Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened/Chapter XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ABUSES IN TURKISH RULE
Here lies one of the curses of Turkish Government. Many things are tolerably good on paper, but the actual practice never harmonizes with the written law in Turkey. The ignorance and unworthiness of the officers may be one of the reasons of this misery, but the greatest defect lies in their principle and character.
1. Bribery. The majority of the offices are merely sold to those who bid the highest. A cadi (judge), for example, cannot stay in the same country more than twenty-seven months at one time, during which period he gets about $1,000 for his whole service. No cadi can have a position without first paying to the higher authorities at Constantinople an average sum of $800, sometimes as much as his whole salary. This mutual agreement upon bribery and unjust taxation is understood in all departments of the government and the nominations settled accordingly. Offices are bought and services, just or unjust, are sold for the highest price.
Every officer has a nominal salary, yet many weeks and months may pass during which they cannot receive a single payment; yet they all keep their places, live luxurious]y, accumulate wealth and never fail to pray for the prosperity of "the Sultan, the crown-giver of the princes of the world," under whose protection the wolves are set loose upon the lambs.
No man expects to transact business or receive attention in a Turkish court without bribery. The well-known Turkish proverb is that, "As soon as the bribery enters the door the justice escapes from the window." The doors and the windows of Turkish courts are kept open day and night for this accursed draft.
In a great many instances the bribery is practiced at the expense of the central government. The merchants save more by having goods pass through this bribery channel than by the ordinary way. A few mejidiehs (dollars) given to an officer or two under the name of "bakshish" (present), will save $40 to $50. Many forbidden books and papers enter the country and circulate widely through bribery. Many buildings and repairs are allowed through the same means. In fact, if the officers would regard the law and the orders more than bribery, 50 per cent of the transactions in various lines of business would be impossible, especially for the Christians. It is the opinion of the writer that bribery, though detrimental to the interests of the central government, is the only good thing in the whole machinery of the corrupt rule. The Sultan's government has for several years positively forbidden the granting of pass-ports to Christians for foreign ports, with repeated orders for arrest and imprisonment of those who allow them to pass; yet bribery has kept the ports open for those who could afford to pay from $3 to $300.
2. The Robbery by the Sultan's Officers. The most important question in the mind of every officer is not the welfare of the government or of the people, but to devise a new plan to draw more money for themselves regardless of the mode or the consequences. Pasha Effendi (the governor) plans with kaimakam beys (the mayors) to blackmail some wealthy Armenian, or Greek or Jewish merchant, which never fails in resulting a goodly sum for our guardian of justice.
The police department is evidently known as the partner of thieves and the president of the societies of highwaymen. If you have some property stolen and feel anxious to get it back, make a skillful application to the chief of the police and pay something, say half the price of your loss, "as the governmental expenses for the search in the town and the expedition about," and you will be sure nine in ten to succeed.
The zaptiehs go from khan to khan (Turkish hotel) and seize the strangers or travelers and inquire about their regular license of trade. If they are able to show it they are asked to present the official receipt of the payment of the current year. If they do this they are demanded to show that of the last year, and if they can do so then are required to prove they are the persons they call themselves. When that is done the officer takes a paper out of his pocket and says: "You are to be arrested and sent to such a place. Here, I have the order (giving your description), 'dark hair, medium size and round face;' you are the man I was after for three weeks, and during this period a dozen telegrams were received about you. Get up, now, you dog giaour! You are a member of those secret societies which are plotting against the highest wealth" (government). By this time the whip is at work, and it will not stop unless one mejidieh or two is slipped into the officer's hand.
At the custom house the goods are roughly handled and spoiled. Photographic plates and drugs are exposed to light with the excuse of ascertaining whether there be any dynamite concealed in the case. Many watches, jewels, fountain pens, etc., find their way to the examiner's pockets, their empty cases being put back honestly in their original places. The eatables are freely consumed by the officers and sometimes carried to their dinner tables at home.
