Patriotic Women of Turkey
REGARDED a creature on the lower plane, despised and degraded as she is, Turkish women have had little to say regarding conditions in their own land. Just recently, however, at a meeting in the hall of the University of Constantinople, there were seven women speakers, the greatest of whom seems to be Halede Hanum, the first Turkish graduate of the Constantinople American College for girls, a distinguished writer and educator. Quoting from a former ruler, “For the Turkish race I slept not at night, I rested not by day, I worked for my people till death,” she said, “Let us each, in our measure, adopt these words of our great ruler.” She declared that the nation itself is not patriotic, that “the supreme need is a burning patriotism. For a nation to exist and preserve its existence over against other nations it is essential that it be ardently patriotic. It was this love of race which first made the Turks a great nation. It is our loss of this sentiment which has lessened our historical renown and laid us low. It is this love of race among our enemies which has made the Bulgarians, who were our milkmen, and I don't know what else, half a century ago, yes, even till yesterday, a nation that has won the respect of Europe. The race of conquerors, a ruling race, is now trampled underfoot by them.” She points, then, to other nations that have suffered great defeats, and urges her own nation to rise above the discouragement and fight for freedom. Here is another passage from her speech: “Come nearer home. Look at the Greeks. For hundreds of years they were our subjects, without independence or a country of their own; their chief city like a dirty stable. Look at them now. Their little Athens is a city much cleaner and more beautiful than Stamboul.” She closed with a very stirring appeal for the Turkish race, and at the close of her address gave her jewels, earrings, finger rings, bracelet, and watch, for the national defense. Her example was followed by the women present, and nine boxes were filled, the Literary Digest tells us, as well as three boxes for the work of the Red Crescent Society. Yet, poor woman, her appeal comes too late. When a nation outlives its usefulness, its purpose in God's order, it is doomed, and Turkey has evidently passed that stage. Then, too, this war is not over the race question so much as the religious question.