638 



TURKEY. 



Prishtina, Novi Bazar, and Mitrovitza, and had 

 a number of disorderly Albanians arrested and 

 taken to Constantinople. On Nov. 16 Kiazim 

 Pasha, who for four years had endeavored to 

 secure the pacification of Albania, was removed 

 from his post as vali and from the command of 

 the troops at Scutari on the demand of the citi- 

 zens of that town. Several officials who had pro- 

 ceeded too harshly against Bulgarians were re- 

 placed earlier in the year. Murder and robbery 

 became more frequent in Macedonia. On Sept. 6 

 Helen Stone, an American missionary, and Mme. 

 Tsilka, a Protestant convert, were kidnaped near 

 the village of Bansko by a band of Bulgarian 

 revolutionists, whose means of subsistence had 

 been curtailed since the suppression of the extor- 

 tionate methods of the Central Macedonian Com- 

 mittee in Sofia. The Turkish Government ordered 

 troops to catch the robbers, but at the request 

 of the American representative they were recalled 

 lest the ladies' safety be endangered by the pur- 

 suit. A ransom of 25,000 sterling was demand- 

 ed by the captors, who took their prisoners into 

 the mountains on the Bulgarian side of the bor- 

 der. The American consul-general made a de- 

 mand on the Bulgarian Government for the arrest 

 of the chief instigators of the plot. The police 

 of Sofia made a show of seeking to arrest Sarafof, 

 the former president of the Macedonian Commit- 

 tee. No arrests were made, however, and the 

 Bulgarian Government tried to throw the respon- 

 sibility for the crime upon the Turkish author- 

 ities, since it was committed on Turkish soil. 

 The consul-general and the American Board of 

 Foreign Missions declared that no ransom would 

 be paid, because if the kidnapers obtained their 

 price no American missionary in Turkey would 

 be safe. 



The Armenian Question. In Armenia a 

 special tribunal was established at Erzerum to 

 deal with Kurdish outrages. The Porte issued a 

 decree prohibiting the return or entry of Armeni- 

 ans who had obtained Russian or American citi- 

 zenship or protection. Against this the Russian 

 embassy and the American legation formally pro- 

 tested on June 3. The Kurds became ungovern- 

 able and renewed their oppression of the Chris- 

 tians to such an extent that the valis of Kasta- 

 muni, Erzerum, and Diarbekir were recalled. In 

 the sanjak of Mush the Kurds accused the Ar- 

 menians of Moghunk of having murdered one of 

 their notables and proceeded to take vengeance 

 by plundering that and other villages, destroying 

 crops and killing over 100 Armenians. In the 

 region of Erzerum similar disorders occurred. A 

 circular was issued enjoining the valis to sup- 

 press disturbances vigorously with the public 

 forces alone and not to call upon the inhabitants 

 for assistance. Revolutionary Armenian bands 

 from Russian territory tried to start an insur- 

 rection in Mush and Sassun, and were dispersed 

 by Kurds and troops after sanguinary fighting. 

 Subsequently the Kurds wreaked their vengeance 

 on the Armenians of the district. Another edict 

 was issued informing the valis that the Sultan 

 desires order and tranquillity to prevail through- 

 out the empire, with justice and security for all 

 races and creeds. A strong Turkish garrison was 

 quartered at Sassun and blockhouses were built 

 in the mountains. These measures were as un- 

 welcome to the Kurds as to the Armenians. In 

 connection with disturbances in the Erzerum, and 

 afterward in the Bitlis vilayet, the authorities 

 blamed the revolutionists and arrested Arme- 

 nians only. The American Government pressed 

 for the restoration of the college and mission 

 buildings that were destroyed in the last insur- 



rection and received fresh promises from the Porte 

 that its engagements would be fulfilled. The 

 Russian Government gave orders in respect to the 

 Armenian refugees in Transcaucasia that all who 

 desired to become Russian subjects would be re- 

 ceived as such at once, without having to wait 

 until they have resided in Russia for the legal 

 period required in other cases. They would be 

 liable to military service from 1903, but would 

 not receive allotments of land in any peasant 

 communes nor for twenty years be permitted to 

 acquire real property outside of the cities. Those 

 who wished to leave Transcaucasia and settle in 

 other parts of Russia would be assisted to do so. 

 All Armenian refugees who arrived in Russian 

 territory before Feb. 1, 1901, were required to 

 elect at once whether they would become natural- 

 ized Russians. Those who had come since that 

 date and those who did not elect to become Rus- 

 sians were ordered to leave the country at once. 



Political and Financial Questions. In new 

 commercial treaties with Austria, Russia, France, 

 Roumania, Servia, and Greece it was stipulated 

 that the Turkish inland duties on goods carried 

 by water should be reduced from 8 per cent, to 

 2 per cent. A few years before, the duties be- 

 tween different Turkish provinces were abolished. 

 These inland tolls have been detrimental to Turk- 

 ish production. They have destroyed the wine 

 industry in Turkey by compelling the producer 

 to pay 67 per cent, of the value of his wine in 

 various imposts, while Greek wine is admitted at 

 a low rate. Turkish manufactures are at a dis- 

 advantage in the competition with foreign goods, 

 on which a single import duty of 8 per cent, is 

 levied, while the Turkish industrialist must pay 

 this duty first on imported raw materials and 

 once again on the finished article. In a new com- 

 mercial convention with Bulgaria numerous arti- 

 cles are admitted free of duty. A similar conven- 

 tion was made with Montenegro. In the con- 

 ventions with Servia and Roumania stipulations 

 were made for the safety of the persons and 

 property of Mohammedans residing in those coun- 

 tries. A series of differences arose between the 

 Porte and the powers over the action of the Turk- 

 ish Government in attempting to take into its 

 own hands certain public functions which had 

 been organized under the auspices of the embas- 

 sies. When the Turkish Government appointed 

 sanitary inspectors the ambassadors protested 

 in a collective note, asserting the prescriptive 

 right of their delegates on the Board of Health 

 to elect the inspectors. On March 23 the Russian 

 ambassador demanded the payment of T. 

 50,000 of arrears from the previous year on ac- 

 count of the war indemnity. In April the coun- 

 cil of the Greek patriarchate deposed Constantino 

 V, the Ecumenical Patriarch, holding him re- 

 sponsible for the closing of many churches in 

 Macedonia and the confiscation of lands belong- 

 ing to Greek monasteries. Many Mussulmans 

 were exiled in the summer for participation in 

 the Young Turkey movement, which officials were 

 forbidden ever to discuss or mention. The mails' 

 were seized with the object of abolishing' the for- 

 eign post-offices and having the Government 

 Postal Department carry on the whole business. 

 Another object was to discover the persons in 

 Turkey who carried on a correspondence with the 

 leaders of the Young Turkey party who were 

 living in various European capitals. Munir 

 Pasha, the Turkish ambassador in Paris, sent 

 warning of an intended revolutionary demon- 

 stration in Constantinople. The embassies were 

 requested not to issue cards to persons desiring 

 to see the Selamlik procession. During the Bai- 



