The Sick Man Still in Trouble
By Louis Richard Conradi
For more than two centuries, the Turkish Empire has suffered so many amputations, and always with the claim that the rest of the body would be profited and preserved thereby, that one might naturally be led to think that, with all the vitality of Islam, the remaining portion now would be in a splendid condition. However, both the past and the present show the fallacy of such reasoning. When Turkey was at the height of its power, besieging Vienna in 1683, its territory was not less than 2,080,000 square miles. Of this, 1,020,000 square miles were in Africa, which in recent years have been entirely lost, Great Britain, Italy, and France dividing the spoil; 680,000 square miles were in Asia, and Russia has taken half of Armenia, and England the island of Cyprus. Of the 390,000 square miles in Europe, only 11,500 square miles remained, and had it not been for the strife among the Balkan powers themselves, probably this would have been reduced to 3,000 or 4,000 square miles. From 1683 to 1817, European Turkey had to cede considerable territory to Austria-Hungary and Russia, so that only 200,000 square miles remained. But at that time a new competitor arose. The Servian nation had thrown off the Turkish yoke, and 15,000 square miles were now for the first time ceded to form a Balkan state. But during the last one hundred years, six Balkan states have been sliced off from the Turkish possessions in Europe, and they have swallowed up nearly 200,000 square miles, only 11,500 remaining for Turkey. In like manner their population has increased to 23,000,000, while Turkey in Europe has only 2,000,000, and Asiatic Turkey not more than 17,000,000. As far as the portion of Turkey which still remains in Europe is concerned, it is the worst mixture of creeds and nationalities found anywhere, and the nations are certainly at a loss as to who should rule it. Turkey’s strength now lies in Asia, and the great question is: Is Asiatic Turkey chiefly inhabited by Turks, or do we find that the nationalities there form not only a coat of many colors, but a patchwork of many colors? Do they have but one religion, or are they divided on the question of creed? That different nationalities abound also in Asiatic Turkey is best seen from the fact that there are only about 8,000,000 Turks, probably 5,000,000 Arabs, about 1,200,000 Greeks, and an equal number of Armenians, 1,000,000 Syrians, and the rest are a mixed multitude of foreigners. This diversity of nationality itself begets a similar diversity of creeds. Of the 13,000,000 followers of Mohammed, about 2,000,000 are Shiites, or Shiahs, while the remaining 11,000,000 are divided between Greeks and Turks. About 3,500,000 profess Christianity, but they belong to a multitude of different churches. Although the 1,200,000 Armenians chiefly belong to the old Gregorian church, yet quite a number are Roman Catholics and Protestants; and the same is true of the Syrians. There are also about 560,000 Jews. This at once reveals the difficult situation in which Turkey finds itself—even in its Asiatic possessions today. One fourth of its total population is of foreign nationality and of different creed. But there is another fourth, the Arabic portion, which makes about as much trouble as the other. The latest news from Turkey and Arabia is quite significant; the sheriff of Mecca and two other rulers of Arabia have formed a triple alliance against Turkey. Then there has been quite a strife between the khedive of Egypt and the sultan of Turkey about the possession of the caliphate. But though there is certainly enough internal trouble, political surgeons still have their eyes intently fixed upon performing the final operation upon the sick patient. Russia has her eyes on the rest of Armenia, France on Syria, and Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, and the Balkan States surely want a slice somewhere. Italy is still occupying some of the Ægean islands; Greece has been accorded some, but wants them all. Were the Turks good rulers, enterprising merchants, skillful mechanics, successful financiers, there might be hope. But though they have many good qualities, are brave, hospitable, full of dignity, yet they lack the spirit of enterprise, the gift of ruling and finance. The Turks are seldom good merchants, mechanics, or doctors. They are mostly farmers, officials, or soldiers. Their greatest statesmen and generals, even when at the height of power, were not Turks, but of mixed birth. Thus, for example, among the fifty grand viziers who ruled Turkey between 1453 and 1623, only five were Turks; the rest were Slavs, Albanians, Greeks, Armenians, etc. One writer fitly says:— Not by Turkish brutality and exclusiveness has the Ottoman Empire grown by land and sea into a colossus, and as such trod upon the neck of the subdued nations, but rather by Greek and Slav subtlety and cunning, by the perseverance and tenacity of Bosnians and Croatians, by the bravery and lack of conscientiousness of all these renegades, and by the talents and generalship of the natives of the subdued countries.
The proverb says, “Lightly come, lightly gone.” Turkey easily became the ruler of an immense territory. It has ruled it with brutal force. It has proselyted with the sword. Instead of developing the land, it has impoverished it. While other nations advanced, the real Turks did all in their power to stay behind. They often allowed their subdued slaves to do their thinking and acting while they themselves idled away the time. All that has happened thus far is but the natural result of such a course. One oppressed nation after another has asserted its independence. One piece of territory after another has been amputated without adding any more vitality to the rest. What remains, instead of being a coherent live mass, is rent asunder by national and religious strifes, and divided into many factions. Foreigners build their railways, control the steamship lines, develop their industries, manage their banks, and drill their army and navy. The great powers hold an ever-increasing mortgage on the country, and the government taxes and customs are pawned to its creditors for many years to come. It is only a question of time when utter bankruptcy must be declared. But how the creditors will divide the spoils will yet be the hardest problem to solve, and especially who will become heir to Constantinople and Jerusalem.