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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Turkish Empire</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15097a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Created in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, from the caliphate of Baghdad and independent Turkish principalities"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="15097a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/t.htm">T</a> > Turkish Empire</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Turkish Empire</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Created in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the ruins of the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine Empire</a>, from the caliphate of Baghdad and independent Turkish principalities. It occupies a territory of 1,114,502 sq. miles, with a population estimated at 25,000,000 inhabitants, and extends over parts of <a href="../cathen/01777b.htm">Asia</a>, <a href="../cathen/01181a.htm">Africa</a>, and <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> between the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the <a href="../cathen/12688a.htm">Red Sea</a>. The Turkish Empire thus possesses some of the most important highways by land and sea, between these three continents.</p> <h2 id="section1">Geography</h2> <h3 id="A">The Balkan peninsula (European Turkey)</h3> <p>The Balkan Peninsula (<a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> Turkey), divided into eight provinces or vilayets, comprises the plateaux and terraces which extend to the south-east of the uplands of the Alps between the Adriatic, the Archipelago, and the Black Sea. Turkey still possesses Albania and Epirus, a vast plateau covered with towering mountain ranges (Techar-Dagh, 10,000 ft.) and with uplands stretching from the northwest to the south-east which reach as far as the Pindus; the coastal plains of the Adriatic and the small inland levels (Scutari Lake, Lake Ochrida, plains of Monastir d'Uskuf and of Yanina) are separated by very high ridges; <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a>, a plain richly cultivated with vines, cereals, and tobacco, includes within the mountains of <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a> to the west, Rhodope (9842 feet) to the north, Olympus to the south-west, the sharp and rocky peninsula of Chalcidice to the southeast; its only outlet, the port of <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a> (144,000 inhabitants), situated at the opening of an historical trade highway which ascends to the valley of the Vardar as far as Uskub, and over a hill of 1640 feet leads to the valley of the <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> Morawa and as far as the Danube (railway route from <a href="../cathen/02407a.htm">Belgrade</a> to <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>): the plain of Thrace, bordering on the Archipelago and the Sea of Marmora, forming the lower level of the valley of the Maritza, of which Eastern Rumelia represents the upper. Cultivation is broken by the great stretch of sterile plateaux; the only important city in the interior is Adrianople (125,000 inhabitants), but at the extremity of the peninsula situated between the Black Sea, the Archipelago, and the Sea of Marmora, stands Constantinople, which occupies, on the Bosporus, one of the finest strategetical positions of the old continent. This <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolis</a> of 1,500,000 inhabitants is at the cross-roads formed by the great waterway which connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, and by the overland route (followed by a railway) which reaches the valley of the Danube by way of <a href="../cathen/01161a.htm">Adrianople</a>, Philippopoli, Sofia, and <a href="../cathen/02407a.htm">Belgrade</a>. It is composed of the Turkish city of Stamboul, of the <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> districts of Galata and Pera separated by the natural roadstead of the Golden Horn, and of the suburbs of <a href="../cathen/13648a.htm">Scutari</a>, Haïdar-Pacha, and Kadi Keui. These settlements are on both sides of the Bosporus, in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> and <a href="../cathen/01777b.htm">Asia</a>. On account of its military and commercial importance and its population composed of all the races of the earth, Constantinople is a typical cosmopolitan city.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3 id="B">The peninsula of Asia Minor, or plateau of Anatolia</h3> <p>Important for the richness of its coastal plains and its geographical situation; the construction of the railway from Constantinople to Baghdad (in 1912, 781 miles of track open for traffic from Constantinople to Boulgourlou by Eski-Chehir and Konieh) will result in a rebirth of this ancient country; a German company is at present fertilizing the plain of Konieh, diverting for this purpose the waters of a lake.</p> <h3 id="C">Syria</h3> <p>A narrow strip of land, 500 miles long by 93 wide, lies between <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>; <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, the Mediterranean, and the Desert. It is traversed by the two parallel ridges of Libanus (ranging from three or four thousand to nine thousand feet) and Anti-Libanus, separated by a deep depression, the <em>Gôr</em> bounded on the north by the valley of the Orontes, on the south by that of the <a href="../cathen/08501a.htm">Jordan</a>, which abuts on the gorge of the Dead Sea, 1200 feet below the sea level. The most important centres are the ports of <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a> (185,000 inhabitants), St. Jean d'Acre, and Jaffa (55,000 inhabitants), whence starts the railway to Jerusalem (115,000 inhabitants). The largest city is Damascus (350,000 inhabitants) in the middle of an oasis of luxuriant vegetation, one of the chief industrial centres of the Orient.