Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-10-03
MARTHA VALLEY
TrOublOHS Bone Between the Chris
so llaR and ihe Turk. 81
BATTLE-GROUND OF The BALKANS

Country That Is of Small Material
Value to Any of the Claimants; But
Possession BY One Means Red F'as
to the Others.
1.-The Martha river, the boundary OF
the European territory which the Vlc-
torious Turks demanded as soon as
they drove the Greeks from Asia NIL
nor is, like the Rhine, between france
ond Germany, a symbol and a bone OF
contention among Bulgar, Greek ana
Turk" says bulletin of the Nation-
al Geographic Society from its Wash-
ington. D. c., headquarters.
Each of these three peoples mas
claimed the Martha valley as belong-
ing 70 II on ethnic grounds continues
tho bulletin, land such is the racial
oix-,,p in Thrace and the portion OF
Macedonia which adjoins it, that each
| has at least some excuse for It's claims.
| Thrace-and indeed all of Rumelia or
Rumiu as the Turks called the por-
tions of Europe which their swords
conuuered-has for five hundred years
been in the anomalous condition OF
being, Turkish territory, yet more
Christian than Mohammedan, more
alien than Turk. Moreover, the non
Turks-non- -Mohammedans were more
intelligent and more industrious than
the Moslems, fact which has height
ened the non-Turkish aspect of the
| country in spite of the burden Of heavy
taxation, persecution and massacre
which the Turks have had placed
| on their shoulders.
European Turkey Was OCCUPIED
Territory"
"AJore or less unconsciously the
Turks seem, throughout their tenure
of half a millennium in Europe 10
hcve considered themselves engaged In
q military occupation. In the trade
and industry of the towns and cities
they did rot compete with the Greeks
and Jews and Armenians; and IN the
agricultural pursuits of the country
they were equally outclassed by the
Bulcars and Vlachs and the occasional
Greeks who are farmers. Many of the
Turks confined their activities to the
cities where they were rulers or SOL
di;rs. Those who led the lives Of peas
| ants never wholly shook off their no.
radism. They were less efficient than
their despised Christian neighbors, a
fact which led to many n pillaging and
massacring expedition; for the Mos
lens, however humble their station,
were armed, while the Christians were
not.
Eastern Thrace between the Straits
and the Martha river is Of little value
agriculturally. 1t is an unattractive,
drcary, monotonous plain with here
and there swampy depressions. Large
areas of the territory are untitled and
in summer they give the country the
appearance of q desert. Furious fight
Ing. with little quarter. ragged over this
region during the Balkan war of 1872
49, as Bulgar and Turkish arms were
! alternately successful. Turkish VIII
lagos were destroyed first, and soon
after Bulgarian villages suffered
similar fate. When the Bulgarian fl
nally controlled the region many
Turks, resigned to fate, treklied to
Asia Minor; and under the Greek con-
troll of the past few years that move
ment has continued. AS result the
Thrace of today is even more striking
! ly Turkish than in the past.
Adrianople First Turk Capital.
"On the Martha and in Thrace,
barely twenty % miles from the pres
ent Bulgarian border, is Adrianol lie,
second city of old European Turkey,
and a strong sentimental reason for
the Turks desire once more to pos
scss Thracc. Thracian land was the
first in Europe to fall under Turkish
sway: and while Constantnople still
remained Byzantine, Adrianople was
the Ottoman capital. From there they
crushed the Se.'bians, and finally, in
1853, seized the great city on the
Straits. There, though in ruins, is the
first European palace of the Sultans
and the grave of the first Sultan, Mu-
rad
"Formerly Adrianople was n thriv- |
ing centre of trade with the far flung !
regions of Rumili. But as the Euro
Lean portion of the Ottoman Empire /
dw'ndled, and Bucharest, Athens, Bel I
grade and Sofia, released from Turk !
ism control, grew from dingy mud VIII !
lagos to bustling towns, Adrlanople |
lost ground. The city still contains
about $4,000 inhabitants, however, |
with the Greeks, Bulgars, Jews and