A NEW PROFESSION AND THE QUESTION OF CONSCRIPTION.
First moderation of my prejudice against Europeans--The
Levantine guide--The truth is not in him--I begin to wish
to visit England--A summer trip to Asia Minor--A British
consul--His wife and my mother--A trip in the Eastern
Mediterranean--Thoughts of a more profitable career--I
join a law college--The law of Turkey--Untrustworthiness
of English books of reference--Turkish law courts--A
quasi-religious magistracy--Palace influence over
justice--I am called to serve in the army--I
obtain exemption with much difficulty--Methods of
conscription--Native Christians not allowed to serve--The
wisdom of this policy.
AFTER living the hard life of the _madrasseh_ for three solitary
years, I was permitted by my uncle to pay a visit to my native town
during a vacation. It was at this time that my prejudice against the
unbelievers of Europe first began to be moderated, and it came about in
this way. During a summer afternoon, as I was walking in the garden
of the _madrasseh_, a young European, accompanied by a pretty girl,
was just coming out of the mosque of little St Sophia. They excited my
curiosity, as the appearance of all Europeans who came to visit those
ancient edifices always excites the curiosity of the people living near
them. They both looked at a mulberry tree loaded with fruit, and the
gentleman picked up a berry which had just fallen and gave it to the
lady. I walked towards them, with what possibly was a rather forbidding
air. They started, and appeared somewhat embarrassed. I signed to them
to stop, and, taking off my shoes, climbed up the tree and picked a
handful of the ripe fruit. I put the fruit on two large leaves of the
tree and offered it to the lady. My action seemed to please them. They
had no guide, which pleased me greatly, for there are no more shameless
cheats than those ignorant interpreters, who are as a class one of
the worst products of the non-Mussulman natives of the Levant Many
Europeans who pay a flying visit to the Levant, and hasten to sit down
and write a book about their experiences, derive all their information
from these cicerones and interpreters. Probably it is on account of
this that a countryman of mine once remarked, "When we read such books,
especially those written in English, about ourselves, we always learn
something from them which we never knew or heard of before." As the
English were respected above all other European nations in those days
in the Ottoman empire, and as everyone used to think every European
visitor must be English, I took the couple for English people. Whether
they were really British or not is an open question. We exchanged a
parting greeting, but to my regret I did not speak any language then
except my own, in which I might try to talk to them. From that moment,
however, my mind was possessed by a desire to see England, though I
could not mention it to anyone, because the people of the _madrasseh_
would have been greatly shocked by such a suggestion, and would perhaps
have brought a charge against me of wishing to turn myself into a
Christian.
I started soon after this for home. The party with which I travelled
took a route different from the one by which we had come three
years previously to Constantinople. I therefore had the opportunity
of visiting other towns of Asia Minor. When I reached our own town,
I found that my mother had already moved to her summer house in the
country. By a strange coincidence, the British Consul and his family
were staying in a summer residence which they had hired close by our
own. They were the only English people, and also the only Europeans,
to be found in the town, as the Anatolian railway was not then even
projected, and no European could possibly have found any employment
there. I made the acquaintance of the Consul one day while shooting
wild-duck on the shores of a neighbouring lake. The British Consul was
able to make himself understood in Turkish, and we soon struck up an
acquaintance. I made him promise to meet me again, so that we might
go shooting together. When I became more intimate with him, I was
privileged by an introduction to his wife, who did not associate at
all with the ladies of the country. A wish crossed my mind soon after
that my mother and she should meet. This was a most delicate matter,
because, though I found the lady very charming, after all, from my
mother's point of view, she was an 'infidel.' However, I secured her
consent, and she met the English lady with a considerable amount of
shyness. On account of the Englishwoman's inability to speak Turkish
sufficiently, they talked very little. Notwithstanding this, my mother
liked her visitor greatly, and she afterwards repeatedly expressed
to me her regret that such a nice woman should not be a follower of
'the true religion of God,' that is to say, Islam. I used to ask many
questions of the Consul about his country, and I think my inquiries
must have been of the most ridiculous description, for while they
answered me most kindly, wife and husband exchanged words in their own
tongue and smiled the whole time. I was so afraid of the prejudices of
my people that I did not even venture to express to the Consul my then
most unrealisable desire of visiting England.