</p> <h3 id="D">Mesopotamia and Turkish Armenia, or Kurdistan</h3> <p>Separated from <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a> by the Great Desert, extends on the north to Anatolia and <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenia</a> by the vast mountain ranges of Kurdistan, 13,000 feet, intercepted from the plains in the interior by Lake Van, whence flow the Tigris and the Euphrates, whose alluvial valleys are marvelously fertile; corn, wheat, barley, grain, one might say, originated here. Cotton may be also found in abundance, rice and plantations of date palms, and fruit-trees of every kind. The leading centres of <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenia</a> are <a href="../cathen/05527b.htm">Erzerum (Theodosiopolis)</a>, Van, and Ourfa. In Mesopotamia Mossoul (69,000 inhabitants), Baghdad (125,000 inhabitants), and Bassorah give but a feeble <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of the once great cities of Ninive, Babylon, and Seleucia-Ctesiphon.</p> <h3 id="E">The peninsula of Arabia</h3> <p>The Peninsula of Arabia is a spacious <a href="../cathen/04749a.htm">desert</a> plateau, bounded by immense mountain ranges, which rise over 9000 feet above the <a href="../cathen/12688a.htm">Red Sea</a>. Scarcely a seventh of this vast territory (over 1,000,000 sq. miles) is dependent on the sultan, and that more nominally than in reality. The volcanic plateau of the centre (Nedjed or Arabia Petraea) is almost a <a href="../cathen/04749a.htm">desert</a>. The population has flocked to the coast districts (Hedjaz and Yemen, or Arabia Felix). The only important centres are the sacred cities of the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a>: Mecca (60,000 inhabitants) with its port Djeddah, where the Caaba, which preserves the "black stone" of Abraham, draws each year numerous <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrims</a> from all points of the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Moslem</a> world, and Medina (50,000 inhabitants), where <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mohammed</a> resided and died. The possession of these cities lends great political importance to the Turkish Government. A railway, intended to unite Damascus to <a href="../cathen/10099a.htm">Mecca</a>, was laid to Medina in 1908.</p> <h3 id="F">Tripolitana</h3> <p>Tripolitana, occupied largely at present (1912) by the <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italians</a>, is in reality the Saharan coast of the Mediterranean. It is composed of plains of sand and rocky plateaux, to the east the plateau of Barka(ancient <a href="../cathen/04591b.htm">Cyrenaica</a> whose coasts in antiquity were very fertile), the oasis and city of Tripoli (30,000 inhabitants), and the inland the oasis of Ghadames. On this territory of 462,767 sq. miles there are scarcely one million inhabitants. The principal resources and in the oases date palms.</p> <h2 id="section2">History</h2> <p>The countries which form this immense territory represent what remains of the conquests of the Ottomans, a Turkish tribe originally from Khorassan, which <a href="../cathen/10291a.htm">emigrated</a> into <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a> about 1224, at the time of the cataclysm produced in Central <a href="../cathen/01777b.htm">Asia</a> by the Mongolian invasion of Jenghiz-Khan. The chiefs of the tribe of the Kei-Kankali became the mercenaries of the Seljuk emirs of <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>. One of them, Othman, proclaimed himself independent at the end of the thirteenth century, and took the title of sultan, or padishah. Under Orkhan was organized with some <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> captives the permanent militia of the Janissaries; and then began incessant <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> between the Ottomans and the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine Empire</a>. In 1359 Suleiman entered <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> by the occupation of <a href="../cathen/03183c.htm">Gallipoli</a>. Murad established himself at <a href="../cathen/01161a.htm">Adrianople</a> (1360) and attacked the Slavonic peoples of the Balkans. The battle of Kossovo (1389) gave him Servia. The struggle continued until the taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II, who put an end to the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine Empire</a> (1453) and conquered the Peloponnesus (1462), Negropont (1467), Trebzond (1470), <a href="../cathen/02694a.htm">Bosnia</a>, and Wallachia. He died in 1481, after failing to take Belgrade and Rhodes, but achieving the conquest of Anatolia as far as the Euphrates, and the peninsula of the Balkans as far as the Danube. To these conquests Selim I added Azerbaidjan, <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, and <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> (1517), Diarbekir and Mesopotamia (1518); he received from <a href="../cathen/10099a.htm">Mecca</a> the banner of the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophet</a>, and took the title of caliph, which assures to the Sultan of Constantinople the spiritual authority over all the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> of the world.