Treasures of the East/Turkey

TURKEY

To most of the people of America and Europe the word “Turk” means a terrible brute, a savage cave man; even in writing the proverbial “terrible Turk” has been handed down from time to time.

I have lived more than twenty years in the days and under the flag of the most despotic sultan of Turkey, and I know the Turks. It was the old sultan himself and his corrupted government that plunged the country in shame—not the innocent citizens. The majority of the Turks are refined, honest and brave.

More than a century ago Napoleon said, “You can kill the Turks, but you never can conquer them.”

After the great war, her back against the wall, staggering Turkey arose with a new spirit and a new life under the peerless leadership of a genius youth, Mustapha Kemal Pasha, who with the National Assembly and behind them all the Turks are determined to make a new epoch in Anatolia, the heart of Asia Minor.

There is no more absolute monarchy in Turkey today. [Page 148]148 TREASURES OF THE EAST

It is a constitutional government like the United States of America, and Mustapha Kemal Pasha is its President.

Mustapha Kemal Pasha President of Turkey

In the past the Turks never cared much for business, but now, not only are they hustling after it, but also their women are sharing in their economic life. With their faces unveiled, [Page 149]TREASURES OF THE EAST 149

Turkish girls, sitting side by side with men, are working by the thousands in offices and in shops.

I have a vivid memory of the times when even the word “freedom” or “liberty” meant sure death to me or any one who dared to mention it. I have seen days when Persian Baha’is came all the way to ’Akka to visit Baha’u'llah but were sent back from the very gate of the city by fanatic officials. Even Americans could succeed only in having a glimpse of "Abdu’l-Baha who would stand at the front of the window in his home of exile.

Once I went to meet a Baha'i pilgrim at the harbor of Beirut. I saw the poor man being dragged by two ofhcers with guns and bayonets in hand. I inquired politely what was wrong and they told me that the man had a book in English from the Baha'i literature. As I objected for dragging the man to jail, they said, “Very well, then you come with us too.” And they locked me up with him.

Whenever our family doctor was summoned to attend my sick mother, he had to sit in another room. My father would examine her, then report to the doctor. He would say, the pulse is slow or rapid, the tongue is coated or red, the hand is cold or hot, the throat is inflamed or normal, and so on. In extreme conditions, the doctor was allowed to feel the pulse, but she had to put her gloves on first.

How times and conditions change! The Turkish women today express their emancipation from the veil very nicely. They wear scarfs of bright colors or of thin muslin or gold tied with a bow at the back and to the side. They can match any costume, save unnecessary high prices for hats, and look exceedingly charming as well.

The men, of course, all wear hats or caps now. In 1925 the Turkish government definitely decreed that those who [Page 150]150 TREASURES OF THE EAST

could not afford a hat or cap must go bareheaded. The day of the old Fez and veil is over in Turkey.

Suppose we wish to visit the new and old capitals of Turkey, Ankara (Angora) and Constantinople; not through Iraq, which we have already visited, but by a different route.

The boat sails from Bombay, India, crosses the Arabian Sea, then the Red Sea, and through the Suez Canal of Egypt to the city of Beirut, Syria.

Tripoli is reached by a motor trip of two and one-half hours from Beirut, northward along the delightful Syrian coast. It is one of Syria’s seaports.

It edges on a vast grove of many miles of fruit orchards; while all along the Lebanon Mountains, sea-skirting slopes, terraced with mulberry trees, announce a great silk industry. It still carries on the trade traditions of old Phoenicia, exporting annually several millions of dollars worth of silk, fruit, and olive oil.

Latakia. From Tripoli we motor northward to Latakia, which, like Tripoli, is also a Syrian seaport and exports annually several millions of dollars worth of silk, sponges, and tobacco.

Alexandretta. To the north of Latakia lies the gulf and city of Alexandretta, named after Alexander the Great, and is the seaport of Aleppo, Syria.

Alexandretta was my home for two years when I was at the age of sixteen. My father sent me there to become a merchant, but at that age and in that environment I was more interested in the Arabian romantic life than any business.

The inhabitants of the city are divided about equally, half Arabs and half Turks.

A few years ago, when Armenians massacred Turks, and [Page 151]TREASURES OF THE EAST 1st

Turks massacred Armenians, more than ten thousand Armenian refugees came to this little city and camped along the malaria infested marshes.

“What are these refugees living on?” asked a British

Railway Station, Alexandretia, Syria

journalist who had just landed from a boat with a company of American travelers. The mayor of the city, whom he had addressed, replied, “Mice”.

“What?” The journalist pulled out his pencil. “What do they eat?” “Mice,” repeated the mayor, “boiled mice”. But just then the mayor’s wife showed what she was carrying in her apron —a few handfuls of yellow, ground corn.

“Maize!” all chorused. [Page 152]152 TREASURES OF THE EAST

“Yes, Sars,” responded the mayor, “that is what I said, maai-ce.”

Antioch. On the hills, about four hours by motor car, lies Antioch, a side trip off the main road to Aleppo.

It was in this city that the early followers of Christ were

Alexandretta, Syria

first called Christians, and it was here that St. Paul started his missionary work.

There was a time when this city, built of gold and marble and the residence of many kings, was called “the Crown of the East”. But today all that a traveler can see are the ruins of a Roman aqueduct and a city wall, once wide enough for four-horse chariots to drive along the top, and just a little humble village.

Aleppo. After six hours’ ride by motor car we reach Aleppo. From here we take the train past the city of Konia directly to Ankara (Angora), the new capital of Turkey. [Page 153]TREASURES OF THE EAST 153

In Turkey you travel for hours over treeless plains, then suddenly you see some white town in a fertile valley, its minarets lifting from among green meadows and thick poplar groves — such is typical of travel in Turkish lands with their charming environments.

