The New York herald., 1922-10-01
ABDUL MEDJID IS
PATRIOT AND POET
Powerful Factor in Young
Turk Revolt and Nation
( alist Movement.
EARLY WROTE VERSES
! Balkan War Turned His
Pen to Celebration OF
Ottoman Victories.
FAvORS LIBERAL IDEAS
Would Free Straits. but Urges
Turkeys Equal Voice in
Settlement.
BY l.. G. WATERS.

PtODdDlilly Will DS liic HtAl 0ditsbii va
Turkey. has in a vital sense been the
nlainstay OF the Anatolian nationalist
movement from the moment when,
more than three years ago, Mustapha
Ksmal Pasha defied the Constantinople
rulers by establishing a rebel govern
IHent at Angora.
II TT was reported on Thursday that
Sultan Mahamed VI. had resigned and
been succeeded by Abdul Medjid.l
Even before that time, however, he
was a powerful factor in the process
OF ''regenorating" Turkey, movement
which led to the Young Turk revolu-
ton and the subsequent overthrow Of
Abdul Hamid the Red in 1908.
For Abdul Medjid Effendi Che pre-
fer5 the more democratic title, mean
ing mister, to that Of Prince). besides
being n direct descendant of the old
est reigning family on European soil,
is also poet. painter. philosopher.
In times of peace. say those who are
able to read his writings in the original,
the Princes verses were passionate love
tales dug up from old Turkish court
archives. But when the Balkan war
broke out, and particularly after the
Turks entered the world war, Medjid
used his pen to stir national enthusiasm
among the higher military leaders,
squirting them on to victory even after
the bulk of the people had given UP hope.
The war has also caused him to aban-
don portrait painting. which is his
hobby, in favor of canvases depicting
Ottoman victories in the palmy days
when Osmanli governors were masters
In Budapest and Bucharest and strove
for possession of Vienna.
Painter of Ottoman Victories.
One of his latest pictures, barely fin
ished when / called at his villa, a short
drive out of Scutari, is a gigantic paint
ing of Osman entering Constantinople in
1853. The picture, one of the Princes
attendants explained had been done as
a gift to the Nationalist Government and
was to have been sent 10 Angora within
few days 1t will temporarily be
placed in the large school hall used by
the Angora national assembly and later
is destined to hang in the senate hall at
Constantinople.
To get near Medjid for q talk it was
necessary to appeal to at least five no.
torious men and women nationalist agi-
tators who had remained in CONSTANT
rople despite the formal occupation OF
that city by the allied troops a little
over a year ago. In seeking an inter-
view with member of the royal family
in Turkey the ordinary procedure for an
outsider Is to apply G the Sublime
Forte. where from six a. dozen Off
c!als of various categorfVsssfve you the
once over before efforts to make an ap-
pointment are even attempted.
Not so in the case of Medjid Effendi.
The Sublime Porte dignitares seemed
awe stricken when the demand was
made 10 them. The very thought of
legitimate official meddling with the
royal "conspirator" on the Asiatic side
of the Bosporus appeared 10 disgust
them. So 1t was Mrs. Halideh Edib,
one OF the most ardent of Kemaps fol-
lowers and a close friend of the Med
jid's, who offered her services. The
next step was through one Col. Vassif
Effendi, a Kemalist agent in hiding In
stamboul. who undertook to sound the
Prince on the matter. Col. Vassifs
emissaries. coming and going across the
Bosporus by night, brought assurance
of the Princes consent. An expedition
in a rowboat under cover of darkness
brought me at last to the Medjid villa.
In Medjid's studio.
Exquisltely refined in manner and
speech. tall. looking young for his more
than fifty years of age, every inch
European, MedjId discussed the latest
so far as the latest reached him in
these troublous times--in literature.
painting, music and international
politics.
His studio. n cozy, we'll aired and
lighted chamber in one of the wings
OF his villa, has long been suspected by
the allied authorities as n gathering
place for the more moderate among the
Young Turk political leaders.
Time and direct contact with affairs
Of State can alone show whether Med
jid Effendi genuinely holds the liberal
ideas with which his name is associated
throughout Turkey. He certainly did
not hesitate to express virtually revo-
tionary views on Turkish affairs wh on
discussing the Near Eastern situation
with foreign newspaper correspondent.
Among the most striking convictions
voiced by the artist-prince was that re-
garding the urgency OF far reaching
reforms, in the organization of the
Turkish State.
1--WE Turks willingly admit" he said,
that our country has been unable so
far TO produce men capable of taking
in hand our own internal administra-
ton. This is true of our finances our
post and telegraph service, and par
ticularly of our educational system.
Turkey has always been pre-emnently
nation OF soldiers She is that to-
day.
Says Country Needs building Up.
What we need, therefore, Is assist
ance In the work of building up a
modern admin 'rative system. our
~nntry possess 'nrge though still
ureasured natuf. alth. This re-
quires exploiting. and should be glad
TO see enterprising Americans. with
plenty OF capital and scientific training.
take up the work for their own and
our country's good. The field is a big
one and the Turkish laborer is honest
and Industrious.
Much as we need cooperation, how
ever, the tendency IN the Turkey OF
to-day Is 20 resent foreign domination,
,.o rnattar Il N xvt1at pttor Ia a.. t,.,.