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Soliman I took Rhodes from the Knights of St. John (1522) and conquered <a href="../cathen/07547a.htm">Hungary</a> while Khaireddin Barbarossa subjected the Barbary States (1522). Selim II took possession of the <a href="../cathen/04589a.htm">Island of Cyprus</a> (1570), but the Turkish domination had reached the limits of its extension. Soliman had been unable to take either <a href="../cathen/15417a.htm">Vienna</a> (1526) or Malta (1562), and in 1571 the great victory of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> fleet at <a href="../cathen/09181b.htm">Lepanto</a> weakened the naval power of the Turks in the Mediterranean. At the end of the sixteenth century The Turkish Empire had attained the zenith of its power on land. The siege of <a href="../cathen/15417a.htm">Vienna</a> of 1683, which failed thanks to the intervention of the King of <a href="../cathen/12181a.htm">Poland</a>, <a href="../cathen/14061c.htm">John Sobieski</a>, marks the last aggressive attempt of the Turks on the West. Henceforth the western powers encroach on the Turkish Empire and begin its dismemberment. In 1699 by the treaty of Karlovitz the Sultan ceded <a href="../cathen/07547a.htm">Hungary</a> and <a href="../cathen/15022a.htm">Transylvania</a> to <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a>. It is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> that in 1739 the Turks succeeded in retaking Belgrade, but this was their last military success. The powerful militia of the Janissaries was of no further use; the administration was corrupt and venal. Moreover, the Turks were unable to impede the progress of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>; in 1774 by the treaty of Kainardji the Turks ceded to <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> the Crimea and the coasts of the Black Sea, and to <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a> Rumanian Bukowina. The <a href="../cathen/13009a.htm">French Revolution of 1789</a> saved Turkey from the project of division planned by Catherine II; the Peace of <a href="../cathen/08325b.htm">Jassy</a> (1792) restored only a part of Bessarabia of the Dniester. <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, occupied in 1789, surrendered to Turkey in 1800, but in the most precarious condition. After the nineteenth century began the forward movement of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> nationalities which had submitted up to that time to Turkish domination; public opinion in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> upheld this movement, and the governments themselves were won over. Meanwhile the rival ambitions of the powers prevented the "Eastern Question" from being regulated in a definitive manner. In 1821 the insurrection of the Greeks, supported by <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>, ended in the creation of the Kingdom of Greece (Treaty of Adrianople, 1829; and Conference of London, 1831).</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/13732a.htm">Servians</a> formed an autonomous principality as early as 1830, and in 1832 the Pasha of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, Mehemet-Ali, revolted; his independence was conceded to him in 1841, on condition that he would recognize the suzerainty of the sultan. In vain the Turks tried to reform; after the massacre and the dissolution of the Janissaries (1826) Mahmoud organized an army resembling the <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a>, established military <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> and a newspaper, and imposed the <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> costume on his subjects. In 1839 Abdul-Medjid organized the <em>Tanzimât</em> (new regime) and accorded to his subjects a real charter, liberty, <a href="../cathen/14763a.htm">religious toleration</a> and promises of a liberal government. In 1854 the Tsar Nicholas of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> strove to take up again the project of Catherine II, and to do away with "the sick man". Protected by <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> and <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, Turkey kept, at the Congress of <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a> (1856), all of its territory save Moldavia and Wallachia, which were declared autonomous. The Hatti-Humayoun of 16 Feb., 1856, proclaimed the admission of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> to all employments and equality with other subjects before the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, but after the Liberal government of Fuad Pasha they resumed their former ways. On all sides the provinces revolted, and about 1875 formed the party of Young Turkey, desirous of reforming the empire on the <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> model.</p> <p>Two sultans, Abdul-Aziz and Murad, were successively deposed. A new sultan, Abdul-Hamid, proclaimed on 23 Dec., 1876, a constitution resembling the <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> with a parliament and responsible <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a>; but the reforming grand vizier Midhat Pasha was strangled, and the opening of parliament was no more than a comedy. <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> decided to act, and in 1877 <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> took the lead and sent an army across the Balkans, after the difficult siege of Plevna and would have entered Constantinople had it not been for the intervention of an English fleet. The treaty of San Stefano (March, 1878) established a Grand Principality of <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgaria</a>, and cut Turkey in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> into many sections. Bismarck, alarmed by the progress of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>, had this treaty revised at the Congress of <a href="../cathen/02493b.htm">Berlin</a> (1878); the independent <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> principality was reduced to Moesia to the north of the Balkans; Eastern Rumelia alone was autonomous, and <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a> remained Turkish. The independence of <a href="../cathen/13732a.htm">Servia</a>, <a href="../cathen/10529c.htm">Montenegro</a>, and Rumania was sanctioned. Greece received Thessaly; <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a> occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina; <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> established herself in the <a href="../cathen/04589a.htm">Island of Cyprus</a>. This treaty, ratified by all the powers, was followed by new dismemberments. In 1855 Eastern Rumelia was annexed to <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgaria</a>. In 1897 Crete revolted, and tried to reunite Greece. After the victorious campaign of his army in Thessaly the sultan kept the sovereignty of Crete, but with an autonomous <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> governor, a son of the King of Greece.