590 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE FUTURE OF TURKEY. 



The Present Administration Denounced. 



General Cherif Pasha contributes'to La Revue 

 of November ist another of his scathing articles on 

 " The Faihire of tlie Young TurlvS." 



THE UNION and progress COMMITTEE. 



From the first lie iias never ceased to denounce 

 the Young Turks and the Union and Progress Com- 

 mittee, whom he has always described as the con- 

 tinuators of Abdul Hamid. . He attributes all the 

 present administrative and political disorder to this 

 Committee, a committee having nothing in common 

 with the primitive committee which fought so 

 valiantly against the tyranny of Abdul Hamid. The 

 Union and Progress Committee, he says, is an occult 

 power within the legal power, a Government within 

 the Government, a State within the State, compli- 

 cating the simplest things by the single fact of its 

 existence, which is both illegal and contrary to the 

 principles of the Constitution. Yet it pretends to 

 be teaching the people the functions of constitu- 

 tional government. 



ITS IhEA OF JUSTICE. 



Master of the Chamber as the result of the pressure 

 it has exercised during thg elections, the Committee 

 would have the Sultan master of the Senate because 

 the Committee is itself the master of the Sultan. The 

 Sultan is no longer free. Both he and his heir are 

 surrounded by people in league with the Committee. 

 In the Administration it fills all the posts with its own 

 creatures, who are required to swear fidelity not only 

 to the Sultan but to the Committee. The people are 

 fast losing their liberties. Justice is the justice of the 

 Committee. It began by hanging political oppo- 

 nents ; to-day its chief occupation is the suspension 

 of their journals for an indefinite period. On 

 occasion it has recourse to torture, and, on the 

 other hand, it can conveniently shut its eyes — which 

 explains the assassination of certain journalists. 

 Then the Committee has under its control the 

 fir.ances of the Empire. The Treasury has a deficit 

 of 230 million francs, and its intention is to arr.mge 

 for a loan of seven to eight million francs from 

 France. Naturally, the writer hopes France will not 

 commit such a blunder. 



turkey's external relations. 



Outside Turkey the sympathies of the Committee 

 go to Germany. Unfortunately the interests of 

 Germany and her allies are often not those of the 

 Ottoman Empire, and consequently Germany is con- 

 tinually sacrificing Turkey. Italy and Austria 

 derive appreciative benefits from their alliance with 

 (jermany, but that cannot be said of the Ottoman 

 Empire. The Germans enrich themselves ; the Turks 

 pay. If Turkey in such a critical hour feels deserted 

 it is entirely the fault of the Union and Progress 

 Committee. 



IS IT the beginning of the end ? 



It seems the beginning of the end. No Govern- 

 ment could treat with Italy under the humiliating 

 conditions which the latter has proposed. Europe 

 cannot long remain indifferent to the danger which 

 threatens the very existence of the Turkish Empire. 

 An international conference is needed, though at this 

 conference Turkey will run the risk of other losses 

 besides Tripoli. But the Empire would at any rale 

 preserve its national and political existence. 

 Hitherto the Committee has been secretly hated by 

 the people, but the loss of Tripoli has caused them to 

 give vent to their anger. The Committee in reply is 

 making superhuman efforts, spreading terror every- 

 where, and ' stimulating in the highest degree the 

 vigilance and the activity of spies and of the martial 

 courts. It is for Ottomans to decide whether they 

 will retain the Committee. 



the ottoman union. 



Meanwhile a new party under the wise and 

 enlightened direction of Colonel Sadik Bey has come 

 into politics. It is composed of those who have been 

 calling themselves " dissidents," because, putting the 

 interests of the country outside coterie, they are 

 ready to break with the despots of the great secret 

 association, and ally themselves more closely with 

 the Ottoman nation. This group, which has just 

 assumed the name of Ottoman Union, has decided 

 upon energetic and concerted action. Its members 

 have joined the existing parties with a view to pre- 

 senting a united front against the common enemy, the 

 enemy of the interior. The people are welcoming with 

 hope this new reinforcement on the eve of the great j) 

 battle which is bound to take place against the oligarchic !|i| 

 tyranny of the Union and Progress Committee. 

 The Situation in Tripoli. 



Writing on Tripoli in the Deutsche Revtic for 

 November, the same writer says that as Italy's interest 

 in Tripoli increased, the more careless became the 

 Turkish Government. At one time the (file of the 

 Turkish army was stationed in Tripoli, but after the 

 proclamation of the Constitution in Turkey the young 

 officers returned to Constantinople, and became 

 mixed up with the demand for freedom. Less 

 capable men have replaced them in Tripoli, and 

 though Fevzi Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha sent re])orl 

 after report to 'the Government drawing attention tc 

 the weakness in Tripoli, it was all in vain. Ibrahim 

 then resigned, and no successor was appointed.' \{ 

 the beginning of the hostilities there was neither r 

 military commander nor a civil governor. At th< 

 present time there are only about 4,200 soldiers 

 including a cavalry regiment without horses, ii 

 Tripoli, and the supply of ammunition is very small 

 What is to be done? Give up 'I ripoli for a few 

 millions? Can a State sell a province as a citizei 

 sells his land? And what about the inhabitants 

 -Ml that the Turkish garrison can do is to defend it 

 position as long as possible, so that Turkey may b 

 able to say, " All is lost, except honour ! " 





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