Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-05-21
SULTAN OF TURKEY IN
TERVIEWED ON APRIL {
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

Majesty to Saith Pacha, that I am
greatly honored by their visit. and
that II affords me great pleasure to
know that American newspapermen
were able to observe the action Of
March 18th. l bid them welcome to
Turkey and this city,
When the aide de camp had trans
lated, the Associated Press CORES
pondent, on behalf Of himself and the
others. expressed his pleasure Of hav-
Ing been granted an interview. To
the repetition Of this in Turkish His
Majesty listened attentively. nodding
in appreciation each time part Of the
response had been translated.
| His Majesty would like to hear
from you the story Of the operations
Of the Allies against the Dardanelles,
more especially what occurred on
March 18TH" said Saith Pacha. Make
the account Of it as short and to the
point as possible"
| For about fifteen minutes The AS
ISOLATED Press correspondent gave q
sort Of private lecture on the opera
ton of the Allies. Now and then His
Majesty would put question. What
had been the conduct Of his soldiers
on the various days: had the popula-
tons Of Tchanak Kale and Kilid Bahr
suffered much; what had been the
effect Of the terrific noise upon the
mind Of the correspondent-had he
i! been afraid? These were some Of the
things that interested the sultan very
much.
| Il am convinced that the Dardanelles
can not be forced said His Majesty
when the story of the Dardanelles
bombardment had been told. THE
brave conduct Of our troops in the
recent operations against the strait
permit me to conclude that, though
the Allies bend every effort and en-
ploy every means at their disposal
they will be unable to achieve their
purposes"
| His Majesty then asked Mr.. Swing
what his impression Of the lombard
ment had been. Mr.. Swing related
how while going through the streets
of Tchanak Kale on March 18th ne
had been most unpleasantly i'm
pressed by the defamation Of the ex-
ploding shells-15-inch affairs from
the Queen Elizabeth" He had been
unable to control his nerves. said Mr..
Swing, and each time a shell had ex-
ploded he had felt the uncomfortable
desire to stoop. An old Turk had
seen this and had come beside him to
give comfort accompanying gentle
pats on the shoulder with the words:
"Yock, yock-Kismet."
That a Turk had in such an hour
Of stress found time to comfort
another seemed to please His Majesty
greatly. To some words to that eff
feet the sultan added:
But the man did not apply the
proper word. my young friend. We
use the word kismet only in relation
ITO the smaller events in life. If you
were eating an orange and one half OF
it should fall to the ground just when
you were about to put it into your
mouth that would be an occasion for
the use of the word kismet. But in
matters of life and death it is more
appropriate to use the word 'kader.
That word expresses exactly what the
old man wanted to convey. 1t means
that our fate is in the hands Of a SUI
perior force and that what is to hap
pen will happen, no matter what we
ourselves may do. The idea is known
among you as Fatalism, believe.
1t is a very good one. because conf
dence in the Supreme and resignation
to our fate mean a great deal in life.
Formerly we Turks believed in it alto
gether. But we have come to realize
that belief in kader alone will not
do. We must work."
His Majesty then asked for some
additional details on the sinking Of
the French ship "Bouvet' and the
British ship Irresistible" That the
former had gone down within three
minutes brought an expression Of sor-
row to the kindly face Of the old man,
as If he regretted that SO many hu
man beings, nearly 500, had persisted
without the slightest chance to figh.
for life. There was another refer
ence to the conduct Of the Turkish
soldiers in the coast defense service.
1T has been said that there was l
strong factor Of luck in our victory Of
March 18th which made it so complete
! ana GREAT SdlQ his MdJcSts. out
We have a saying in Turkish which
runs: Luck in infatuated with the
efficient"
The translation Of what His Maj
esty said next may have been little
faulty. Either that or irony was in
tended. It was this His Majesty
says that he finds it very unjust that
the Allies went to force the OAR
danelles and take Constantinople just
to import foodstuffs from Russia"
Then His Majesty continued: But our
troops have shown their ability and
willingness to do their duty. am
speaking here not alone Of the Turk
ish defenders Of the Dardanelles but
also of those Germans who have 50
efficiently and bravely cooperated
with them"
DR.. Ludwig was then given an OPP
portunity to ask His Majesty what he
thought Of the conduct of the German
and Austro- Hungarian troops.
Il would thank all Of you if you
would say for me that my admiration
for the German troops in the western
and eastern theatres Of war Is so great
that 1t is impossible for me to express
in words nay high opinion Of their