One noteworthy point during that process of charting a course towards genocide were the resolutions and decisions of the 1910 Saloniki Congress of Ittihad, briefly mentioned in the introduction of this work. Even though it was primarily the ongoing tensions in Macedonia and Albania that had triggered these decisions in 1910, one of the main
Sayfa 94Kitabı okudu
Social Disabilities versus the Claim of Nationality Privileges
James Creagh, a former captain of the First Royals, provides additional and very specific examples of their impact. For example, the non-Muslims of the Ottoman Empire had to wear "a very peculiar costume, resembling that of females." Since they were not permitted to ride horses, they were "forced to ride about on mules or donkeys, which they were even compelled to mount in the attitude of women." They were not allowed to use bells. "The size of their houses or churches was regulated by la to a diminutive standard." They were forced to "treat the poorest or meanest Mussulman whom they might change to meet, with every demonstration of deference and respect." The net result of this kind of treatment involved a level of coerciveness that "soon made the Christians servile, cowardly, deceitful, contemptible and even ridiculous" [15]
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15. Creagh, Armenians, Koords, and Turks, [n. 1], vol. 1, p. 139.
Sayfa 22Kitabı okudu
"The great mass of women use the public baths for females, and assemble there in large numbers. Among them are found many girls of exquisite beauty, who have been brought together from different quarters of the globe by various chances of fortune; so cases occur of women falling in love with one another at these baths, in much the same fashion as young men fall in love with maidens in our own country. Thus you see a Turk’s precautions are sometimes of no avail, and when he has succeeded in keeping his wives from a male lover, he is still in danger from a female rival! The women become deeply attached to each other, and the baths supply them with opportunities of meeting. Some therefore keep their women away from them as much as possible, but they cannot do so altogether, as the law allows them to go there. This evil affects only the common people; the richer classes bathe at home, as I mentioned."
"Otherwise, the Turks are not forbidden by any law to have as many concubines as they please in addition to their lawful wives. Between the children of wives and those of concubines there is no distinction, and they are considered to have equal rights. As for concubines they either buy them for themselves or win them in war; when they are tired of them there is nothing to prevent their bringing them to market and selling them; but they are entitled to their freedom if they have borne children to their master. This privilege Roxolana, Solyman’s wife, turned to her own advantage, when she had borne him a son while still a slave. Having thus obtained her freedom, and become her own mistress, she refused to submit any longer to his will, unless, contrary to the custom of the Ottoman Sultans, she was made his lawful wife. The only distinction between the lawful wife and the concubine is, that the former has a dowry, while the slaves have none."
While the country’s conservative half has Erdogan, their “Ataturk,” secular and liberal Turks lack a similarly charismatic leader.
When ISIS targeted a New Year’s celebration at an Istanbul nightclub, killing 39 people—in the aftermath of the attack, secular Turks immediately started to blame the government and the pro-government media for inciting hatred by, for instance, labeling New Year’s Eve celebrations as belonging to “other cultures and other worlds.”