TURKEY. 



and the total estimated population 24,931,600, in- 

 cluding only the territories at present under Otto- 

 man administration. The countries under Turk- 

 ish suzerainty, but no longer subject to the civil 

 or military rule of the Ottoman Government, are 

 Egypt, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Samos, 

 Cyprus, and Crete, having a combined area of 

 4(58,520 square miles and 15,746,379 inhabitants. 

 Constantinople, the capital of the empire, has a 

 population of about 1,125,000; Smyrna, 201,016; 

 Bagdad, 145,000; Damascus, 140,487; Aleppo, 127,- 

 149; Beirut, 118,811; Salonica, 105,000. 



Finances. The available revenue of the Turk- 

 ish Government is estimated at T. 13,961,700, 

 and the normal expenditure at T. 15,354,000, 

 leaving, unless it is averted by administrative 

 and fiscal reforms, a deficit of T. 1,392,300. 

 This estimate does not include the expenses of 

 the external debt nor the revenues surrendered 

 to the Council of the Debt Administration, viz., 

 the Bulgarian, Eastern Roumelian, and Cyprus 

 tributes, the tax on Persian tobacco, and the 

 excise duties. A guaranteed loan of 5,000,000 

 sterling raised in 1855, loans secured on the Egyp- 

 tian tribute, the Tumbeki loan of 900,000, and 

 a loan of 5,909,080 raised in 1886 are not in- 

 cluded in the debts administered by the interna- 

 tional council. The receipts of the Council of 

 Administration from taxes on salt, spirits, fisher- 

 ies, and silk, stamps, the tobacco tithe and rcyle, 

 and other ceded revenues in 1901 were T. 2,189,- 

 739. The Eastern Roumelian tribute fell into 

 arrears and part of the Cyprus tribute was 

 kept back till the following year ; moreover, some 

 of the ceded revenues declined, so that the receipts 

 fell below those of the preceding fiscal year, at 

 the end of which a reserve fund of T. 574,000 

 had been accumulated. The interest that the 

 Council of Administration has been able to pay 

 hitherto is 1 per cent. With increased receipts it 

 may be raised to a maximum rate of 4 per cent., 

 20 per cent, of the amount received being set 

 aside for amortization. The total amount of the 

 Turkish debt outstanding on July 1, 1901, was 

 T. 133,939,003, not including the war indemnity 

 to Russia, of which T. 24,513,000 were still 

 due, and T. 50,000 due to individual Russians, 

 nor the Damascus Railroad debt of T. 273,494. 



The Army. The Nizam, the Redif, and the 

 Mustahfiz of the Ottoman army correspond to the 

 active army, the Landwehr, and the Landsturm 

 in other countries where conscription obtains. 

 Recruits have to serve, the infantry three years, 

 the cavalry and artillery four years in the Nizam 

 with the colors, and three or two years respect- 

 ively in its reserve, or they are assigned at once 

 to the reserve and are drilled from six to nine 

 months and one month annually in succeeding 

 years. Any conscript after three months of active 

 service in the Nizam can obtain an indefinite fur- 

 lough by paying T. 50. After the Nizam period 

 is past the soldiers belong four years to the first 

 and four years to the second ban of the Redif, and 

 then six years to the Mustahfiz. Christians and 

 Jews pay an annual military tax of 30 piasters 

 for every male. Nomadic Arabs escape conscrip- 

 tion, and many of the Kurds as well, but these 

 are being enrolled, in Armenia, Kurdistan, and 

 Mesopotamia, in a mounted militia, the hamadieh 

 cavalry, under their tribal chiefs. The nizam and 

 Redif infantry have been armed with Mausers, the 

 European regiments wiuh the small-bore rifle of 

 7.65 millimeters, the Asiatic troops with one of 

 9.5 millimeters. There are 7 ordus, or army corps, 

 drawn from as many military regions, with head- 

 quarters at Constantinople, Adrianople, Monas- 

 tir, Erzinjan, Damascus, Bagdad, and Sanaa in 



their numerical order. The Seventh Corps ia not 

 recruited in Yemen, where few loyal troops can 

 be raised, but mainly among the Turks of Asia 

 Minor, who furnish some troops for the garrison 

 of Tripoli and European Turks the rest. The 

 effective of the Turkish army in 1901 was as fol- 

 lows: 583,200 infantry, in 648 battalions; 55,300 

 cavalry, in 202 squadrons; 55,720 artillery, with, 

 1,356 guns; and 7,400 engineers, in 39 companies; 

