THE SUBLIME PORTE AND YILDIZ KIOSK.
The Porte the old centre of authority--The Ministers'
present degraded position--A conversational
opening--Meaning of 'Yildiz Kiosk'--The Sultan's Armenian
appearance--The reasons for his living at Yildiz--A
fortified palace--Its gardens and forest--The 'Charitable
Hotel-keeper'--The apartments of the palace--Governing
bodies in it--A cosmopolitan crew--Expenses of the
Household--The Sultan's Civil List managed by Armenians.
BEFORE the reign of the present Sultan the centre of the ruling power
in Turkey was the 'Sublime Porte' but since his accession, Yildiz
Kiosk (his palace) has absorbed every scrap of authority in the
country. Although, in diplomatic and journalistic language, the 'Porte'
or 'Sublime Porte,' is still used as the name for the Government
of Turkey, it can no longer be regarded as a correct one. Before
describing Yildiz Kiosk, I should like to state what the 'Sublime
Porte' means and represents. 'Sublime Porte' is the French translation
of the Turkish term '_Babi Aali_.' _Bab_ means 'door,' and _Aali_
'superior.' Every Government seat is called the 'door' in Turkey, for
the reason that the door of every office of the State is supposed
to be always open to any who may wish to enter to seek justice and
redress. The most important of all Government offices (that of the
Grand Vizier and the three principal Ministers, who are the President
of the Councils of State, the Foreign Minister, and the Minister of the
Interior, with their respective departmental functionaries) is known as
'Sublime Porte'; whereas the offices of the other Ministers, such as
Justice, Finance, Public Works, Public Instruction, War, etc., which
are situated in separate localities, being considered comparatively
less important, are only called the 'Door.'
The Council of the Ministers holds its meetings under the presidency of
the Grand Vizier at the 'Sublime Porte.' Theoretically, the affairs of
State are still superintended by the Ministers, but in reality nowadays
they simply supervise such scraps of State business as may be handed
over to them by the Palace. The present Cabinet Ministers of Turkey are
either men whose principle and ability are not of the sort to inspire
respect, or else weak nonentities, who are merely appointed to carry
out without question the wishes of the Palace. They are all appointed
and protected by some influential courtier of the Sultan. It is an open
secret that beyond reading and talking over the papers sent to them by
the Palace, the Cabinet Ministers dare not discuss or settle any matter
affecting the vital interests of the country on their own account;
and it is also a matter of common knowledge that the conversation of
the Ministers in Council is chiefly about the weather and other safe,
unexciting topics. The favourite conversational opening of the late
Sheikh-ul-Islam in the Council, as is well known in Constantinople,
was:-" Under the benevolent auspices of his Imperial Majesty, our
august Master, the weather is fine to-day." None of the Ministers
venture to make a statement or give an opinion on any political
situation. Like their subordinates, the Ministers are in honour bound
to spy on one another. In short, the Cabinet Ministers are now mere
ciphers of the Court.
The 'Sublime Porte' was first recognised as the centre of the ruling
power of the Ottoman empire when such statesmen were in power as
Resheed Pasha (who was Grand Vizier during the Crimean campaign),
Aali Pasha, Fuad Pasha (who accompanied the late Sultan Aziz when the
latter visited this country), and Midhat Pasha, who compelled the
Sultan to sanction a Representative Assembly, and who was afterwards
done to death in his exile in Taif near Mecca. The reason why
Abd-ul-Hamid preserved the 'Sublime Porte,' although he has deprived
it of every vestige of authority, is that he found the Ministers
useful as scapegoats at various periods of his reign, when he had to
face important political crises. The Sultan has until quite recently
succeeded in hoodwinking even the representatives of the European
Powers, and making them believe that the authority which had to settle
International disputes was the 'Sublime Porte.' Thus he has avoided the
possibility of personal responsibility for his misrule being brought
home to him, and causing diplomatic pressure to bear directly on
himself. The buildings which contain the offices of the 'Sublime Porte'
are situated in the Stamboul quarter of Constantinople, and are close
to St Sophia
Having explained what the Sublime Porte once was and now is, and having
also pointed out that it has ceased to be even in a figurative sense
the Ottoman Government, I will now give an account of Yildiz Kiosk.
