OF TURKEY A HISTORY OF THE TURKISH REVOLUTION 66 AUTHOR OF ALBANIA AND MONTENEGRO," "WHERE THREE EMPIRES MEET," ILLUSTRATED PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: JOHN MILNE 135595 NOV 24 1909 1277 PREFACE In this volume I propose to give an account of the growth of the Young Turk movement, and the story of the revolution which has restored to Turkey her Constitution. I have had some knowledge of Turkey and the Turks since the opening of Abdul Hamid's reign. Thirty years ago I travelled on foot through Northern Albania and other parts of European Turkey, and on several occasions I have been in the country while history was making. I have seen the Turkish armies in the field in the war of 1897. I was in Constantinople and Salonica for some months last year, when I made many friends among the members of the Committee of Union and Progress, who supplied me with a good deal of interesting information concerning the workings of the secret Society which prepared the revolution of last July. Since my return to England my friends in Turkey have kept me well informed as to the progress of events, and have sent to me various documents, including the diary of Niazi Bey, which gives full details of his adventures after he had hoisted the banner of revolt at Resna, and taken to the mountains with his band to raise the Moslem and Christian populations. These documents, which have been translated for me from the Turkish by Professor Hagopian, have enabled me to give a more complete account of the outbreak of the revolution than has, I believe, yet been published in any Western tongue. Niazi Bey and Enver Bey, the two young heroes of the revolution, and others who took a leading part in the liberation of their country, have kindly sent me their portraits for insertion in this book. Enver Bey, in February last, when asked to suggest some sentiment which might be printed by the side of his portrait, replied that in his opinion the following words would answer the purpose well: "The individual who glories that he belongs to that Ottoman army which is the true defence of the freed Ottoman Empire against its foes external and internal." Significant words indeed in the light of recent events, and the part that Enver himself has taken in them. This book was in the press when the counterrevolution broke out on April 13. Fortunately I have avoided prophecy, and therefore find that there is no need to make any alterations in what I have written; but I have added another chapter to the work, in which an account is given of the counter-revolution, the march on Constantinople of the Macedonian army, the triumph of the Young Turks, the deposition of Abdul Hamid, and the proclamation of Turkey's new Sultan, His Majesty Mohammed V. E. F. K. London, May 1909. |
