Germany -- Foreign relations -- Turkey; Turkey -- Foreign relations -- Germany; World War, 1914-1918 -- Turkey
Enver wished to discuss the capitulations. He practically said that the
Cabinet had decided on the abrogation and he wished to know the attitude
of the United States. He added that certainly a country which had fought
for its independence as we had would sympathise with Turkey’s attempt to
shake off these shackles. We had helped Japan free herself from similar
burdens, and wouldn’t we now help Turkey? Certainly Turkey was as
civilised a nation as Japan?
I answered that I thought that the United States might consent to
abandon the capitulations in so far as they were economic. It was my
opinion that Turkey should control her customs duties and be permitted
to levy the same taxes on foreigners as on her own citizens. So long as
the Turkish courts and Turkish prisons maintained their present
standards, however, we could never agree to give up the judicial
capitulations. Turkey should reform these judicial abuses; then, after
they had established European ideas in the administration of justice,
the matter could be discussed. Enver replied that Turkey would be
willing to have mixed tribunals and to have the United States designate
some of the judges, but I suggested that, inasmuch as American judges
did not know the Turkish language or Turkish law, his scheme involved
great practical difficulties. I also told him that the American schools
and colleges were very dear to Americans, and that we would never
consent to subjecting them to Turkish jurisdiction.
Despite our protests, the Cabinet issued its notification to all the
Powers that the capitulations would be abrogated on October 1st. This
abrogation was all a part of the Young Turks’ plan to free themselves of
foreign tutelage and to re-establish a new country on the basis, “Turkey
for the Turks.” It represented, as I shall show, what was the central
point of Turkish policy, not only in the Empire’s relations to foreign
Powers, but to her peoples. England’s position on this question was
about the same as our own; the British Government would consent to the
modification of the economic restrictions, but not the others.
Wangenheim was greatly disturbed, and I think that his Foreign Office
reprimanded him for letting the abrogation take place, because he
blandly asked me to announce that I was the responsible person! As
October 1st approached, the foreigners in Turkey were in a high state of
apprehension. The Dardanelles had been closed, shutting them off from
Europe, and now they felt that they were to be left at the mercy of
Turkish courts and Turkish prisons. Inasmuch as it was the habit in
Turkish prisons to herd the innocent and the guilty, and to place in the
same room with murderers people who had been charged, but not convicted,
of minor offences, and to bastinado recalcitrant witnesses, the fears of
the foreign residents may well be imagined. The educational institutions
were also apprehensive, and in their interest I appealed to Enver. He
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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