POPULATION AND LANGUAGES.
Accurate Statements as to Population Impossible--No Census--Best
Available Estimates--Distribution--Most of the Races Described in
Other Chapters--Jews and Foreigners--General Characteristics--The
Languages--How Distributed--Peculiarities of the Turkish--Number
Spoken in the Seaboard Cities.
Any accurate statement as to the population of the Turkish Empire it
is impossible to make. There have been various attempts at a census,
but they have amounted to little or nothing, as is illustrated by the
fact that in every case the number of males far exceeds, sometimes by
20 per cent., the number of females. The official returns likewise are
almost valueless. They are based chiefly upon tax returns and these are
notoriously inaccurate. The taxes are collected by the farming system
and based upon the returns from the heads of the different communities.
There is thus on the one hand a strong temptation on the part of the
communities to underestimate the number of taxpayers, and on the other
hand a tendency on the part of the collectors to misstate, in order
to give as much leeway as possible for filling their own pockets.
Accordingly about the only basis for an estimate that can in any degree
be relied upon is furnished by the statements of persons who have lived
or traveled extensively throughout the empire, are acquainted with
the manner of life of the people and have opportunities for accurate
information from the heads of the communities. On this basis a general
estimate of the population for the entire empire, including tributary
states, is about 30,000,000, divided as follows:
IMMEDIATE POSSESSIONS.
Europe 4,000,000
Asia 16,000,000
----------
20,000,000
Africa, Tripoli 1,000,000
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Total 21,000,000
TRIBUTARY STATES.
Europe 3,000,000
Africa, Egypt 6,800,000
The Mediterranean 40,000
----------
Total 9,840,000
Grand Total 30,840,000
Leaving out of account the tributary states as practically outside of
our purpose, we give here a brief general survey of the distribution of
this population, reserving more definite and particular statement for
the account of each race.
In European Turkey are Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks. The
Albanians are found on the borders of the Adriatic; the Greeks on the
northern border of Greece, along the shore of the Aegean and somewhat
up the valley of the Vardar; the Bulgarians occupy the northern part
of that valley and the mountains up to the very border of Bulgaria;
the Turks are principally found in the vicinity of Adrianople and
Constantinople; there are also Armenians in Adrianople and along the
coast of the Marmora. The Greeks are the most numerous; next to them
probably come the Albanians and then the Bulgarians. Of Turks proper
there are very few. For years there has been a constant emigration from
European Turkey into Asiatic Turkey, many recognizing that the time was
at hand when the Ottoman rule in Europe must end. The Albanians are
Moslems. There is, also, in the mountains on the borders of Eastern
Rumelia, a considerable population, Bulgarian by race and Moslem by
religion, called Pomaks.
Passing over into Asia, so far as the population is concerned, the
country may be divided into three sections: Asia Minor and Eastern
Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia. In the first of these there are Turks,
Kurds and a number of minor Moslem tribes, Circassians, Lazes,
Xeibecks, Avshars, Turcomans, etc. The Christian population is almost
entirely Armenian and Greek. The Turks are principally in Central and
Western Asia Minor; the Kurds are in Eastern Turkey, though extending
somewhat along the mountain ranges; the Circassians are found scattered
through Central and Western Asia Minor; the Lazes are on the borders
of the Caucasus; the Xeibecks and others are tribes occupying the
mountains inland from Smyrna; Armenians are found over the whole of
the territory, in almost equal proportions; the Greeks chiefly along
the coast of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and in the western
part of Asia Minor, though in Central Asia Minor there are a number of
Greek villages. In Syria the population--something over 2,000,000--is
about equally divided between Moslems and Christians. The Moslems are
in the main of the orthodox Sunni sect, but there are a number of
Metawileh, and the Druzes and Bedouin Arabs are numerous. There are
also about 250,000 Nusairiyeh. The Christians are chiefly orthodox
Greeks and Maronites; there are some Armenians, Jacobites and others.
