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THE DIARY OF A TURK

[Illustration: PRINCES IN LANCERS' UNIFORM.]




  THE DIARY OF A
  TURK

  BY

  HALIL HALID, M.A., M.R.A.S.

  CONTAINING EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS

  LONDON

  ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

  1903

  TO THE MEMORY OF

  E. F. W. GIBB

  ORIENTAL SCHOLAR, AND THE AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF OTTOMAN POETRY"




PREFACE


ALTHOUGH no Western Power has ever played a greater part in the
problems of the Ottoman Empire than Great Britain, yet in no other
country in Western Europe is Turkey more grossly misunderstood. I have
been many times asked by my English acquaintances to write a book on
Turkey from a Turkish point of view, and two ways of writing were
suggested to me: the one was to compile a detailed work, the other
to write a small and light book. To take the former advice was not
possible to me, as I found myself incapable of producing a great and
technical work. Besides, I thought that after all a small and lightly
written volume would have a larger circle of readers, and by its help I
could to some extent correct some of the mistaken ideas prevailing in
England about Turkey. Therefore I began to write this little volume in
the form of a book of travel, and I now bring it out under the title of
_The Diary of a Turk_. By this means I have been able to talk a little
on many matters connected with Turkey. Let the critic find other points
in this book on which to express his opinion, but do not let him charge
me with ignorance of the fact that the somewhat unexciting experiences
of an unknown man may be only of slight interest to the public.

In the chapter on women's affairs I have quoted a few paragraphs from
two articles which I contributed some time ago to two London weeklies,
the _Queen_ and the _Lady_, I render my thanks to the Editors of these
papers for kindly permitting me to reproduce them here.

H. H.




  CONTENTS

    CHAP.                                        PAG.

       I. MY HOME IN ASIA MINOR                     1

      II. AT SCHOOL AND IN THE HAREM               23

     III. THE HAREM AND WOMEN IN THE EAST          46

      IV. I GO TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND PURSUE MY
            STUDIES                                75

       V. A NEW PROFESSION AND THE QUESTION OF
            CONSCRIPTION                           97

      VI. TURKEY'S INTERNAL DANGERS               118

     VII. A NEW COSTUME AND A NEW CAREER          134

    VIII. THE SUBLIME PORTE AND YILDIZ KIOSK      150

      IX. THE CEREMONY OF THE SELAMLIK            164

       X. THE SULTAN'S POLICY                     175

      XI. THE STRUGGLE WITH YOUNG-TURKEY          186

     XII. ENGLAND AND THE CALIPHATE               200

    XIII. A LAST VISIT TO ASIA MINOR              211

     XIV. A SPY IN A BATH                         225

      XV. FLIGHT TO ENGLAND                       238

     XVI. A RETURN AND A SECOND FLIGHT            253




ILLUSTRATIONS


  PRINCES IN LANCERS' UNIFORM             Frontispiece

  A PICKNICKING RESORT                To face page  54

  A VILLAGE WEDDING PROCESSION           "     "    70

  A TURKISH CEMETERY                     "     "    84

  OFFICERS OF LANCERS                    "     "   114

  HAMIDIEH MOSQUE                        "     "   172

  AN OLD SERAGLIO                        "     "   184

  A WRESTLING MATCH IN OLDEN DAYS        "     "   220




THE DIARY OF A TURK




CHAPTER I.

MY HOME IN ASIA MINOR.


  My Asiatic origin--My great-grandfather's religious
  order--His miracles--My grandfather and Sultan Mahmud
  II.--An ordeal by wine--My father's charitable
  extravagance--His death--Primitive surgery in Asia
  Minor--The original home of vaccination--My mother's
  European ancestors--Writing a forbidden accomplishment
  for women.

I was born in the ancient town of Angora, Asia Minor, famous not alone
for its silky-haired cats and goats, but also for its historical and
archæological importance, and with it my memories of early days, and
therefore the pages of my desultory journal, naturally begin. Men
of learning who have engaged in researches into the archæology and
biblical history of Asia Minor have come to the conclusion that this
town was once in the remote past the principal centre of a wandering
branch of the Celtic peoples who ultimately settled in Asia Minor.
Although, of course, it was conquered and held during later generations
by the Eastern invaders, it is even nowadays noticeable that there
is a difference, both of character and physique, between most of
the inhabitants of our province and those of other provinces, more
especially of Southern and Eastern Asia Minor. By remarking on this I
do not wish to seem to be trying to trace my origin to a European race,
though I am aware that many people in this country are unsympathetic,
and even, perhaps, prejudiced, where Orientals are concerned. My
paternal ancestors came across from Central Asia, and first settled in
Khorassan, in Persia. But as they were devout followers of the orthodox
creed of the Arabian Prophet they were subjected to the intolerant
oppression of the Persian Moslems, between whom and the orthodox
believers the history of Western Asia records many a sanguinary
feud, the result of their doctrinal antagonism. My ancestors were
compelled eventually to emigrate to Asia Minor over a hundred and
fifty years ago, and there they found a more hospitable reception. My
great-grandfather was the sheikh or head of a religious order called
_Halvati_, or, to give the name an English equivalent, "those who
worship in seclusion." The name arises from one of the strict rules
of the order, that its rites must not be displayed to the outside
public, doubtless a measure for the prevention of hypocrisy. Historical
research has traced the foundation of the order to Ali, the son-in-law
of Mohammed. Shortly after settling in Asia Minor the disciples of
the great sheikh increased to a number approaching eighty thousand,
and pilgrims came to his monastic dwelling from all the neighbouring
provinces. It was not only in Anatolia and Syria that his name was
honoured; he is mentioned with reverence in the books written in Egypt
at that time. It must not be imagined that he was a kind of _Mahdi_,
a name which is familiar in England on account of its having been
assumed by the late pretender in the Soudan. In the days gone by many
such Mahdis,