</p> <p>In contrast to his predecessors, who had sought to restore their country by reforming it, the Sultan Abdul-Hamid established a regime of ferocious repression against the Young Turks, who were partisans of the reforms. A formidable police pursued all those who were suspected of Liberal <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a>, and an unpitying censorship undertook the impossible task of depriving Turkey of <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> publications; the introduction of the most inoffensive books, such as Baedeker's guides, was prohibited. Emissaries everywhere revived <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a> fanaticism; to the claims of the <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenian</a> revolutionaries the Sultan responded by frightful massacres of the <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a> of Constantinople (Sept., 1895), followed soon by the slaughter which in 1896 drenched Kurdistan with blood; everywhere <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a> were tracked, and isolated massacres of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> became also the normal order of events in <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a></p> <p>Educated in Western <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a>, the Young Turks, especially the refugees at <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a>, united as early as 1895, and succeeded in spite of prohibitions in circulating in Turkey their journal the "Mechveret". A Committee of Union and Progress was even formed at Constantinople, and by constant propaganda succeeded in gaining to its cause the greater number of the officials. The uprising, the preparation of which deceived the Hamidian police, began 23 July, 1908, at <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>; an ultimatum was sent to the sultan, who, abandoned even by his Albanians, proclaimed the re-establishment of the constitution (24 July, 1908) in the midst of indescribable enthusiasm, and called a parliament (4 Dec., 1908).</p> <p>In three months 300 journals were started. Abroad, the counterstroke to this revolution was the definitive annexation, proclaimed by the Emperor of <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a>, of Bosnia and Herzegovina (3 Oct., 1908). At the same time the Prince of <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgaria</a> took the title of Tsar of the <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarians</a> (6 Oct., 1908), and repudiated the vassalage which still connected him with the sultan.</p> <p>This exterior check weakened the Young Turk party, and on 13 April, 1909, a counter-revolution of <em>Softas</em> and soldiers of the guard broke out in Constantinople. The Young Turks had to flee the capital, but immediately the troops of <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>, Monastir, and Adrianople consolidated and marched against Constantinople and laid siege to it (17 April, 1909). Negotiations continued for six days; finally at the moment when the massacre of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> seemed imminent, the Salonican troops entered Constantinople, and after a short battle became masters of the place. On 27 April Abdul-Hamid was forced to sign his abdication, and banished to <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>. A son of Abdul-Medjid was made sultan under the name of Mohammed V, and a new constitution was proclaimed, 5 Aug., 1909, the Committee of Union and Progress superintending its execution with dictatorial powers. Today Turkey is on the road, to reform and political reorganization.</p> <h2 id="section3">Races, nationalities, and religions</h2> <p>According to a tradition which dates back to the earliest antiquity, Oriental nationalities did not commonly form compact groups settled within well-defined boundaries. As a result of violent transmigrations of peoples owing to hurricane-like invasions, or even by the simple chance of migrations due to <a href="../cathen/12213b.htm">economic</a> causes, all the races of the Orient are mingled in an inextricable manner, and there is not a single city of the Ottoman Empire which does not contain specimens of all races, languages, and <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religions</a>. The population has therefore an entirely heterogeneous character; the Turks have never made any effort to assimilate their subjects; they do not appear even to have attempted to propagate <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Islamism</a> widely. Until the constitution of 1876, and in fact as late as the revolution of 1908, they have jealously striven to safeguard their privileges as conquerors. Up to the present time the population of the empire may be said to be divided into three classes:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li><em>The <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a></em> (Turks, <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arabs</a>, <a href="../cathen/13732a.htm">Servians</a>, Albanians), enjoying alone the right of holding office, the only landowners, but subject to military service.