After the deposal of Abdul Hamid, his brother, the third son of Sultan
Medjid, was put upon the throne of the Ottoman Empire, as Mohammed V.
He was born in 1844: he is now the head of a constitutional hereditary
monarchy. A grand vizier is appointed by the sultan who forms a
cabinet. According to the Mohammedan law and tradition, the sultan
being the head of both the state and religion, he also, therefore,
appoints a chief to act as the head of the Mohammedan religion--Islam.
He is called Sheikh-ul-Islam.
“The constitution provides for a Parliament of two houses, the Senate,
and the Chamber of Deputies.” For administrative purposes the empire is
divided into Vilayets (states), Sanjaks (counties), Cazas (districts),
and Naheyes (smaller districts).
The rulers of these divisions are respectfully called: Vali,
Mutassarrif, Kaymakam and Mudeer.
Before the restoration of the Constitution, the Turkish army was
entirely made up of the Mohammedans, but since (1908) non-Mohammedans
also were drafted into the army.
From the beginning of the new régime, the Young Turks have been
having some troublesome times. The first of these troubles was
Austria’s annexing Bosnia and Herzegovnia, two Turkish provinces.[153]
The inhabitants of these provinces were mostly of Slavonian origin,
mainly speaking the Servian language--excepting the Mohammedans, whose
forefathers were Christians, but who after the Mohammedan occupation of
the country in 1401, and in 1463, had abjured their faith on account of
the Turkish oppression.
This oppression and extortionate taxation caused a revolution of
the Christians in 1849, but this rebellion was suppressed by Omar
Pasha. A more determined uprising against the unjust government took
place in 1875. This the Turks failed to put down, and this failure
led to the occupation of these provinces by Austria-Hungarians. The
Treaty of Berlin entrusted the administration of these provinces
to Austria-Hungary, and she has been governing since 1880, finally
annexing them.
This annexation was not resented by the Young Turks so much as it
was by the Bosnians and Servians. Their desire and hopes of uniting
these co-religionists and members of the same Slavonian stock, were
now ended. This resentment was intensified after the conquests of
the Servians in both of the Balkan wars. Some of these Bosnians and
Servians, who had been thus disappointed, formed a conspiracy and
committed the awful crime of assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand
of Austria, and his wife, while they were on a visit to Bosnia. The
Servian government was accused by Austria of this conspiracy and
assassination; then came Austria’s ultimatum to Servia and then the war.
The Powers did not consult the governed; the Bosnians wanted to unite
with the Servians their kindred, both in religion and race. Why should
not the people have the right to say who should rule over them? The
refusal to allow this simple act of justice, like a spark set the world
on fire.
The next trouble was Bulgaria’s declaration of independence.[154]
Bulgaria had been a principality since 1878, and had been paying annual
tribute to the Turkish government. Then came the resistless demand of
the Greeks of Crete to unite with Greece. Then the war between Turkey
and Italy in 1911-1912.
Still worse than the above incidents was the Balkan war between Turkey
on one side and the Balkan States and Greece on the other side. The
Balkan allies were Greece, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenigro. The
causes of this war were just the same: the Turkish oppression and
massacres, and the ineffectual meddling of the European powers.
“Macedonia was ceded by Turkey to Bulgaria in 1878 pursuant to the
Treaty of San Stefano, but the Congress of Berlin in the same year
revised (substituted) this treaty through the insistence of Great
Britain and Austria, and restored the province to Turkey. In article
XXIII of the Treaty of Berlin, the signatory powers bound themselves
to establish an organic law providing for good government in Macedonia
and to see that it was applied. During thirty-four years that followed,
this promise was unfulfilled, despite the frequent complaints of the
Christian peoples--Bulgars, Greeks, and Serbs--of Turkish misgovernment
and atrocities.”[155]
It is the same old story. The Great Powers who made the treaty, article
by article, and signed the instrument, then turned and left the Turks
to do the rest. That “rest” was for them to go on as usual until the
four Balkan states formed an alliance and declared war against Turkey
in October of 1912.
The war was fortunately of short duration, but it was the most decisive
and humiliating defeat that the Turks had received for a long time.
Macedonia was freed from the bloody reign of the Turks, who for
nearly five hundred years had held that beautiful country under their
iron heel. Nearly two millions of people, three-fourths of whom were
Christians, were emancipated from a worse form of slavery. The defeat
of the Turkish armies was not due to lack of courage of the Ottoman
soldiers. It was solely due to the Turkish unpreparedness, their lack
of organization and arrangements for food supply for the army, and to
the inferiority of the Turkish artillery. The non-Moslem soldiers for
the first time fought alongside of the Moslem soldiers. “The bravery
and loyalty of the Armenian soldiers in the Turco-Balkan war were
commended by Nazim Pasha, then minister of war.” This Turco-Balkan war
ended in May, 1913.
As the consequence of this war, many Mohammedans from Macedonia left
their homes, unwilling to become subjects of their former “slaves.”