The Druzes and Bedouin Arabs are found chiefly in the Hauran east of
the Lebanon ranges. In Mesopotamia, the population is chiefly Moslem
and Arab, though there are a number of Yezidis in the region of Mosul.
The Christian races are found in the mountains between the Tigris and
the Persian border, and include Jacobites, Nestorians and Chaldeans;
Armenians are also scattered throughout the whole region.
Jews are found in large numbers in Constantinople, Smyrna and
Salonica, and in smaller communities all over the land wherever there
is trade. They are very largely Spanish in their origin, having fled to
the Levant at the time of the persecution by Ferdinand and Isabella.
They include the wealthiest and the poorest of their class. Many of
the bankers are Jews, and their hold upon the finances of the country
is very strong. They also control certain branches of trade, are
very largely money-changers, and to a degree artisans. They occupy
certain definite quarters in the different cities, which have the
appearance familiarly associated with the Ghetto of Venice. They have
the same general characteristics as their fellows in other lands, are
shrewd, keen bargainers, but frequently find more than their match in
the Christians. They are looked down upon and despised by Turks and
Christians alike except when their wealth makes them the arbiters of
the financial fortunes of the empire and of individuals. Many of the
wealthier class are men of high character, universally respected for
their ability and holding a favored position in society. As to their
numbers it is difficult to give any figures. In Constantinople there
may be 75,000, and in the empire, aside from Palestine, perhaps 150,000
to 200,000.
Almost all foreign countries are represented in Turkey. Those that
furnish the largest number are probably Italy, Greece, France, Germany,
Austria, England and Russia. Italians are numerous in the cities on
the seaboard, in connection with shipping interests. The French are
merchants, bankers, and to a degree professional men, as also are the
Germans. Austrian subjects are not to a great degree pure Austrians,
but Hungarians, Bosnians, etc., interested in trade. The English colony
has been at times a very large one. During the reign of Abd-ul-Aziz,
English mechanics were brought into the country in large numbers, and
the various departments of the navy, army and public works were managed
almost entirely by them. At the present time their number has greatly
diminished. They are still employed to a degree by the government as
engineers, but their places are being taken by others. There are a
number of English mercantile houses, but the Germans have outstripped
them in the conduct of trade with the interior, and the community is
not as strong as it used to be. There is a large number of families
of these various nationalities connected with the diplomatic circles,
and Pera Society, as it is termed, is very largely composed of them,
together with the bankers and the wealthiest merchants.
The Americans resident in Turkey are almost entirely American
missionaries. They number in all not far from 300 adults, and are
found in all the chief cities of the empire, their headquarters being
in Constantinople and Beirut. Fuller statements as to their location
will be found in the chapter on missions. There are other Americans,
some merchants, a few professional men, chiefly physicians, and a
few interested in one or another form of concession from the Turkish
Government. The missionaries, however, form by far the bulk of the
American community.
Mention should also be made of a class peculiar to Turkey, known as
Levantines. These are generally descendants of foreigners, English,
French, or others who have settled in the seaboard cities, married
women of the country and, while retaining their political connections
with the country from which they originally came, have become
thoroughly Orientalized in many respects, in their manners, customs and
ideas. They are, as a rule, very capable, having all the shrewdness
of the East, and are apt to be equally devoid of moral principle. In
fact the term Levantine has become in great degree a term of reproach,
indicating a general lack of moral fiber. Many of them, however, are
persons of high character and considerable influence.
