsrem life, is also on the
Turkish Index Expurgatorius.
II is true the booksellers OF Pera are clever
enough TO smu ggle the prohibited books into
the country through the medium Of the
foreign post Offices, but they are careful
about selling them to strangers. All this
tends naturally toward suppressing the
progress Of culture on European lines.
Even more rigid than the censorship
on Turkish newspapers and foreign books
is the repressive system introduced by
Nishan Effendi as regards the Geographic
service to and from Turkey. Direct tele-
graphic news service from Turkey to Europe
has been practically annihilated by these
methods. Every despatch arriving at or
sent fr ON a place in Turkey is being CEN
sored both b the police n the Yildiz
authorities, and many a despatch addressed
TO a party liv ing in Turkey ia simply sup
pre- ssed, without any warning to the ad-
DIRE ssee, il its meaning is not perfectly
clear to the censorship official, who in
ninetv-nine cases out OF a hundred IL a
man Of no education whatever. Even
plainly harmless dispatches sent abroad
from Turkey are in many cases detained
for s everal hours and even days at the
telegraph offices and then returned to the
sender as inadmissible.
Il has been the experience Of the writer
Of these lines tn at no fewer thar four de-
spatches containing favorable information
concerning the Sultan's health have been
withheld recently by the censorship, two
Of them for full y three days, n then re-
turned to him d'ordre superieuT. When he
demanded an explanation Of this arbitrary
and illog ical proceeding he was told that
1t Is our desire that nothing should be sent
abroad concerning the person Of his i'm
perial Majesty
The stupidity Of this system is the more
obvious, as it does not prevent the sending
Of all sorts OF Geographic news to Europe,
the newspaper correspondents being COM
PEELED to send them over an indirect
route, via Bulgaria, where they have an
agent to whom they send their dispatches
by letter, the agent forwarding them by
wire. The Turkish censors consequently
gain nothing whatsoever by their ludicrous
and irritating methods, whereas the Turkish
treasury il thereby robbed Of the tele graph
tolls, amounting to many Thousands of
pounds, which take their way to the Bull
garian excbequer. The vast majority Of the
business people are likewise in the habit Of
forwarding their dispatches via Bulgaria in
order to escape the de lay, and, quite fire.
quently, the danger OF direct telegraphio
communication.
That the latter way of transmission ia not
always free Of risk TO the sender will be
illustrated by the following occurrence
which happened a few months ago: An
Armenian commission merchant Of this city
received a despatch from his Liverpool
agent informing him that the price Of cotton
had dropped several points. Whereupon
the Armenian wired him.: JOS top gunder"-
l. e., Send hundred bales" But in the
Turkish language top" means both bale
and cannon An Armenian ordering 100
ann from England! The poor fellow
was taken from his bed at midnight to the
Yildiz police and submitted to a crucial eK-
animation. In vain he offered to produce
his books and correspondence, in vain he
offered bail to a considerable amount-he
was kept In prison for fully a week before