</li><li><em>The Raias</em> (flocks), or infidels, conquered peoples who have obtained the right of preserving their religion, but barred from all office and subjected to heavy tax. It was upon them that the despotism of the pashas was exercised. They are still, following the creed to which they belong, divided into "nations" governed by religious authorities, <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, Jewish rabbis, responsible to the sultan, but provided with certain <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> over their faithful.</li><li><a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> subjects, established in Turkey for religious or commercial reasons, and under the official protection and <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the ambassadors of the Powers. Many of the <em>raïas</em> of class have, however, succeeded in obtaining this privilege. </li></ul></div> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>In 1535 the first "capitulation" was signed between the King of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, <a href="../cathen/06207a.htm">Francis I</a>, and the Sultan Soliman. It accorded to <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> the protectorate over all the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>. This agreement was often renewed, in 1604, 1672, 1740, and 1802. At the treaty of Kainardji <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> obtained a similar right of protection over the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Christians</a>. The <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> to the protection of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> of all nationalities have been recognized repeatedly by the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>, and particularly by the <a href="../cathen/05413a.htm">Encyclical</a> of <a href="../cathen/09169a.htm">Leo XIII</a> "Aspera rerum conditio" (22 May, 1886). The treaty of <a href="../cathen/02493b.htm">Berlin</a> left to each state the care of protecting its subjects, but in practice <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> preserves the protectorate over <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, and even the diplomatic rupture between <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> and the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> has not impaired these civil <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a>. Each of the Great Powers has therefore considerable interests in the Turkish Empire: each one its own postal autonomy, courts, <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a>, and organizations for propaganda, teaching, and charity.</p> <p>The Young Turk party, in power today, dreams of overthrowing this arrangement. The new constitution granted by the Sultan Mohammed V, 5 Aug., 1909, proclaims the equality of all subjects in the matter of taxes, military service, and political <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a>. For the first time <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> are admitted into the army, and the parliament, which meets at Constantinople, is chosen indiscriminately by all the races. The effect of this new regime appears to be, in the view of the Young Turks, the establishment of a <a href="../cathen/09068a.htm">common law</a> for all subjects, the suppression of all privileges and capitulations. But the <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> communities, or <em>millets</em>, hold to the ancient <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">statutes</a> which have safe-guarded their race and religion; the three oldest, those of the Greeks, the <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a>, and <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, date back to the day following the taking of Constantinople by Mohammed II.</p> <p>The rest of the <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> powers have in the Turkish Empire, political, <a href="../cathen/12213b.htm">economic</a>, and religious interests of considerable importance; a certain number of public services, such as that of the public <a href="../cathen/04663b.htm">debt</a>, or institutions like the Ottoman Bank, have an international character. The same holds good of most of the companies which are formed to execute public works, docks, railways, etc. . . The trade in exports and imports involves large sums of money, as one may judge by the following table:</p> <p><strong>FOREIGN COMMERCE <font size=-2>FROM</font> 1 MARCH, 1908, <font size=-2>TO</font> 28 FEBRUARY, 1909 (<font size=-2>IN PIASTRES</font>)</strong></p> <div style="overflow-x:auto;"><table summary="Table" border=0> <tr> <td> Country </td> <td> Imports </td> <td> Exports </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> </td> <td> 941,274 </td> <td> 513,723 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> </td> <td> 337,057 </td> <td> 363,361 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a> </td> <td> 193,567 </td> <td> 114,998 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Austro-Hungry </td> <td> 407,519 </td> <td> 247,774 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> </td> <td> 249,417 </td> <td> 57,489 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> </td> <td> 116,275 </td> <td> 165,673 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../cathen/15156a.htm">United States</a> </td> <td> 116,275 </td> <td> 70,332 </td> </tr> </table></div> <p>A veritable <a href="../cathen/12213b.htm">economic</a> <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> is going on between the Powers, desirous of exploiting the riches of the Orient; to the secular ambitions which menace the existence of the "sick man" have been added new forms of <a href="../cathen/02148b.htm">greed</a>. Neither the <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russians</a> nor the Greeks have ceased to consider