THE FOREIGN COLONY IN ANGORA—A GROUP OF FOREIGN PERSONALITIES
WE cannot complete our record of “Personalities” in Angora without some
mention of the foreigners in residence. Whatever has been asserted,
there are no Germans there.
Quite apart from the Turkish officers’ personal antipathy, the Germans
have no money for concessions; their educational methods would never
take root in Anatolia; they have lost the legend of military superiority
which was the only _raison d’être_ of their influence in the past.
Before the military genius of the Turks, their great generals have been
compelled to _baisser pavillon_. Even during the war Turkey saw through
German bluff, and the taste of army arrogance was amply efficient to
kill the unnatural alliance for ever. I can definitely assert, by way of
checking the prominence given to false statements of Teuton influence,
that _there are no Germans in Angora_.
On the other hand, it is true that a subtle form of propaganda is still
at work in Germany itself. There a Turk can obtain, by merely showing a
passport, a document that entitles him to all the “special” terms given
to “natives” at hotels, theatres, and shops.
I have already described the glories of the Soviet Embassy, and that
distinguished economist, Camarade Areloff.
The Azerbaijan Ambassador, M. Abiloff, represents the four states of the
Caucasian Confederation; whose rather commercial policy is not very
popular.
Sultan Ahmed Khan has been representing Afghanistan in Angora for two
years. He tells me that any communications with his Government seem
almost as difficult as with Persia, whose Ambassador has now returned to
his own country.
The personality of Colonel Mougin has done much for the important
commercial interests of his country, but he is far too wise to imagine
that France is the Power on whom M. Kemal ultimately counts to save
Constantinople from the Russians.
Mr. Imbrie, the American commercial attaché, has been entrusted with the
double duty of protecting concession-hunters from the States and
organising the “American Near East Relief Workers in Anatolia,”
administered in Angora by Mr. Compton and his charming wife, who must
have stepped out of the frame of a dainty miniature. Mr. Imbrie, by the
way, lives in a railway _salon_, and when his wife arrives we hope that
her rugs and cushions and curtains may be as pretty as Mrs. Compton’s.
It is very unfortunate that all relief work has been so wickedly
hampered by friends of Armenia in the States. Their ridiculously unjust,
anti-Turkish, propaganda must have been inspired by the American version
of _Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday_!
Moreover, Americans never give relief which they cannot themselves
administer. Maybe the implied affront to Turkish competency is
unintentional, but Kiazim Kara Békir Pasha (who looks after five hundred
orphans without a penny from the State, and has established many
“professional” schools) has a right to resent it. His compatriots are
often tempted to exclaim, “Keep your dollars,” for American charities
are always administered with a business manner that scarcely conciliates
the recipient; and one must wonder, for example, how the Armenian priest
can provide for his flock of seventy on four hundred liras (3,000
francs) a month. They do not evangelise with much tact, and Turkey can
hardly be expected not to sense the Armenian behind the missionary.
Nevertheless, America has done a great deal for education, and one
sincerely hopes that her colleges will keep out of propaganda. Every
Turk will acknowledge the supreme value of the institutions that have
produced brilliant pupils like Halidé Edib Hanoum, and they will know
very well how much the women of Turkey can gain from them, _not_ to be
gained from their own system of education. I admire Turkish women very
much, and have enjoyed their company in their own homes, but I am none
the less ready to honour the work of their American teachers that has
already given them so splendid a start towards real progress and
complete freedom.
One must not forget the Imperial Ottoman Bank, now destined, by decree
of the Assembly, to become the Bank of Turkey. The fact will, I hope, be
freely advertised, so that all over Anatolia its origin may not be
forgotten, whilst its increased power becomes well known, and the people
may learn to regard it as what the French call a real _Maison du bon
Dieu_.
Already to-day, even in remote places like Angora, you can “inquire
within for everything” at its well-organised branches. Whether with or
without directions from headquarters, the Bank of Angora is always ready
to supplement one’s stores, and supply extra beds or special
information, and any traveller in the heart of Asia Minor will know the
value of such little courtesies! Of course, its financial backing of
Anglo-French capital forms the surest possible passport for universal
confidence.
We may hope, too, that its official position in the State may soon have
the indirect result of diminishing our foolish jealousies of French
influence. France asks, and deserves, some gratitude for her courage in
admitting the error of her ways at Sèvres, but she has no ambition to
undermine British interests.
Turkey needs capital, and American help involves interference from men
too far away for understanding. Anglo-French capital, the more the
better, means good terms in the East between us, and real friendship
towards Turkey, for “where their treasure is, there is the heart also.”
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