Evening star., 1920-01-13
NEXT TURK SULTAN
TALKS Of EMPIRE
AND AMERICAN AID
First to Have One Wife
Prisoner in Home Thirty
Three Years.

!
| Press) Turkey next sultan. Abdul
! Mcdjid, now the heir apparent. will
be the first to have but one wife. and
as such she Will enjoy the same ro-
mantle position as the celebrated
| Roxalana, the all-powerful faVOrite
! wife of Suleiman the Magnificent
| whose tombs for centuries have at
! tracted visitors to the Suleiman
| mosque in Constantinople
Abdul Medjid is regarded as one
| of the most interesting personalities
| of Turkey For thirty-three years
he was a prisoner in the house OF
his father. Abdul Aziz. who was sui
! tan for fifteen years, until his depo-
sition and death in 1876.
Il was happy during those long
years. he said TO the Associated
| Press. because I married early-at
| ty-four-married for love. and
| then I used my time improving my
mind. drawing wisdom from the
works of the worlds philosophers"
No Longer n Prisoner.
He is no longer officially a pris-
sudden death of Abdul Hamid, in
| 1908. and the advent of the Young
| Turks, he has won his way to lib
! erty, at least SO far as travel in Asia
| OF in Constantinope is concerned. and
! also to a certain freedom of speech.
In person he looks not unlike the
| old-fashioned gentleman farmer of
England or America Stout, bluff
| hearty, his dress is of rough, loosely
fitting homespun. with only the red
fez, which Turks wear in or out of
doors, to indicate his nationality.
When he doesn't smile, which is not
cften. his graying hair and mustache
| and wide, Circassian blue eyes give
him the thoughtful air which has led
! Turks to declare he viii be a great
70, = till f~x.<
interna and international, gives him
his chance to fulfill his dream of SAL
vaging the wrecks of the Ottoman
empire.
Makings OF a Great People.
I'VE have the makings yet of a
great people. of a people that will
get ahead in the arts of peace and
Industry under proper conditions. -
he said. with an air of deep convic-
tion. Why won't America give us
a start?" he asked in a quick, pathetic
manner common to many of the men
Of the nations defeated in the war.
| why should we have those hos
tile war vessels in our harbor a year
after the armistice?" he asked point
Rosporus. why not settle our af-
fairs: let US rest from the wars with
out number which we have had?"
As he talked the prince was look
ing out of a secund-story window
OF the Dolmabaahcheh Palace, the
show place of Consrantinople, where
he has the use of one wing.
| Aren't the Turks anxious for an
American mandate because they there
oy see an opportunity to save them
selves from partition and the loss
of Constantinople?" he was asked.
| Here the prince dropped his French
and began talking rapidly in Turkish
| to Ahmed Emin Bey, graduate of Co
lumbia University and editor of the
nationalist paper Vakit. who inter
preted as follows:
| I'VE have no means Of letting the
people in America know what kind
of people We are and what we think
The Turks want the Americans be-
cause they know the Americans would
treat them honestly and help them de-
velop rich country to the profit OF
both. The Americans have never trav-
eled hero much. nor gotten to know
the possibilities of our people, who
are reasonably honest and hard work.
| ing. 1t cannot be said that the Turks
have ever betrayed their foreign
friends 30 long as the latter acted in
good faith.
Russ Influence a Bane.
I'VE have a long tradition OF
friendship with the liberal western
powers, After the Turkish revolution
of 1908 we were most anxious to
continue these relations
But here came our difficulty. These
powers ENGLAND and France) wished
to maintain good relations with the
Russians who, without seeking it
were hostile to US, and finally the
Russian influence became so strong
that every person favorable to Turks
in the French and English embas-
SiAa hnn,a
ernments, l personally went to the
French and English ambassadors and
warned them that If this policy were
continued we should be driven into
ture both the Frenon and English and
ourselves, This warning had no ef-
feet. and the Germans began to send
us big military missions; also our
officers were trained in Germany. SO
we entered the war on the German
side.
Cheaper for America Now.
IF the Americans don't come to
US now. the end Of .t all may be a
partition leading to other wars in
which America may be involved. II
might be cheaper for America to risk
millions on us now rather than to
spend billions later on a new war"
Il Asked if he were a partisan of the
nationalist movement, the prince an
swered: "a person in line for the
throne can't become involved in par
ticular movements, but must repre-
i sent his entire people"
The interview ended by tho prince
saying; Now let me interview you
Will America keep her word and sign
the peace and enter the league of na-
tions?" Then he s1ook hands warm
i ly and touched his heart and fore
head in sign of farewell, and motored
back to his home and studio, where
he is painting new pictures of his
beloved Circassian wife and his son
and daughter.