The Turkish peasant lives the same peasant life as of other Oriental countries. He uses primitive tools and ancient methods. The wooden wheels of an ox-cart are never greased, for it is the screech that sings the driver to sleep. If the cart stops, so does the screech, and the driver wakes to goad his oxen to the task. Once an American traveler bought some oil, thinking he would oblige the owner, and greased the cart. The owner was so enraged that he threatened to have him arrested if he did not put the screech back again.

The Turkish bazaar also resembles those in other Oriental countries. At a Turkish grocery shop you can surely tell at a glance all that he has in stock. The central rope with a knob which hangs from the ceiling is the proprietor’s own private elevator. He grasps the rope with both hands and pulls himself up in the air and jumps in or out as he pleases.

Every Turkish village has its own public bakeries, where people come to bake their bread. It is customary to bake about twice a week.

Every country has its own superstitions. Among the Turks as well as the Arabs, for example, is the fear of “the evil eye”. In order that babies, camels, horses, mules, donkeys, and cows may be protected from the evil eye, each must be provided with a string of blue beads around the neck as a necklace. More surprising is the fact that the same precaution is now applied to Oriental automobiles and trucks. They too must be provided with strings of blue beads around the steering wheels or on the top of the radiators.

Here is another superstition among Turkish Christians: [Page 154]154 TREASURES OF THE EAST

When a fire is raging, the priest cuts a lamb’s throat in the middle of the road, scattering the blood up and down to prevent the flames from spreading.

Individuals will “vow” a sheep in the event of some relative recovering from illness.

A farming community will organize its springtime sacrifice as an appeal to the Lord of Heaven for rain.

Turkey —The New Capital, Angora

Ankara (Angora) is the capital of Turkey today. Its large, handsome government buildings are built upon a patch of green on the slope of a hill. The old section of the city lies on the citadel, a natural rock rising sharply at the back of the modern city. Here are deep-worn streets, overhanging houses, the fruit and grain merchants, camels and donkeys, filling every space between the ancient fortifications.

The railroad stations on the way to Ankara (Angora) [Page 155]TREASURES OF THE EAST 155

are very interesting. Each station has a bell like the one that hangs in the American little red schoolhouse. If the station is very small, an official comes to the door with a large dinnerbell. In any case, passengers do not need worry about the train's going off without them when they descend to get water or buy food, for the bell rings three times with more than a minute between to give them due warning.

Leaving Ankara (Angora), we travel by train for Stanbul (Constantinople), crossing vast plains dotted with villages of stone houses which have the appearance of small fortresses.

The train stops at Haidar Pasha station, and from here we take a ferry to Ghalata Bridge at Stanbul.

Stanbul (Constantinople), “the City of Constantine”, called Stanbul by the Turks, is built on a promontory jutting out into the sea of Marmora, west of the Bosphorus which is the division between Europe and Asia. On the European side are Ghalata, Peru, and other suburban towns, while on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus is Scutary.

Of the 300 mosques, the most remarkable are the Royal mosques of which there are fifteen, the finest in the world. First among these is the Mosque of St. Sophia, the most ancient existing Christian Church, converted into a mosque in 1450 on the capture of the city by the Turks under Sultan Muhammad II, the Conqueror.

Sultan “Abdu’l-Hamid II was one of the most peculiar rulers of Turkey. He spent half of his life in fear and the other half in building palaces of which he had more than twenty in and about Stanbul, gazing from the window at his warships, and hoarding money. He seldom traveled because he was afraid of his own shadow. Afraid for his life, he trusted nobody. He spent more money than any one man or king in his day, about $4,000,000 was his annual salary. [Page 156]156 TREASURES OF THE EAST

He had numerous rooms lighted and prepared for sleeping, and all were guarded. But every night he used to sleep in a different room. In this way he evaded danger.

Turkey — Sultan "Abdu’l-Hamid II in the Height of His Glory

There were 6,000 persons at Dolma-Baghchah, one of the sultan’s palaces.

The food for the sultan was cooked by one man and his aids, and none other dared to touch it. It was prepared in [Page 157]TREASURES OF THE EAST 157

metal vessels, and when done, each kettle was sealed by a slip of paper and a stamp, which was broken in the presence

The Old Sultan as He Appeared Just Before Losing His Throne

of the sultan by the High Chamberlain, who took one spoonful from each separate kettle before the sultan tasted its contents. This was to prevent the sultan being poisoned.

Turkey now adopts the Occidental letters in writing. [Page 158]158 TREASURES OF THE EAST

Twotthirds of the Turkish language is Arabic and Persian. Turkish epitaphs are fascinating because of their Oriental, flowery words and subtle, mystic meanings. Here is the inscription placed over a royal child who was strangled at Stanbul in 1843 according to that brutal custom which was imposed to prevent collateral lines from aspiring to the throne: ‘SA flower which had scarcely bloomed was torn away from its stem. It has been removed to these bowers where roses never fade and where its parents’ tears will shed refreshing moisture. Say a prayer for its beatitude!”

After this, just before sailing on a liner back to the New World, we may sing with (Omar Khayyam,

‘And this first summer-month that brings the rose, shall take Jamshyd (king) and Kaikobad (Ala-ud-Din)

hl away.

And turning our face to the East, to the Arabs we say, ‘Salam “Alikum” (Peace be upon you); to the Turk, “Allah Asmar-la-dik” (In Allah’s hand we leave you); to the Persian, “Khoda Hafiz-i'Shuma” (May God protect you); and to all the world, good-by, and good-luck.

The end. �