Evening star., 1947-05-18

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Turkey would fight to the last. even
against overwhelming odds, in de-
fense Of its independence and ter
ritorial integrity.
Il A Look 1T Their History.
This national unity and depend
ability is no accident. II springs
from the character and qualities Of
the people themselves So, If we
are to understand who and what the
Turks are, it will be well to take
a look at their background and
history.
The so-called Ottoman Turks of
Asia Minor or Anatolia, as they call
their present homeland, are q branch
Of the Turanian stock which, from
time immemorial, has inhabited the
vast regions of Central Asia, where
many Of them still live under the
collective name Of Turkomans. But
for the past thousand years, those
Turkish peoples have settled widely
throughout the Middle and Near
East, from Persia or Iran westward
into the Arab lands, Asia Minor,
and Europe's Balkan Peninsula.
Mercenary Soldiers.
In the declining period of the
Saracenic Empire and civilization
created by the Arabs after Mo-
hammed, the Turks played a part
somewhat like that of the Teu-
tonic barbarians in the declining
Roman Empire of the West. They
came in first from Central Asia
chiefly as mercenary soldiers, be-
cause they were not only tremendous
fighters but also highly disciplined
folk who would obey unquestionably
the orders of their leaders. These
soldierly qualities presently raised
Turks to so many positions Of power
and authority that they eventually
dominated the situation.
< Opening the northern frontiers
OF the Saracenic Empire. they let in
fresh sWarms of their countrymen,
who now came, not as individuals,
but in tribes or ''hordes" under their
hereditary chiefs, settling where
they pleased and in some regions
permanently replacing the former
from Persia to Asia
This wholesale Turkish mi
grafton reached its climax In the
l1th century AID. Their greatest
and most permanent colonization
was that in Asia Minor or Anatolia.
which thenceforth became predom-
inantly Turkish in blood.
Start of an Empire.
Out of this mass of transplanted
Turkish tribes arose the Ottoman
which, under long series
Of ambitious Sultans, captured Con-
and simultaneously con-
quered much of Eastern Europe, the
Arab lands, and even part OF North
Africa. But that vast empire, though
based on the loyalty and tough fight
ing qualities of the Anatolian Turks,
bore increasingly hard upon them.
The governing class surrounding the
Sultans in Constantinople were a
very mixed lot, consisting of the
cleverest and most ambitious in
dividuals from all the Moslern peo-
pies of the empire, together with
many Christian converts or rene
gades.
It was this cosmopolitan class
which reaped the richest harvest
from the Sultan's conquests-con-
quests made possible in greatest part
by the blood and Drawn of the Ana
tolian levies, sent to die on remote
battlefields or eventually to return
home crippled and diseased. As for
itself, it remained neglected
and backward. Yet the simple Turk
ish peasantry never Wavered in their
loyalty to the Sultan, uncomplain-
lngly obeying the orders of those In
authority.
Revolution of 1908.
The deepening decrepitude OF the
Ottoman Empire led to the Young
Turk" revolution of 1908 which
attempted to abolish the absolute
rule of the Sultan and transform
the empire itself into a nation-state,
wherein all elements should feel a
Ottoman loyalty. How
ever, this soon proved to be i'm
possible. Both the Christian and
Arab elements had developed ma
of their own. The en-
pire was quickly battered by series
Of wars eliminating in World War !,
as the ally OF Germany
and Austria Hungary. it was over
whelmed with disaster BY the
peace treaties dictated by the VIC
torious western powers not only
we're the Balkan and Arab provinces
shorn away but even the Anatolian
was threatened with par
tition among the victors.
Then, in that hour of extremity.
there began that nationalistic reyo-
luton headed by Mustapha Kemal
With the avowed aim Of building
Turkish nation-state, limited TO
and the foothold of the
straits with Constantinople. The
symbol Of this nationalistic revolu-
lion was the transferenee OF the
capital from the polyglot metropolis
On the Bosporus with its imperial
memories to Ankara, deep in the
Anatolian plateau and its thor
,ughly Turkish surroundings.
The profound 1fsponse q the