Yildiz means 'star' in Turkish. The majestic hill which is situated on
the European side of the Bosphorus near the Marmora end of the Strait
is called the Yildiz. The word 'Kiosk,' or, as it is spelt in Turkish,
'Koshq,' means both castle and cottage. I believe it was Sultan
Abd-ul-Mejid who built the castle on the summit of the hill and called
it 'Yildiz Koshq.' The story runs that this castle was built as a
residence for a favourite lady of that Sultan, to whose presence in the
harem of the palace his wife and mother objected. Gossip also relates
that she was an Armenian, and the present Sultan is said to be her son.
Although the physiognomy of Abd-ul-Hamid is very similar to that of a
typical Armenian, and his personal characteristics are more Armenian
than Turkish, this story rests on a very slight foundation.
Twenty-six years ago the present Sultan transferred the royal seat to
the house at Yildiz, which was then a mere cottage. Many reasons were
adduced for his changing his dwelling so soon after his accession. The
ostensible reason was that the air on the lofty Yildiz hill was much
finer than that round the old palace, which lay on the damp shores of
the Bosphorus. But the real reason was that Yildiz was impregnable, and
that there his person would be safely protected against any attempt
to overthrow him. During the last six-and-twenty years he has never
relaxed his efforts to make his home at Yildiz safer and safer. The
forest extending from the top of the Yildiz hill down to the shores
of the Bosphorus is surrounded with high and massive walls. I have
never had any opportunity of penetrating within the forest It is said
to be perpetually guarded by numerous sentinels round the walls.
Some years ago a whole battalion of sappers worked inside the forest
of Yildiz Palace for months. According to what I gathered from the
reports of the soldiers, the forest is mined in several directions,
and there must be a thorough workable system of subterranean passages,
for what purpose it is not difficult to surmise. I visited the
outside of these walls at a time when it was occasionally possible
for strangers to walk in the vicinity of the Yildiz Palace. There are
many blocks of barracks, thirty or forty yards apart from one another,
all along the line of the wall In these barracks are quartered troops
of various nationalities--Arab, Albanian, and Turkish. There is
little friendliness or intercourse between the men of the different
battalions; but all these simple-minded privates of the guard have been
so carefully and systematically inspired with unhesitating loyalty
towards their 'father,' as they call the Sultan, that they would quite
willingly sacrifice the last drop of their blood in the defence of his
precious life. Beyond these barracks there are hills and valleys, which
are also extensively guarded by blockhouses and sentinels. Some years
ago, when the Turkish malcontents became restless, a young officer in
the Sultan's guard drew a careful plan of the palace and its defences,
in which he showed its vulnerable points. This plan was published
some years ago by the Turkish agitators in Geneva, with the title
"Instructions to be carried out in the assault on Yildiz Palace." It is
said that the publication of this plan caused the Sultan to alter all
the defences of Yildiz.
The harem apartments and various small but luxurious kiosks are
situated in the interior of the forest, which is said to be laid out in
beautiful flower-gardens, roads, lakes and canals. There are several
detached pavilions in the palace gardens; one of the most splendid of
them is said to be the one in which the Sultan entertains his princely
foreign guests. The Emperor of Germany lodged in it during his two
visits to Constantinople. The Sultan is always eager to accommodate his
royal visitors within the establishment of Yildiz, so that he may not
be compelled to leave the palace to call upon them. It is well known
that he takes the utmost care to make them comfortable and to entertain
them well. It is for this reason that he has obtained the nickname in
certain discontented quarters of 'the Charitable Hotel-keeper.' The
Sultan always enjoys his sport and takes his exercise in his palace
forest One of his means of recreation is the Yildiz opera-house, in
which he, with his children or with his foreign guests, patronises the
drama, in which he takes a keen interest It is worthy of remark that,
while a strict censorship and a rigorous police make the progress of
dramatic art among his subjects almost impossible, the Sultan's own
theatre is fitted with all the latest improvements.
The buildings in which the officials and officers of the court, and
the army of household attendants (as we may call them) live, are
situated at the highest part of the Yildiz forest, while at the
opposite end, at the foot of the forest, almost on the shore, is the
Tcharagan Palace, where ex-Sultan Murad, Abd-ul-Hamid's mysterious
and strictly-guarded captive, is confined. No human being who is not
attached to the guard of the captive can approach the latter palace.
