For the first time in the history of Turkey there are Christian soldiers, Greeks, and Armenians in the regular army. Hitherto none but Mohammedans have been considered worthy to wear the uniform, and Christian young men, instead of serving three or five years in the ranks, were compelled to commute their service in cash, for an exemption they did not desire. The same applied to the Jews, who are also found in the ranks for the first time. In Austria, which, as you know, is a Christian country, Mohammedan soldiers from Bosnia and other provinces are organized in separate companies, have their own barracks, oflacers of their own faith, and cooks who are accustomed to preparing Mohammedan food. They are regularly excused from duty on Friday, the Moslem Sabbath, and have mullahs for chaplains.
The Christian soldiers in the Turkish army are allowed to live apart from the Mohammedans; they are relieved from duty on Sunday, and are given leave to attend service in the Christian church. The Armenian and Greek patriarchs and the Jewish rabbis agree that they have no reason to find fault with the treatment of their co-religionists in the army, except that there are no Christian officers. This is due to the fact that there has been no time to educate them and the government has given assurances that whenever it is possible to find the men, it will commission Christian officers in proportion to the number of privates, and provide Christian chaplains. It is not considered desirable to organize exclusively Christian regiments, and thus far the Mohammedan troops have made no complaint about having Christians quartered with them.
The greatest trouble in the army has been the retirement and dismissal of useless officers. Under the old regime, a cook or a hostler could secure a commission and rapid promotion if he made charges against one of his superiors, or any person who was offensive to the government, and promotion was often earned that way. Abdul Hamid was very generous in rewarding treachery and the cheapest method was by giving military rank. There were thirtyfive marshals in the Turkish army when he abdicated, 250 full generals, 600 major-generals and enough brigadiergenerals to make a brigade.
All restrictions against the Jewish population of the Ottoman Empire have been removed. Jews can come and go as they please, without permission and without passports.
and the Haham Bashi, the recognized spiritual head of the Jews in Turkey, has been promised that the government will confer full citizenship upon the Jewish population. It is also disposed to encourage Jewish immigration, which has been theoretically prohibited until now. It is understood that a movement is on foot to divert the movement of Russian Jews from the United States into Turkey. Turkey has always been more favourable to Jewish colonization than any other country in the East, and an enormous area of territory in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia which was formerly densely inhabited, will one day be capable of colonization by the construction of an irrigation system.
There should be no surprise at the attitude of the Mohammedans toward Christian soldiers, however, because the Sheikh-ul-Islam, who is the head of that church, occupies a seat in the cabinet of the new government with Jews and Christians, and has an active part in the work of reform. Shortly after the adoption of the constitution, he issued a circular and caused it to be published throughout the Mohammedan world, asserting the right of members of that faith to associate with persons of other faiths in conducting the affairs of the government. He declared that nothing in the Koran conflicted with constitutional government and that there was no reason why believers in other creeds should not be recognized as having equal rights. He argued that the object of all governments being the welfare and prosperity of the people, it is clear that the claims of all should be considered as of equal strength and that the supreme authority should lie in the people instead of in the king. In ancient times the king was the ruler, the people were the servants, and everything was ordered to suit the king's pleasure. But the Koran does not justify any such system. The king is not the ruler, but the servant of the people, and his highest duty is to find out the wishes of the people and to obey them.