Evening star., 1915-04-08

CONSTANTINOPLE. April Z. via The
Hague and London, April ST am
convinced that the Dardanel1es cannot
be forced. The brave conduct of the
Turkish troops in the recent operations
against the straits permits me to con-
clude that although the allies bend
every effort and use every means at
their disposal they will be unable to
achieve their purpose"
Thus spoke Mehmed V. the Sultan of
Turkey and first caliph of the Moslem
world. in the course of an audience
which he had granted the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent. The sui
tan throughout the audience showed
and expressed the greatest confidence
in Turkeys ability TO withstand the
onslaught of the allied forces. and fol-
lowed with the keenest interest de-
scription of the operations by the
allies March Is against the Dardanelles
forts given by the correspondent of the
Associated Press, who acted as spokes-
man for those who had been accorded
the audience.
Sultan Well Informed.
The various phases of the lombard
ment were discussed by his majesty In
well informed on the affair. but he was
greatly interested in the human aspect
OF this tremendous action. What was
the effect of the enemy's fire? What
impression was made upon the mind by
the Turkish troops. and what was the
fate of the population of the towns
near the forts bombarded?-all these
were things in which the sultan showed
deep concern.
Mehmed was in a most cordial
frame of mind. Many of the incidents
related by the correspondents brought
to the sultan's face broad smiles of
satisfaction, appreciation and amuse-
ment. How the correspondents had
been obliged to make hasty retreat
when Kale Sultanie was reached by
the allies shells appeared to be of spe-
cial interest to his majesty.
"Kader,' Not "Kimet."
When one of tho correspondents told
the sultan that he had been rendered
nervous In Chanak Kalessi by the ex-
plosions of large shells, which impelled
him to stoop at every detonation, and
now an old interpreter, who also was
retreating. touched him on the arm each
time, saying, "Yock kismet,' the sultan
was much amused, and touched the
newspaper man on the shoulders in a
most fatherly fashion and proceeded to
explain that the use of the word ''kis-
met was improper under such circum-
stances
The old man should have used the
word kader,' because that term ex-
presses more fully what he wanted to
convey" said his majesty. '"The word
'kader means that our fate is in the
hands of superior force and that what
is to happen will happen anyway The
7
fatalism. But kader' alone will not
do; we also must work"
This incident disposed OF. his maj
esty asked the correspondent Of the
scrption Of the sinking of the French
warship Bouvet and the British IRE
sistible. That the former had disap-
peared within three minutes brought a
majesty as If he regretted that SO many
human beings had perished without a
chance to fight for life.
Luck to the Efficient.
The sultan then asked II his troops
appeared to be happy and contented
The answer being emphatically in the
n affirmative a new smile Of satisfaction
lit up his face.
ut has been said that it was the
factor of luck that made our victory
March Is so complete and great" he
remarked. but we In the Turkish have
a saying: Luck Is infatuated with the
efficient
1t appears very unjust to me that
the allies want to force the Dardanelles
and take Constantinopls just to i'm
port foodstuffs from Russia But our
army and coast defense force have
shown their ability and willingness to
do their duty. 1 am speaking here not
alone Of the Turkish defenders Of the