SUNSHINE IN TURKEY 



71 



And this is the wonderful thing about 

 it: You say this is hysteria; you say 

 this is Oriental exuberance, but, during 

 these weeks, or I may say during these 

 five months, there has been scarcely any 

 bloodshed. There has been a feeling 

 of solemnity; there has been a religious 

 feeling appropriate to the man who has 

 been thirsting for hours and for days and 

 for years for liberty and at last is giving 

 thanks to God for the pure, fresh gift, 

 all the more gratifying because it has 

 come to him so unexpectedly. 



MOSQUE OF OMAR OPENED TO CHRISTIANS 



In Jerusalem, in that wonderful sacred 

 inclosure of the Mosque of Omar, for 

 three days there were gathered Jews, 

 Christians, and Moslems. You know how 

 difficult it has been ordinarily to get into 

 that inclosure. You were obliged to ob- 

 tain permission from the local authorities 

 and your consul. But for three days, as 

 an evidence of this feeling of fraternity, 

 men were allowed to go into this mosque. 

 They said, "When I see a man going to 

 a church I know he is a Christian ; when 

 I see a man going to a synagogue, then I 

 know he is a Jew; when I see him go 

 into a mosque, I know he is a Moslem; 

 but outside of this and at all other times 

 men are Ottomans and brother citizens 

 of the state." 



The Ottoman Turks number only 

 about five million in a population of 

 twenty-five million ; or, if we include the 

 population of the states that are depend- 

 ent to some extent or have been depend- 

 ent upon Turkey, the population is about 

 forty-one or forty-two million; but this 

 name Ottoman has now affixed itself 

 upon this regime ; it is one of the condi- 

 tions of the constitution that the citizens 

 are to be called Ottoman subjects, and 

 today all these men are not Syrians, are 

 not Macedonians, are not Armenians — 

 they are Ottomans. 



THE REVOLUTION WAS ACCOMPLISHED 

 WITH ONLY A PEW CASES OP 

 MOB VIOLENCE 



All this has gone on with wonderful 

 moderation. Those antagonisms that 

 have grown deeper and deeper for all 



these years, suddenly — for the time 

 being at least — seem to have disappeared, 

 and the moderation has showed itself, as, 

 I have already indicated, not simply in the 

 burying of those antagonisms, but in the 

 freedom from all violence. There were 

 some exceptions. But, as we think a 

 moment, the wonder is that the excep- 

 tions were so few. One of the excep- 

 tions is the murder of Fehim Pasha, who 

 accomplished the exile of Fuad Pasha, 

 together with the exile of hundreds of 

 others — the man who through the repre- 

 sentations of the German and British 

 ambassadors was finally exiled to Brussa. 

 Word came that the new constitution had 

 been proclaimed, and at once this man 

 in exile, who, though in disgrace, was 

 receiving many favors, became fearful 

 of his safety and sought to escape. On 

 his way to shelter he was recognized in 

 the street. The people could not re- 

 strain themselves. There was the man 

 who had been responsible for all these 

 strange disappearances and the exile of 

 so many men, the persecution of so large 

 a part of the population. The people 

 seized upon him and literally tore him to 

 pieces. But this was not at the command 

 of the Young Turkey Party. That com- 

 mittee of young Turks in Salonika re- 

 strained as soon as possible the outburst. 

 That was one of only a half dozen cases. 

 Probably there may have been some 

 others that we have not heard about. 



HOW LONG WILL THIS GOOD WILL 

 CONTINUE 



I submit that all this is wonderful. I 

 submit that it would have been wonder- 

 ful if it had lasted but for a single day. 

 I submit that it is wonderful because it 

 lasted a week, because it lasted a month, 

 because it has lasted for five months. 

 In fact, if this revolution should go back 

 tomorrow to a period of bloodshed and 

 persecution it would still be wonderful 

 that so much was accomplished in a land 

 where antagonisms were so strong and 

 where passions so easily slipped out of 

 leash. 



A letter came from a Turk to an 

 American soon after this constitution was 

 promulgated, and this is what the letter 