They crowded into Constantinople and other places. The Young Turks
tried to settle these refugees in Asiatic provinces of the empire
where the Armenian populations made the majority. The object of the
Young Turkey government was to reduce the Armenian majority so as to
prevent them from asking or expecting any local reforms. The Armenians
protested through their representative--the patriarch and the national
council.
The second Balkan war, in July, 1913, was a very sad one. This war was
between Bulgaria and her former allies, Turkey and Rumania. This war
was occasioned by the unwillingness of the victors in the former war,
to settle the division of the conquered territory by mutual concessions.
These successive reverses of the Young Turks, who so easily overthrew
the despotic reign of Abdul Hamid, must have filled their enemies at
home with indignation against and contempt for them. Well may they have
said: “Less than half a dozen years, but thousands of square miles
of land and millions of peoples have been lost to the empire both
in Europe and Africa; and if these fools will rule a little longer
the whole empire will be lost.” So shall it be. They made their best
friends abroad, their enemies by their wicked deeds. Their new friends
abroad were anxious to help them in order to be helped by them. Who can
doubt that the Young Turks, the present rulers of the Ottoman empire,
longed for an opportunity to receive the approval of the fanatics at
home and gladden the hearts of their new friends abroad?
The opportunity came. The European war broke out. Even before the war
the Turkish rulers had planned a policy of unifying and Turkifying the
Moslem State. Their experiences with the Balkan nations had taught a
lesson that they would not soon forget. But they did not start their
work at once when the war began. They had another scheme or use for the
Armenians.
“Before declaring war upon Russia, the Government of the Young
Turks which had long ago decided upon this course, sought to have
the Armenians instigate a revolt among their co-nationalists in the
Russian provinces of the Caucasus. This suggestion was presented to
the Armenians at the very opening of the war by a deputation composed
of Nadji Bey, Boukar-Eddin-Shakri Bey, and Hilmi Bey. Some Armenian
notables were assembled in Erzerum to exchange views concerning the
European war and its effects upon the interests of Armenia. The
deputation from the government in Constantinople visited the assembly
and revealed unreservedly the reason of their visit. It declared
that Enver Pasha and his colleagues were ready to declare war upon
Russia and expected from the Armenians invaluable assistance. The
Armenians were requested to form volunteer legions that, with the
Turkish propagandists, should cross the Russian frontier, and incite
the population of the Caucasus to revolt. Nadji Bey was so sure of
the success of the proposition that he had brought with him to Erzerum
twenty-seven Persian, Turkish, and Circassian propagandists who with
the assistance of Armenian volunteers would foment disaffection in the
Caucasus.
“Nadji Bey spoke in a tone of perfect cordiality and confidence. He
described in glowing terms the compensation that would accrue to the
Armenians if their services, solicited by him, were forthcoming. He
endeavored to persuade the Armenians that a revolution in the Caucasus
was inevitable.[156] After having contributed to the victory, the
Armenians would be granted autonomy, under the protection of Turkey,
thus reuniting all their dispersed compatriots on both sides of the
frontier. Enver Pasha’s delegates were ready to remake the map of
the Caucasus by a single stroke of the pen. The Georgians and the
Tartars were allotted their share of the territory, and the Armenians
would receive Kars, the province of Erivan, Van, and Bitlis. But the
Armenians categorically refused these attractive propositions and
entrusted Nadji Bey with their advice to Enver Pasha not to become
embroiled in the European catastrophe, as it would lead to the
downfall of Turkey.
“‘This is treason,’ exclaimed Bouka-Eddin-Shakri Bey. ‘You refuse to
succor the Empire, forgetting that you enjoy its hospitality.’
“Notwithstanding the violent objurgations, the Armenians stood firm in
their refusal.
“However, these emissaries of the Young Turks still hoped to convert
the Armenians to their views, and a few weeks later, on the eve of
the declaration of war upon Russia, they convoked the assemblies
of notables in all the vilayets, and once more presented their
suggestions--this time considerably modified. They no longer
demanded that the Armenians take the initiative of an uprising in the
Caucasus, but merely endeavored to convince them of the imminence of
a revolution and of the advisability of their joining in it. For the
second time the Armenians remained imperturbable in their refusal.
“Finally war was declared between Russia and Turkey. Would the
Armenians shirk performing their military duty? Not at all. They
answered the call, reporting at the mobilization stations.”[157]
The Armenians’ reform movement in 1912-3, under the presidency of
Boghos Nubar Pasha, who was appointed by the Catholicos, was a peaceful
effort to solicit the signatories of Berlin Treaty (1878) to induce the
Turkish government to put into execution the reforms guaranteed in that
treaty for Armenia.
After the consent of all the Powers was obtained, then “the Russian
draft [of reforms] was revised by the ambassadors of the Powers at
Constantinople, accepted with modifications, by the Young Turkish
Government, and actually promulgated by them on the 8th of February,
1914.”[158]
Could such a peaceful procedure have offered the Young Turks an excuse
of provocation for their atrocities committed in the following year?