When the three months' vacation given to me that year came to an end,
I started for Constantinople again. Having gained sufficient seniority
in the _madrasseh_ I was now free from serving any tutor. I had a
room which I shared with an Albanian fellow-pupil. That year I made
progress in the study of Mohammedan law, which is always taught in the
Arabic language. Two more years passed. The next summer vacation I
wanted to see some new country, so I took a French liner for Beyrout,
where I had a relation. On my way I stayed at Smyrna, and visited the
Turkish islands of Chios and Mitylene. During my travels I saw many
young men who, having completed their studies in modern colleges, had
been appointed by the Government to various posts in the provinces,
with salaries which at that time seemed to me higher than could have
been expected by any young man. An idea crossed my mind that I might
change the course of the antiquated studies on which I was wasting my
time. On making inquiries about a rational system of education to which
I could devote myself, and by which I might eventually make a future
career and earn a competence, I found that an entrance examination
was going to take place in three months for the newly established law
college. The Government wished to find trained officials for the new
courts, and qualified advocates for the bar. I determined to try my
luck; and a young officer from the military academy, who was residing
close to our _madrasseh_, gave me, as a favour, some coaching for the
examination in geography and arithmetic, the two subjects in which I
was most backward. I passed the examination fairly well, and joined the
law l institution.
As I said before, all the progress of the educational institutions
of modern creation has of late been lamentably hampered by the
interference of the Sultan's palace Government, whose principal desire
is to crush the growing liberalism. I should, however, mention here,
to the credit of the Porte, that these institutions were originally
founded, and have always been maintained, at the expense of the State,
and that they are mostly free and open to students of all classes of
people, without distinction of race or faith. In our first year's class
at the law college, in which there were about forty-five students, the
number of Armenians alone reached thirteen.
By giving some account of the subjects taught us in the law college
of Constantinople, I shall be able to state in brief the nature of
the statutes and constitution of the Ottoman empire and its judiciary
institutions.
Besides a few subjects which are of general interest to all trained
lawyers and legal officers, there are various courses of lectures on
the civil code and its procedure, criminal law and its procedure,
land law, commercial and mercantile law, digest of administrative
regulations, chapters on international law and capitulation treaties,
and so forth. The civil code is based upon the rules established
in succeeding centuries from the time of the Ommiade and Abbaside
Caliphates down to the early days of the Ottomans, as set down
by various Arabic books, which were compiled by the early Moslem
jurists, who have made many commentaries on them. The civil code
of Turkey, therefore, is based entirely upon the ordinances of the
Mussulman secular law. It was framed by a board of men well versed
in the literature and the jurisprudence of the Moslem East. This
board was formed during the reign of the late Sultan, and it took
nearly fifteen years to carry out the necessary researches and
frame the code as it now exists. It is noteworthy that, as has been
shown by competent authorities, there are many essential points of
resemblance between this code and the civil laws of some European
nations which have borrowed their materials from the sources of Roman
law. The procedure of the Turkish civil code is based partly on the
French system and partly on the usages which existed in the ancient
courts of Turkey. The land law is also based on the principles of
the Mussulman secular law relating to land and estates, and on the
established precedents existing in the empire. This law is of much
interest to Europeans residing in Turkey, because while, so far as
the criminal and civil cases are concerned, those Europeans enjoy
the protection of their capitulation privileges, with regard to the
land law they are subject to the complete jurisdiction of the Ottoman
Government. The reason of this is that when the representatives of the
Great Powers demanded that the Porte should grant to their subjects
the right of acquiring property in the Ottoman dominions, the Porte
insisted that, as a counter-concession, the Powers should renounce
the capitulation privileges, and thus leave their subjects under the
jurisdiction of Turkey, so far as the acquisition of land and cases
arising from it were concerned. The criminal law and its procedure,
the procedure concerning the formation of courts, and commercial law
are almost entirely copied from the French judicial system, while the
mercantile law is copied partly from France and partly from Holland.
Most regulations of various kinds promulgated since the Treaty of Paris
have been adopted from the State regulations of some of the Continental
Powers, more especially of France. In many cases they have been adopted
without much regard to the local requirements of the Levant. The
pressure put upon the Porte by the Great Powers at different periods
for the introduction of reforms is responsible for the hasty adoption
of the least suitable of these legal and administrative laws.