The bureaus of the officials and officers on the top of the hill are
built just outside the walled garden. The passage between the official
residences and offices and the Sultan's own quarters in the interior
is called the 'Mabeyn,' an Arabic word, which means a space between
two objects. It is for that reason that the seraglio of the Sultan
is figuratively called the Mabeyn, so that it may be distinguished
from those of other princely palaces. In front of these departmental
offices there is another valley, which was formerly inhabited chiefly
by Turkish and Armenian families. The houses of these people have
all been appropriated by the Civil List, with the view of making the
distance between the palace at Yildiz and the people's quarters as
great as possible. Beyond this valley there is another high hill, which
is covered with the private houses of the court dignitaries. The object
of the Sultan in building these houses for his officials on his own
account was that he might prevent the Europeans of Pera from coming
into possession of land in the direction of Yildiz, and in this way
extending their quarters into the vicinity of the palace.
With a few exceptions, the courtiers and principal secretaries of the
Sultan receive any business connected with any branch of State affairs,
and deal with it after submitting it to him. For instance, there is
a military council in the palace consisting of highly-favoured staff
officers, who decide on all important military matters, although there
is still an over-staffed War Ministry, which, by the established
statute of the Empire, has to look after the affairs of the army.
In the palace a highly important espionage and police bureau is
maintained, though the old Ministry of the Police, with its numerous
officials, is still in existence. In the palace reside those advisers
to the Sultan whose business it is to attend to matters connected
with Mussulman affairs, and to see that the Sultan's position as
Caliph in the Mohammedan world is maintained; yet the old office of
the Sheikh-ul-Islam, which theoretically should be in charge of such
religious matters, is still in existence, with its many officials.
There is a political and translation department at Yildiz, which is
entrusted with the examination of such of the contents of the political
press and political literature of Europe as may deal with Turkish
matters, and which makes suggestions on diplomatic affairs, though
these things are supposed to be done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
at the Sublime Porte. The postal and telegraphic office of Yildiz
Palace is the greatest and busiest of all post-offices in Turkey. All
governors, commanders, agents, ambassadors and emissaries communicate
directly with the palace through this post-office.
The men who compose the Sultan's immediate circle, and who are ruling
the country, are of many nationalities; some of them are Europeans.
Anyone who knows the origin of these people would not hesitate to agree
with me when I say that in the present reign the power and rule of
Turkey is not in the hands of real Turks.
Hundreds of officials, officers, and retainers actually live on the
premises of the palace. On one occasion I saw dinner being served out
to the household of the palace. Numerous servants hurried about in all
directions, carrying on their heads large wooden trays full of dishes.
The number of the chefs and assistant cooks is known to be over two
hundred. The working expenses of the palace are roughly estimated
to be somewhere about £5000 a day. This enormous sum is, of course,
paid out of the Sultan's Civil List. The revenues of the Civil List
are very great, and they are drawn from many sources. Nearly all the
estates and farms of high value, and most of the fertile districts in
Anatolia and Syria, and more especially in the provinces of Baghdad and
on the Persian Gulf, are now entirely at the disposal of the Sultan,
and constitute the source of his private income. Moreover, as every
vestige of power is nowadays in his hands, he can draw as much money as
he requires from the State exchequer at the Finance Ministry.
The fixed income of the sovereign is supposed to be £50,000 a month.
The Sublime Porte had at one time the courage to reduce it to £30,000,
but, as I explained before, the Porte is now only nominally existent
For the last twenty years or more, during which the revenues of the
Civil List have increased enormously, the officials at the head of the
department have, without exception, been of Armenian nationality. The
first of these Armenian officials, a certain Aghob Pasha, was the man
who suggested to the Sultan the idea of appropriating the property of
the prominent Mussulmans in the province. The Civil List is never in
need of money, as is the public exchequer of Turkey, yet many officials
who serve solely for the palace, and do practically nothing for the
public welfare, get their salaries from the public exchequer. The
sum which the exchequer has to contribute to the fund of the Palace
espionage system alone is estimated to be £90,000 a year. Besides the
expenses of the Imperial household, only the salaries of the immediate
officials of the court, and the cost of the Sultan's largess of money,
presents, and gifts, are defrayed by the Civil List Even the allowances
of the Princes and Princesses of the Royal House are paid by the
public exchequer, and it is for this reason that the members of the
Dynasty (who, by the way, live in separate minor palaces, in compulsory
seclusion, and whose intercourse with the nation the Sultan's jealousy
and suspicion has cut off), like the officials of the State, always
find their salaries in arrears, to their great inconvenience.