Each of these different races has its own particular and distinctive
characteristics, to be noted in connection with the specific
description of each race. There are, however, certain general
statements to be made which come in place here. The first thing to be
noted is the marked unity, or perhaps better, similarity between the
different races. Notwithstanding diversity of origin and language,
it is by no means easy for the uninitiated to draw the lines of
distinction. This is due partly to the fact of the general mingling
of the races, partly to the fact that dress and general habits of
life are regulated more by climate and physical conditions, than by
any arbitrary rule of government or society. In the first place there
is comparatively little pure blood except among the Christians. In
certain sections, notably the region of Asia Minor, formerly occupied
by the Seljuk domain, the Turks are exceptionally pure-blooded, but on
the seaboard there is a large admixture of blood of other races. The
introduction of Georgian, Circassian and even Armenian and Greek women
into the harems of the Turkish nobles has had a perceptible effect.
So also the general fact that the Turk is the dominant race has made
large numbers of others of entirely distinct racial origin ambitious
to take the name of Turk. Thus in Eastern Turkey, especially in the
cities of Erzrum, Bitlis, Van and Diarbekir, there is comparatively
little of pure Turkish blood, the great majority of those passing under
that name being of Kurdish origin. The same thing is found elsewhere
in Northern Syria, and to a degree in European Turkey. It must also
be remembered that large numbers of Moslems called by various racial
names are originally of Christian blood. In the early conquest of
the land many villages and even communities accepted Islam under the
pressure of the sword and because of weak faith in their own religion,
due chiefly to the ignorance enforced by ecclesiastics. Thus in the
mountains of Southern and Eastern Turkey there are whole communities
known now as Kurdish which were originally of the same blood and the
same characteristics as their neighbors now called Jacobites. Again
in European Turkey there is comparatively little difference between
the Moslem Albanian and the Greek Mountaineer of the same section.
The Moslem Pomak of the Rhodope Mountains on the southern borders
of Eastern Rumelia can with difficulty be distinguished from the
Bulgarians, where they are engaged in similar pursuits and occupy
similar territory. In Syria and Mesopotamia it is scarcely possible
to draw racial distinctions. The line between Moslem and Christian in
Aleppo, Mosul, Bagdad or Beirut is practically imperceptible except
as occasional difference of dress or bearing is observed. As we
have said, almost the only peoples who have kept their nationality
clearly distinct are the Armenians, Greeks, and there may be added the
Bulgarians. Yet as was inevitable, these have been to a considerable
degree affected; so that while the population of the Turkish Empire is
thoroughly heterogeneous, there is to the chance traveler comparatively
little distinction to be made between the men of the different races.
Among the women the different conception of womanhood makes a very
marked distinction, and on the street certainly even the most casual
observer finds little difficulty in distinguishing between Moslem and
Christian.
One general characteristic of the populations of the Turkish Empire
is that they are easily governed. This does not mean that they are
lacking in bravery, but the effect of the centuries has been to impress
upon them the necessity of submission to whatever law is dominant
in the empire. The Kurds are in the main thorough cowards. With the
exception of those in the South they are always amenable to a strong
hand and a very slight show of real force on the part of any government
is sufficient to secure their obedience. Travelers are usually able
to control them even in the wildest sections. It has been repeatedly
said that a very small body of European troops with mountain artillery
could pass from one end of Turkey to the other, even in times of
general anarchy, and meet with very little opposition. This as a
general statement is true. At the same time, organized resistance on
the part of the Turkish Government with its regular army, would present
an opposition which the strongest of European armies might hesitate
to meet. Among the Christians there has been no organization against
the Turkish Government, with the exception of two small sections.
The mountain Nestorians are practically independent on the Persian
border; nominally they pay a certain tribute; sometimes they pay,
sometimes they do not. The Armenians of Zeitun have been from time
immemorial practically independent. About 20 years ago they submitted
to the Turkish rule on certain conditions, which were accepted by
the Turkish Government. Their recent revolt and the persistency with
which they held out against the Turkish troops manifest the character
of the people. Undoubtedly they were assisted in great degree by the
topography of the country, but that was by no means the strongest
feature of their resistance. Aside from these two sections the
Christians have been the prey of the Turkish Government and have never
organized in opposition to it. The reasons for this will be apparent
in the chapters relating to the general history of the empire and the
condition of the Christians.