The details I have given above will give some idea of the existing
statutes and constitution of the Ottoman Empire. When you open your
best books of reference to see what are the laws of Turkey, you
will find in one this useful piece of information:--"The Koran is
the legal and theological code upon which the fundamental laws of
the Empire are based," while in another you will see the following
illuminating passage:--".... Fundamental laws of the Empire are based
upon the precepts of the Koran. The next to Koran the laws of Multeka"
(!) I have no doubt this last bit of knowledge is borrowed from the
meaningless writings of Canon McColl on Turkish matters. I have often
pointed out to Englishmen of my acquaintance many of the mistaken
notions prevailing in this country on the affairs of the nearer East.
The answers and reasons given to me were always the same--namely, that
Englishmen are not much interested in Turkish matters nowadays. This
indifference on the part of Englishmen is the chief reason why the
prestige of Great Britain is doomed to disappear in the Levant. If
the editors or writers of such productions as those I have quoted are
also of the opinion that Englishmen do not now take an interest in the
Turkish empire, I should think that, instead of filling up their pages
with ridiculous inaccuracies, they would be better advised not to write
anything on Turkey at all.
As regards the law courts of Turkey, they can be divided into two
main classes-the old courts and the reformed courts. The old courts
form part of the office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam, and they have a
half-religious complexion. Their functions are nowadays reduced to a
few matters, such as the settling of inheritance, deciding on divorce
actions, certifying marriages, and looking after such other cases as
may arise among the members of a Mohammedan community. Questions of
this nature among the native Christian communities are taken charge of
by the Patriarchate of each community.
With the exception of the courts which are charged with the trial of
all civil officials who may be accused of offences connected solely
with their administrative duties, and which are attached to the Council
of State Presidency, all the reformed courts form part of the Ministry
of Justice. Like all the departmental bureaus of that Ministry, the
central courts are situated in the huge buildings opposite St. Sophia,
and just outside the gate of the ancient seraglio. Both criminal
and ordinary civil courts are divided into three degrees--namely,
preliminary, appeal, and cassation courts. Here there are also
two commercial courts, one dealing with cases connected with the
mercantile marine, the other with actions arising out of all commercial
and trading matters. A section of the latter court has a mixed or
international character; that is to say, among its members there are
foreigners, not appointed by the Ottoman Government, but deputed by
foreigners. This section deals with the commercial disputes between
Ottoman and foreign subjects.
The old semi-ecclesiastical courts, from the time when they had to deal
with every kind of lawsuit until now, have been conducted on what I may
call a 'one-judge system,' that is to say, each court, like the English
law courts, has a single judge to deal with the cases brought before it
But each of the new or reformed courts has, besides the chief judge,
several deputy judges; in other words, a president and members. This
imitation of the legal arrangements of France has not proved the check
on the perversions of justice charged against the old simple method
which was expected. Experience has shown that as the population of
Turkey is so widely heterogeneous, to have several judges in a court,
who may belong to different nationalities and religions, gives rise to
even more corruption and partiality than when there is one only.
The evils of the present Hamidian tyranny have destroyed all the
confidence of the people in the new courts. Legal officers of
capability and integrity are either exiled or appointed to courts in
obscure corners of the empire, and the central courts are filled with
the favourites of the Palace clique, and these creatures deal out
'justice' according to the will of the Palace. The Sultan has given
them orders recently to condemn all opponents of his misrule. Lately
about a hundred innocent men have been condemned to death or penal
servitude, and their properties have been confiscated by the central
criminal courts on the charge of 'high treason.'
* * * * *
Just about the time when I was preparing for my final examination, the
director of my college informed me that he had received a communication
from the War Office to the effect that I was among the list of men
for the year's conscription. This was a very disturbing piece of
news to me, as I had just decided to adopt a new profession, and had
left my _madrasseh_. The students in _madrassehs_, who have passed an
examination in Arabic and other subjects taught them in that language,
are exempted from serving in the army. Although our college was one
of the educational institutions of the State, the students of which
are also exempted under certain conditions from military service, this
exemption had only been recently granted, and the military authorities
did not know much about it. Those who knew of it did not view it with
favour, as they are very anxious to force rigid conscription upon
everyone. They will not argue on this point, and will dispose of all
arguments with military brusqueness. It took several months to get
the military authorities at the Constantinople War Office and the
officers of the division at my birthplace in Anatolia to exempt me from
serving in the army, and my dispute with them interfered very seriously
with my last and most difficult examination in the college, and as a
result I had to content myself with a second-class diploma only. It
was not because I was afraid of a soldier's life that I wanted to
escape it; cowardice is not one of an Osmanli's failings. Indeed, when
I first came to Constantinople my wish had been to go to a military
school to be trained as an officer, but my uncle ignored it and sent
me to the theological _madrasseh_. Now, after several years, to be
sent compulsorily into the army as a private would have ruined all my
chances in the new career I had mapped out for myself, and there is but
little chance of promotion from the ranks.