The government itself is robbed by its own officers. In one of the provinces the government had a bridge built at a certain town. The architect of the said bridge, an Armenian or a Greek, brought the bill of expenditure, which was 8,000 piasters. The mayor looked over it and with great anger tore it in pieces, to the surprise and terror of the architect, who was ordered to be taken to the prison. After some days a sub-officer came to the jail and talked with the architect and informed him confidentially about the secret of the mayor's indignation and the way to appease it. Soon another bill was prepared for 20,000 piasters, and everything was all right with the architect. The city clerk who recorded this sum had in the course of several years a position in the finance department at the capital, and saw one day that the same amount had been raised to 80,000 piasters before it reached there. This is but an illustration of daily and universal practice of the Turkish officers.
3. Delay. Delay is one of the proverbial characteristics of the Turkish rule. The words "yavash, yavash" (slowly, slowly), and "gelen hafta" (next week), are the constant utterance and the habitual motto of every officer throughout the empire. The Occidentals, though aware of the Turks' "deceit and delay," have not yet fully realized its depth. The crafty sultans played wonderful tricks in deceiving the European governments with their mysterious "yavashes," and the Government of the United States may keep receiving the same endless answer to its mild claims of indemnity for the mission properties destroyed by the soldiers of the Sultan. The Turks' "next week" will never come unless the language of gunpowder is used by Uncle Sam, as that is the only language the unspeakable Turk understands.
Electricity, so swift in its traveling throughout Europe and America, seemingly has lost its nature in Turkey. A message sent by telegraph to a distance of only twenty or thirty miles sometimes takes one or two days to reach its destination. The postal service is an eminent specimen of the Turkish promptness in business. The cities of 20,000 or 50,000 inhabitants receive mail but once a week, if they receive any, and that on the condition of entirely fair weather. The mail may arrive late in the afternoon simply because the drivers stopped for some rest in a coffee-house on the route, and the policy of "yavash, yavash," detained them for several hours; and when they reach the city in the afternoon, say three or four o'clock, the officials put the mail bags away for the next morning and the anxious waiters (mostly merchants) are sent back because the postmaster declares "ajeleh yock; yavash, yavash" (there is no hurry; slowly, slowly). The writer once received mail four days after its arrival in the city. Registered letters are delivered later than the others as a rule.
On the ordinary business days the members of the Turkish court come late and irregular. The ice cream sellers are always ready at the hall of the court in hot weather and the coffee pot is there in the winter. The shoemaker comes at the office hour to get the measure of the cadi's foot; the tailor comes to fit the coat of the chief clerk. Soon a dervish enters the courtyard and begins his work of singing, as "Padishah does not lodge in a palace unless it is well finished; no man can reach to the truth unless he is far from the world." Before he has finished his verses a mob may rush in dragging a Jew or a Christian who is accused of having cursed a mollah's turban or Mohamet's tomb, which may cause such an uproar as to consume the whole day and cost much money to the falsely accused giaour.
Fridays and Sundays, the two weekly holidays, are the best pretexts to put the engagements off. If Ramazan (the fasting month) is near you can not expect anything done this side of Bairam (great festival at the end of Ramazan). If the governor of the province is expected the next week the machinery of public affairs in the court is stopped and the attention of all directed to the sweeping of the streets and arranging about his entertainment, and trying to make a good collection of taxes with this pretext.
Traveling in Turkey is constantly interfered with and delayed; the travelers are stopped on their way in many guard stations and are cross-examined, especially if they be Christians; often retained for several days with the excuse of inquiry by telegraph, and sometimes sent back; and are often tied hands and feet and sent to prison, as the fancy of the officer may dictate and the supposed wealth of the accused may suggest.
One exception to this rule of delay must be mentioned—that when the unspeakable Turk unsheathes his "dripping sword" to cut off the heads of "dog giaours" in the name of "Allah the Compassionate and His Apostle" and by command of the all-powerful Padishah—he forgets the words "yavash, yavash;" his thirst for human blood pushes him to extreme activity and madness.