The Sentinel=record., 1915-03-28
HAREM IS OTTOMAN; NOT MOHAMMEDAN
UNVEILED WOMEN OF TURKEY TALK INTERESTINGLY TO
 NEWSPAPER MEN.
As Whole the Women Are More Free Than in Other Countries and Have Full Property Rights,


 Eonstautuople. March 4I.-mt.r- viewing three young Turkish women in Cousiantinople College. the As.o ciatcd Press correspondent was told by them that the educated TurNsh woman Of today knew more of Amer ica than Americans generally hIe" of Turkey
 The interview was remarkable for. the fact that the three Turkish girl were allowed to appear without te| traditional veils. Louise Wallace, one of the American women in caar1c| al the institution, mho had arranee1 the interview. had advised the young| women to put on Che wells. wituout| which they never venture into tue| presence of men but the three rep. resentatives of feminine Young Tur key thought they could meet Ameri- cans without hiding their faces.
 Accordingly Eizaish Hanim Semi | Ina Hanim, and Hattie Hamn were ushere9 into Miss Wallaces office to meet the American newspaper men. | The girls were not sisters the name | Hanim not being the family name but the Turkish equivalent for Lady :" l Tle young ladies declined to have | their family names mentioned. but | were eager to embrace the Opporttt nifty Of talking to a representative of the American papers, who they thought might find s0me "ndWs' in the present position Of women in Tur- key.
 Lady Emzaish was the most alert of the three and did most of the talk
 ing She punctuated her remarks with | pleasant smiles Sae explained that while life had many serious aspects, she was inclined to look on the bright side of thiues At school she had something of reputation of being a regular tomboy' But. like her com panions. she was a young woman ol charming mangera All three spoke English witA ease. while Miss El zaish used AmeriCanisms with a de. lightyof grace. They also spoke | Trench and German beside their ma tive language Hattie Hanin was taking an advanced history and SO cioiogy course Efzaish Hanim was absorbed in science exclusively. and Eemiha Hanim studied history and l science
 The young Turkish woman is very eager to get a better education" said t..f | thought that the women of Turkey were Che superiors of their brothers in that respect Many of our men are st.ll somewhat indifferent to cdu. cation, but conditions are impr0Niug. The new regime is doiug eveyt1.us possible to catch up So far. how ever. the schools for the gjrS have been slighted little. The boy schools are much better and be lieve. really good But We hope taa, within tcN wears the girls vu l.v. the same chance as t.e .AN.
 Some time ago one of Our miycr, sjties started a course of lectures for women, remarked Miss Semila. The rush for admission was 50 great that many failed to get the op- portunity they sought. The lectures are given by the professors who teach jhe men, which ] take to bo one o. the many signs that the sec.usjou Q, the Turkish woman is ueariue .t. end Most of us still wear the veil Of course but the condition wIicb once existed in Turkey may be con. sidered as Of the past Nou will stiu find more yelled women in Nonstan. tiuople than you Twill n the pro y.nces, where very few women arr. in seclusion today. or course. the harem is still m existence, but l believe that it's days are counted. wish 10 correct a very popular error concern ing the harem Jt is beneraHy be. lieyed that the harem Is a Moham- medan institution It is not. AS we know the harem it is entirely Otto man and was first a Greek iusuW- ton. When tAe Ottomans took Con stanunople they found the harem right there
 No tendency toward modern fem- nism was manifested by the young women Miss Etziasb said that this Mas far from her mind. Miss Hat ije did not seem to he interested even in the question put to her on the subject
 "The women of Turkey have more to do right now than occupy them selves with equal suffrage and the like In fact we do not need such a movement In Turkey the woman has the same personal and property rights as the man. We are hedsed by old conventions and customs instead of legal and political bandicaps imposed by our men have every right any man in Turkey has-wth this eNcep- iion The man can divorce his wife by merely telling her to go, while the woman must bring a lawsuit.
 But even here we are better off tran some women In England. fer instance, a woman can secure d. yorce on just one ground; all we have to do is to show that life with