The methods of conscription in Turkey differ from those of other
military countries. Although military service is obligatory in the
Turkish empire, conscription is not universal; that is to say, the
privileged natives of Constantinople, the inhabitants of all frontier
districts, such as the Albanians and Kurdish clans and Arab tribes,
are not forced to serve in the army. Moreover, the Armenians, Greeks,
and non-Mussulman natives of the country are completely exempted from
military service, and instead of serving as soldiers, each male member
of these peoples pays a yearly exemption tax, the amount of which,
if I am not mistaken, is about five or six shillings. Many of these
native Christians exercise an incredible amount of ingenuity to get out
of paying the tax, and they all grumble incessantly at its tremendous
heaviness. They always complain to their European sympathisers about
this, and as a matter of fact some kind British politicians take this
grievance of the 'oppressed Christian' in hand every now and then,
and style it one of the numerous injustices committed against them by
the Turks, and defend their cause vigorously in the press or on the
platform, in the name of humanity and Christianity. Sometimes you will
hear the native Christians of Turkey complain that they are not equally
treated, because they are not admitted into the army. But it is easy
to see that this half-hearted complaint is merely made for the sake of
grumbling, as they are only too thankful for their exemption, knowing
what hardships, misery, and material losses are caused by being away
for years from home on active service, and they are not unaware that
a community liable to stringent conscription is likely to have its
numbers thinned. I am not one of those so-called enlightened people
styled 'advanced' Turks, who advocate the admission of these Eastern
Christians into the Turkish army. I may be called a fanatic; but so far
as the interests of my nation are concerned, I do not mind being so
called. What would become of the loyalty, supreme obedience to command,
self-sacrificing devotion, and undaunted fighting capacity which
distinguish our army, if the Eastern Christians were admitted into
it?[4] The Turkish army has always inspired fear in the ambitious and
aspiring enemies of our territories, and if it were not for the Turkish
army the remainder of the empire would have been divided up long ago.
It has beaten a nation which had eighty thousand trained men in the
field, and which received moral and material support from all
parts of Europe, in a month. It has made, by its heroic action
in the field, an astonished German veteran jump up and exclaim
enthusiastically--"What a brilliant army!" and a well known English war
correspondent say--"If Alexander came out of his grave he would conquer
the world with the Turkish army." This army performed so brilliant a
feat as the defence of Plevna; fought, without allies, the greatest
conquering nation of our time for nearly a year; and if it were not
for the most calamitous mismanagement of the present Sultan, it could
probably have pushed back the Russian invaders across the Danube
twenty-five years ago. The apprehension of what would happen if Greeks,
Armenians, and non-Moslem Syrians were admitted into the army is also
justified by the fact that they could not be trusted in the event of a
great struggle with, say, Russia. Of course, the Russian army has in it
a large number of Mussulman soldiers, and these men fought desperately
against us during the last Russo-Turkish War. But while Russia would
punish severely any treason committed by them, Turkey could not punish
these Eastern Christians for the same offence. Europe would call that
punishment persecution, and at once interfere on their behalf. We
know the true feelings of these people well, and whatever concession
is granted them, it is impossible to inspire in them any feeling of
patriotism for the Ottoman empire in general. Those who advocate
their inclusion in the army, moreover, say that it would increase
the numerical strength of our fighting forces. But the Ottoman army
would exceed a million men nowadays in the case of necessity, and for
purposes of defence this would be fully a match for any enemy. Another
plea for the admission of Christian subjects of Turkey into the army
is that, as they are free from conscription, their men stay at home,
work without hindrance, and look after the prosperity and welfare of
their families uninterruptedly, and their number is on the increase as
a consequence. It is quite true that compulsory military service is
telling upon the Turkish nation alarmingly. A man is liable to fight
from his twentieth year to his fortieth whenever he may be called
upon to do so, and he is, of course, always liable to be killed. When
he is called to arms, his business is paralysed and his poor family
left without assistance. But these difficulties can be remedied if the
general maladministration is improved, and I hope it will be improved
as soon as the present regime is changed.