TURKEY 



5911 



TURKEY 



Ocean, under German control. Beirut and 

 Smyrna are railroad centers. There are electric 



street railway systems in Constantinople, 

 Smyrna, Beirut and Damascus. EJ>.F. 



The Turkish Government 



In theory Turkey was a limited monarchy, the 

 legislative power being vested in a Parliament 

 consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Depu- 

 ties. Inasmuch as the hereditary monarch, 

 sultan, appointed all of the Senators and 



. TURKISH FLAG 



White crescent and star on red ground. The 

 Turk will not tolerate the Christian Cross, there- 

 fore the Turkish substitute for the Red Cross 

 emblem is a white flag with a red crescent. 



they were indebted to him for their official exist- 

 ence, he easily controlled legislation. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, Turkey was the world's most con- 

 spicuous example of intolerent autocracy. Cor- 

 responding to the office of Chancellor of the 

 German Empire or of Prime Minister of Eng- 

 land was the Turkish post of Grand Vizier; this 

 head of the government was appointed by the 

 sultan, and by him removed at will. Thr 

 rious departments of the government were in 



ire of twelve Ministers, whose positions v 

 similar to Cabinet posts in the United States, 

 Canada and England. 



A constitution for Turkey was not granted 

 until 1876. Two years later it was suspended 

 and was not made effective again until 1908 

 (see Hietory, below). One illustration of tin- 

 hardships borne by the people will make clear 

 ill* character of the government. There was a 

 provision of law that the collection of the prin- 

 cipal and heaviest tax, called tithi-, or d 

 had to be put up at auction and the privilege 

 sold to the highest bidder, he to pay a lump 

 sum to the government. This tax called for 

 one-tenth of the harvests and of all agricultural 

 products sheep, cattle, goats and all other in- 

 crease in wealth of the (arms. The difference 

 between what could be collected and amount 

 'he government was the profit of 

 ili bidder. It was a highly speculative matter. 



There might be a good farming year, or, on 

 the contrary, bad weather, deficient crops or 

 too high an estimate of the amount which could 

 be collected might greatly reduce the total. 

 The bidder in turn engaged collectors in the 

 various villages ; they put values upon the pros- 

 pective crops, and to be on the safe side these 

 were usually too high. There was no recourse 

 open to the peasant ; if he appealed, the judg- 

 ment of the estimator was sure to stand. 



There was no way to escape the exorbitant 

 rate; no crop was harvested until the authori- 

 ties consented, and that consent was withheld 

 until payment was assured. If he refused to 

 harvest his crops, preferring to let them rot 

 rather than to be robbed, he only added to his 

 misfortunes, for the collectors were empowered 

 to take any of his property to the amount of tin- 

 tax which had been levied against him. T: 

 was, therefore, no incentive to work hard and ac- 

 cumulate wealth ; the more apparent prosp. 

 a peasant showed the heavier his assessment be- 

 came. Collectors frequently did not give re- 

 ceipts; sometimes, therefore, the burdened tax- 

 payer was obliged to pay his allotment a second 

 time during a year. Often a receipt was p 

 for a smaller sum than had been exacted; the 

 difference went into the pocket of the collr. 

 and the taxpayer was required later to pay 

 again, to make up the difference between the 

 face of his receipt and his assessment. 



The above incidents point out only a few of 

 the government abuses. So corrupt were most 

 of the officials that there seldom was money for 

 public improvements. Roads remained in ill 

 repair, and once prosperous towns, with a few 

 notable exceptions, were slowly decaying. This 

 statement n-frrs t< pun ly Turkish towns; those 

 whose people are in the majority Christians 

 present a somewhat better appearance. 



Because of the intolerant attitude of the 

 Turks towards "unbelievers," it was for a long 

 time scarcely safe for foreigners to live or to 

 travel in Turkey. Gradually, however, the 

 Western nation* wrung from the Turkish gov- 

 nt various treaties, or "capitulations," 

 h guaranteed to foreigners unusual pr 

 leges. At the outbreak of the War of the Na- 

 tions, in 1914, Turkey abrogated all these ca- 

 pitulations, but the powers of Europe refused 

 to recognise the abrogation. K.D.P. 