The languages of Turkey are Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac and
Bulgarian. The Turkish is the official language of the entire empire
and is used to a greater or less extent everywhere except in the remote
villages of Kurdistan, Mesopotamia and Syria and throughout Arabia.
Arabic is spoken everywhere south of the Taurus Mountains, with the
exception of a few cities in the vicinity of Aintab and Marash. Kurdish
is used in the mountains of Eastern Turkey and to a limited extent in
the mountainous sections of Asia Minor. Armenian is spoken over the
entire empire wherever there are Armenians. Greek is used along the
borders of the Black Sea, the Archipelago and the Mediterranean and
to a very limited degree inland. Syriac is used among the Nestorians
and Jacobites, chiefly the former, in the mountains of Eastern Turkey.
The use of Bulgarian is confined to Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia and
Macedonia. Constantinople itself is a babel, all the different Oriental
and many of the European languages being found there in everyday use.
Turkish is spoken by the Turks and Circassians and the various Moslem
tribes, also to a considerable degree by the Kurds, Armenians and
Greeks and by government officials everywhere. Certain sections of the
Armenians, especially those in Central Asia Minor, from Sivas west to
Angora and Cesarea, and those south of the Taurus in the vicinity of
Marash and Aintab, have in years past used Turkish almost entirely,
preserving their ancestral language only in the church services. The
same is true of the Greeks in Central Asia Minor. Arabic is used
by Moslems and Christians alike in the sections where it is the
vernacular. Kurdish is spoken both by Moslems and Christians. Bulgarian
is used solely by Bulgarians. All of these languages vary somewhat in
their characteristics, according to the section where they are used
and the class of people by which they are spoken. Thus the Arabic of
the plains and of Egypt is much milder in its form than that found in
the mountains. The same thing is true of the Turkish and the Armenian
of Bitlis, and the people of that section are almost unintelligible
to those farther west. The Greek of the Turkish Empire is also quite
different in many respects from that of Greece proper.
The Arabic and Greek languages are so well known as not to need any
particular description. They are essentially the same as they always
have been and are well known in literature. The Arabic is one of the
richest of all the Oriental languages in its literature. The character
is difficult to learn and the construction is so involved that
comparatively few foreigners become masters of it. It is said of Dr.
Van Dyck, the eminent missionary at Beirut, that he could speak Arabic
so well as to deceive even the Arabs themselves, and on one occasion
it is reported that this very facility in the use of the languages
operated to create a prejudice that really at one time endangered his
life, because they could not understand how any man who could speak
Arabic as well as that could be a foreigner and claim the protection
which he demanded.
The Turkish language is peculiar in many respects. Originally a
Tartar dialect, it has many of the characteristics of the Saxon. It
is terse and strong in its form of expression, and to a considerable
degree monosyllabic. The Turks, however, passing through Persia, came
very much under the influence of that language and felt the softening
influences of it. The Persian, as spoken by the Persians, is smooth
and flowing, liquid as any of the Pacific Island languages, and even
more so than the Italian. The way in which an educated Persian uses
his own language is unsurpassed for delicacy of expression or sound.
Passing from Persia and accepting the Koran, the Turks came under the
influence of the Arabic language, and the Turkish of to-day is the
result of the commingling of the three elements. As a consequence it
is an exceedingly rich language. As it is ordinarily spoken it is
not at all difficult to learn, but to use it in literature correctly
and with the appropriate adaptation of the forms derived from the
Arabic and Persian, requires an amount of study and skill such as
comparatively few have been able to bring to it. The character used
is the Arabic, which, however, is not entirely adapted to the simpler
Tartar forms, and as a result there is more or less of reduplication of
letters. While the lettering of the three languages, Turkish, Arabic,
and Persian, is the same, each language has its own distinct form,
so that a book printed in the type favored by the Turks will not be
acceptable either to the Persians or the Arabs, and the same is true
of the others. The tendency of education with Turkish, as with Arabic,
is to soften the gutterals, of which there are several harsh ones, and
Turkish as spoken in Constantinople by the educated is a smooth and
flowing language.
