Daybreak in Turkey: Second EditionBarton, James L. (James Levi)
History
Daybreak in Turkey: Second Edition
Barton, James L. (James Levi)
Turkey
The Druses of Syria, the Koords in Eastern Turkey, and the Albanians
of Macedonia were reckoned as Mohammedans by their rulers. As these
people had few religious convictions of any kind, and as the Mohammedan
yoke placed upon them did not seem heavy, they fell in with the idea in
so far as it seemed to conserve their interests to do so. Even at the
present time, it is not clear how sincerely these races are Mohammedan.
It is thought by many who have been among them that their Mohammedanism
is largely in name. During recent years, undoubtedly influences have
been brought upon the Koords which bound them more closely to the
sultan, although this is not true of all classes of Koords.
Years of Turkish rule, by which the non-Moslem subject is looked down
upon as a “Raya” who has no rights that a Mohammedan is bound or
expected to respect, has made the Turk selfish and cruel, while it has
hardened the Rayas, and made them hate the government. It has come
to be generally understood that the government exists only for the
Turks, to serve whom the Rayas are permitted to live. Through several
centuries of Turkish rule, when the Raya subjects of the Turks were in
grossest ignorance and widely scattered in the country, they came to
accept in stolid silence the situation as divinely ordained. Something
of the fatalism of their masters seemed to settle down upon even the
Christian subjects and, with little complaint, almost human slavery was
accepted.
If the immediate possessions of Turkey include a population of about
24,000,000, probably 6,000,000 of these are nominal Christians, and
perhaps 1,000,000 are neither Christians nor Mohammedans.
It should be said that among the Turks are found men of great strength
of intellect, and not a few of high character. Every one who has been
in the country speaks of men of this class whom he has met. All would
probably agree with the statement that the Turk as a whole is far
better than his government.
It should also be stated that in recent years the Turks themselves have
been more boldly open in expressing their intense dissatisfaction with
the methods of government administration, especially in the eastern
part of the country. The New Turk Party, so called, has no one knows
how many followers, but undoubtedly it represents the modern spirit of
unrest and progress.
OTHER RACES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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