 total, 700,620 men. The war effective is com- 

 puted at 1,500,000 men. 



The Navy. The principal ships of the Turk- 

 ish navy are the Hamidijeh, of 6,700 tons; the 

 Mesudijeh, of 9,000 tons; and the barbette cruiser 

 Abdulkader. A contract was signed in 1901 for 

 the construction of a new cruiser in the United. 

 States. 



Commerce and Production. The cultivated 

 area in the Turkish Empire is about 44,000,000 

 acres. Forests cover 21,000,000 acres, but they 

 are being rapidly diminished. About 1,000,000 

 hectoliters of wine are made annually, of which 

 160,000 hectoliters are exported. Silk and silk- 

 worm eggs are exported. The production of oil 

 of roses in 1901 was about 2,600 kilograms. The 

 export of raw silk in the fiscal year 1901 was 

 443,244 kilograms; of silk waste, 176,905 kilo- 

 grams; of twisted silk, 151,482 kilograms; of 

 cocoons, 133,975 kilograms; salt, 35,223 metric 

 tons. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 1 

 and cleared at Constantinople from and for for- 

 eign ports in 1900 was 10,787, of 10,277,272 tons, 

 of which 3,169, of 410,289 tons, were sailing ves- 

 sels and 7,618, of 9,866,983 tons, were steamers. 

 Of the vessels 6,056, of 723,312 tons, were Turk- 

 ish; 2,661, of 4,220,648 tons, were British; and 

 2,323, of 1,589,851 tons, were Greek. The total 

 number of vessels entered and cleared during the 

 year was 14,394, of 10,475,735 tons. The number 

 entered and cleared at all Turkish ports in 1898 

 was 173,739, of 34,653,457 tons. The merchant 

 marine in 1900 comprised 2,205 sailing vessels, of 

 141,055 tons, and 177 steamers, of 55,983 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads in 1900 was 2,980 miles, of 

 which 1,267 were in European Turkey and 1,71$ 

 miles in Asia Minor. A railroad from Konia to 

 Bagdad and Koweit is planned by a German syn- 

 dicate, one from Damascus to Aleppo by French 

 capitalists, one is being built with British capital 

 from Damascus to Haifa, and one is projected by 

 the Turkish Government from Damascus to Me- 

 dina and Mecca. 



The Turkish post-office during 1898 forwarded 

 11,880,000 letters and postal cards and 2,583,000 

 samples and printed enclosures in the domestic 

 and 6,046,000 letters and postal cards and 3,363,- 

 000 samples and printed enclosures in the inter- 

 national service. 



The telegraphs have a length of about 23,440 

 miles, with 38,400 miles of wire. The receipts 

 amount to 869,700 and expenses to 324,280 a 

 year. 



The Island of Thasos. Mehemet Ali, the first 

 Viceroy of Egypt, received from the Sultan 

 Selim I, as a reward for services rendered in 

 Arabia, the island of Thasos, in the JEgean. It 

 is a place of great strategical value, because it 

 commands the entrance to the Dardanelles. The 

 island has been administered by the Egyptian 

 Wakf, and its revenues are devoted to the main- 

 tenance of a school of Mohammedan theology. 

 The Turkish Government has contended that only 

 the usufruct was granted, while P]gyptian author- 

 ities hold that there was a cession of territory. 

 The Egyptian Government has collected only 