The Armenian is naturally a harsh language, the strong gutterals,
aspirates and sibilants affecting it materially. Here too is noticed
the marked effect of education, and the Armenian spoken in the western
part of Asia Minor is very mild compared with that along the mountains
and even on the eastern plains. The Armenians of the Caucasus and
Northern Persia use a form of Armenian which is somewhat distinct
from that used by those in Turkey. The basis of all is the ancient
Armenian, which has a very simple and direct construction, not unlike
the English. A sentence in the old Armenian version of the Scriptures
reads word for word almost the same as the corresponding sentence in
the English version. The modern language as used by the Armenians of
Turkey has been to a considerable degree affected by contact with
Turkish and has degenerated in that respect. For some years there has
been a tendency to revert to the more ancient form, and the teachers in
the Armenian schools everywhere have exerted all the influence possible
in that line. The result is manifest in their literature. The version
of the Bible prepared by Elias Riggs, D. D., of the American Board,
represents the best of what is known as modern Armenian of a quarter of
a century ago. But of late years there has been felt the necessity of
a revision to accord more closely to the type of the ancient language.
This tendency is in the line of simplicity. On the other hand, among
the Greeks, while there is an increasing desire for the ancient Greek,
which is quite distinct from the modern, an increasing familiarity
with it does not appear to be as much of an approach to the ancient
construction in the ordinary conversation as is the case in the
Armenian.
The Bulgarian language is not unlike the Russian, both in its character
and general construction, and belongs to the general Slav family.
The Kurdish language is entirely unique, though some Kurdish scholars
have claimed that it was parallel to the old Persian. It is a rough
language, and yet has certain musical qualities, and its poetry and
songs are like those of so many mountain sections, exceedingly full of
sentiment. Even the wildest of the men seem to come under its influence
most powerfully.
In Constantinople and along the seaboard foreign languages are used
to a considerable degree. The diplomatic language is French almost
entirely. There is a considerable amount of Italian used in the
seaports, and not a little German. The State papers for communication
between the ambassadors in the Sublime Porte are entirely in French,
though decrees of the government, of course, are written in Turkish.
This mingling of languages has necessitated the employment of
interpreters, and a large number of people, not merely connected with
the embassies, but in various departments of business, are employed
to transfer from one language to another such documents as may be
necessary. The use of English is widely extended. The study of English
in the different schools of the American missionaries and also in other
schools has operated very largely to increase the use, and English
commerce has extended to a marked degree. This latter, however, has
yielded in some respects to German, so that the German language is
known and spoken more and more. As a rule, Armenians in the cities all
speak Armenian and Turkish. Armenian merchants almost invariably add to
this French, and in not a few instances Greek. In fact no one can do
business successfully in the seaports without the knowledge of Turkish,
French and Greek. Smyrna is almost entirely a Greek city, and even the
Armenians use the language to a great degree. The Greeks, however,
seldom, if ever, learn Armenian.
In traveling, a knowledge of Turkish will carry one with ease over
the whole empire, except in Syria and Mesopotamia and a few sections
of Kurdistan. Even there, however, some one may usually be found who
has enough knowledge of the Turkish for ordinary use. On the seaboard,
Greek will be of advantage, but is by no means necessary. All large
business houses have some one who can converse in any one of the
languages of the country or of Europe. One effect of this is that
accurate use of any one language is hindered. At a dinner table in
Constantinople it will frequently be the case that the conversation
will turn from one language to another, and Turkish, French, Greek,
German, Italian or English may be used. When such a condition exists
there will be a general conversational use of all, but accurate
scholarly use of any one is rare. In the schools, Turkish, French
and English are the most generally taught, instruction in the other
languages being chiefly confined to those who use them as their own
vernacular.