The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-04-28
YOUNG TURK TALKS
OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN WAR FOR ITS
RIGHT TO LIVE
PICTURES OF Progress

Enver Pasha Declares That in View
of England and Russia's Attitude
Only Hope Was to Join Germany
and Austria-Tells of Efforts to
Gain Fuller Civilization.
''I am glad you ask that question.
This is not a war of the Turkish gov
ernment, but war for the Turk
ish people," said Enver Pasha, the
most remarkable man in Turkey,
who, ot the age of 33 years, is war
minister and generalissimo of the Ot-
toman army, to the Associated Press
correspondent in the first interview
ever given to the American press.
| Undoubtedly the world finds diff
Guilty in understanding that the Tur-
key of to-day is no longer the Turkey
of the past, but thct, nevertheless, is
a fact which should be apparent to
all impartial observers" he continu-
ed.
| The worlds youngest commander
in-chief typifes the Young Turks in
intellectual attainmcnts and ideals.
| The conversation with him was car
ried on in German, and besides hav-
| ing a thorough command of the Ger
man language, he speaks excellent
French. Enver Pasna would be boy
ish in appearance but for a rather
| heavy brown mustache. Alert, frank
eyes and pleasing manners make him
loIS ff,I
When the correspondent entered
Enver Pasha shook hands cordially
and said: Il am sorry to have kept
you waiting, but I an very busy all
day., You have come to interview me.
Well, I will make an exception in
your favor. I am averse to talking
to men of the press. What do you
want?"
The exact reasons for Turkey par
ticipating in the war; was the re-
ply.
You refer, no doubt" said Enve1
. Pasha, "to the assertions in the news
papers of Great Britain, France and
! Russia that Turkey entered the wal
to help Germany. That is very true
at this moment, not when we moblliz'
ed. To-day Austria-Hungary and Ger
many help US; we help them. But We
modified because there was no way
out.
Long before we took this ster
i Russia had grown ugly on the Black
4 Sea and in the Caucasus, invading
our territory there, while England
had already operated against Meso
potamia and had concentrated a fiee'
4 before the Dardanellcs. We were un
willing to start the ball rolling, anc
even after the Russians attacked oul
4 fleet in the Black Sea we still waltee
one week before war was declared.
"Wc knew that Turkey agair
would be led to the slaughter block
Being unwilling that this should hap
; pen, we took the only course open
We Turks feel that we have r1gh
to exist. especially when the best O.
us are straining every effort and arr
, catching up with other countries IL
intellectual and material develop
: ment.
There was a time when Turke!
was merely q government clique
which was not trusted by tae people
but gradually tho people are begin
ming to feel that they themselves art
; Turkey.
I'VE are taking care of our troops
! to-day, hence taeir loyalty. Former
, ly man was given & rife Ind had tt
shift for himself as best he could; to
day we see that his land is cultivated
in his absence. Eacn village has thu
systen-while man is at the iron
his neighbors till his soil.
This measure has been so effec
! tive that the area of cultivated lant
is 20 per cent. greater than ordl
narily.
"The Turkish soldier, moreover
knows how to shoot well. This is in
stilling the confidence he formerl!
lacked"
To the question as to who was re
sponsible for the better quality O.
troops, which has been so apparent
Enver Pasha replied
"When I reached the head of the
. army l discharged on my second da!
in office about 5000 old officers, who
formerly had been merely a burder
on the Ottoman military establish
ment. Next I made every effort tt
have the common soldier feel that he
was part Of the service, instead Of the
subject of it. 1t can hardly be be-
J iieved the difference this made. The
men now have an esprit de corps,
Chow did you manage to mobilize
your army Of almost 100000 with
limited resources?" he was asked.
THAT was problem, of course
but we overcame it. We had lot o1
old Snider rifles ready for the junk
market. These I caused to be distri'
buted among the gendarmie, taking
from them their modern rifles. There
was formerly large gendarmerie
force in Turkey" explained EnVe1
Pasha, smilingly; now it is not sc
great, we do not need it. So we arm.
ed many men with rifles. To-day
every man at the front is well arm
ed"
/ Replying to questions as to the
present status of the campaign the
generalissimo said:
Conditions in the Caucasus are
more satisfactory. Regarding the
situation in the Dardanelles l will
say we are fully confident that it has
been demonstrated that fighting the
forts there will be huge task for the
allies. But even should that happen,
we would still be masters of the sit
! uation there by means of howitzers,
mines and fleet. The allies coming
up the straight would be obliged to
move in single file, and the effective
ness of our protective measures
should be apparent"
In view of the fact that some ex-
citement has been observed in Tur-
key because of the export of arms
and ammunition from the United
States to the powers of the Triple En-
tente, particularly Russia, Enver
Pasha was asked for his views on this
subject, and replied:
"The matter has occupied US for
some time-even the populace-but
you may have noticed that there has
| been no anti-American outbreak on
that account. Since the elimination
| of the capitulations this was the first