Constantinople as the historic goal of their efforts, and <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgaria</a>, deprived of <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a> is claimed by the treaty of <a href="../cathen/02493b.htm">Berlin</a>, also finds in its traditions claims on the same heritage. <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a> is claimed by the Greeks, <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarians</a>, <a href="../cathen/13732a.htm">Servians</a>, and the Kutzo-Vlachs or Rumanians; <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a> has become a commercial centre for <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austrian</a> exportation; and the annexation of <a href="../cathen/02694a.htm">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a> has by one and the same stroke reinforced <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austro-Hungarian</a> and German influence in the Balkan Peninsula. <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> has some clients in <a href="../cathen/01253b.htm">Albania</a>, and is seeking at the present moment to take possession of Tripoli.</p> <p>Finally, <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, and <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a> are fighting to establish their moral and <a href="../cathen/12213b.htm">economic</a> influence. <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> has maintained an important position because of the protection that it has always exercised over <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>; French in the Orient has become a kind of second vernacular; while the influence of <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a> has increased in the last few years for political reasons, by which the development of German commerce has profited. The <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> Powers, anxious for the defence of their own interests, are not, however, ready to abandon their capitulations. The Turkish Empire has moreover entered into a period of transformation, the end of which no one can foresee, and what delays still more the task of the new power is the <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> diversity of races and <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religions</a> which make up the empire.</p> <p>Although the statistical documents are very incomplete, the total population of the empire, including <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> and the dependencies (Crete, governed by Prince George under the control of the Powers; Samos, governed since 1832 by a Greek prince appointed by the sultan), can be estimated at 36,000,000. Under the direct government of the sultan there are only 25,926,000 subjects, who belong to the following races: (1) Turks, or Osmanlis, estimated at 10,000,000, are settled throughout <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>, the cities of <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> and <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, and some cantons of <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a>; most of them are <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a>. (2) <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arabs</a> (7,000,000), in <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arabia</a>, <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, Mesopotamia, and Tripoli, forming several <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sects</a> of <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a>. (3) <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, scattered almost everywhere (<a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> of Spanish origin form half of the population of <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>); compact <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> and its outskirts, at Baghdad, Mossoul, and <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a>. <em>Samaritans</em> inhabit the sanjak of Naplouse. (4) Gipsies, a mysterious race, are scattered throughout the empire. (5) <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a>, who have swarmed outside of their country and form powerful colonies in <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>, Mesopotamia, Constantinople, and Turkey in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>. From a religious standpoint they are <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, Gregorians, or <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a>. (6) Caucasian races: <em>Lazes</em> of <a href="../cathen/15028a.htm">Trebizond</a>, <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> or Orthodox Greeks; <em>Kurds</em>, fanatical <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> scattered around <a href="../cathen/05527b.htm">Erzerum (Theodosiopolis)</a>, <a href="../cathen/01513a.htm">Angora</a>, Mossoul, Sivas; <em>Circassians</em>, spread throughout <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>, <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a>. (7) Syrians, The descendants of Aramaean peoples, divided into a multitude of communities of different language and religion; <em>Chaldeans</em>, in Baghdad, Mossoul, <a href="../cathen/01283b.htm">Aleppo</a>, <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a>, or <em><a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorians</a></em>, speaking partly Syrian and partly Arabic. The <em>Melchites</em> speak Arabic, but belong to the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a>. The <em>Jacobites</em>, or Monophysies, speak Arabic and <a href="../cathen/14408a.htm">Syriac</a>. The <em>Marionites</em> of the <a href="../cathen/09104a.htm">Lebanon</a> and of <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a> speak Arabic and are <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>. The <em>Druses</em> of the Lebanon form an <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a> <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>. (8) The <em>Greeks</em> have remained in their historic country; as in antiquity they are a maritime people; they form powerful groups at Constantinople, Adrianoyple, <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>, in <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a>, <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>, in the isles, in <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, and in Crete. They belong to the Orthodox or to the Greek Uniat Church. They are of considerable importance in the empire. (9) The Albanians appear to be the remnant of a very ancient race. They form in the west of the Balkan Peninsula (Albania) a compact group and still lead a semi-patriarchal life. A large part (1,000,000) is <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a>, the others, (30,000) <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a>: among them may be found the Powerful tribe of the Mirdites. In 1911 the new government was <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to direct an expedition against them to effect their disarmament. (10) The <a href="../cathen/14042a.htm">Slav</a> peoples, <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarians</a> and <a href="../cathen/13732a.htm">Servians</a>, are scattered over <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a> and Old Servia, where they oppose Greek influence; they are divided between <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Islamism</a>, <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Christianity</a>, and <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a>. (11) The Kutzo-Vlachs or Rumanians, Orthodox or <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, inhabit <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a>, where they are mostly shepherds. (12) Finally, in all Turkish cities may be found a great number of <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">families</a> of <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">European</a> origin, settled in the country for a long period and who have lost their ethnical characters and their languages. Such are the Levantines, who seek to obtain from the ambassadors foreign naturalization for the sake of its privileges.</p> <p>From a religious standpoint the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> may be estimated at 50 per cent of the population, the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a> 46 per cent, <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> 3 per cent, other communities, <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, Druses etc., at 1 per cent. In Turkey in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>, on the contrary, there are 66 percent of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> to 33 percent <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a>.</p> <h3 id="A">Mussulmans</h3> <p>The <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman religion</a> has remained the religion of the state. The sultan is always the caliph, the spiritual head of the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> of the whole world. The <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> comprise the majority of Turks, <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arabs</a>, and a portion of the Albanians, <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarians</a>, Greeks etc. Polygamy is always legal; four legitimate wives and an unlimited number of <a href="../cathen/04207a.htm">concubines</a> are permitted to the believers. Under the influence of Western <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>, monogamy tends to establish itself. <a href="../cathen/05054c.htm">Divorce</a> exists, and the <a href="../cathen/05054c.htm">divorced</a> <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">woman</a> can remarry. The sexes are always separated in the <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a> home, which comprises the <em>selamlik</em> (male apartments) and the <em>harem</em> (female apartments). It is the same in the tramways, railways, ships etc. The <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> cannot go out except veiled, but circulate freely in the streets of the cities unaccompanied. Slavery is always active, but it has kept a patriarchal character. The master must endow his slave when the latter marries, and the <a href="../cathen/08692a.htm">Koran</a> obliges him to provide for the needs of his slaves. Education is progressing. In principle it is <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligatory</a>. Primary <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> is free, a secondary <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> exists at the capital of each vilayet, as well as one free professional <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a>. Instruction of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> is developing at Constantinople; the Lyceum of Galata-Serai, organized by French professors, has 1100 pupils. Higher instruction is represented by the University of Constatinople and special <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a>. An Imperial museum of archaeology has been created at Tchilini-Kiosk.</p> <p>As in all <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a> countries the spiritual and temporal <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> are blended, and civil relations are regulated by religious law which consists in the <a href="../cathen/08692a.htm">Koran</a> and the <em>Cheriat,</em> collection of customs. The interpreters of this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> are the <em>ulemas</em>, who form a powerful <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> whose head, the <em>Sheikh-ul-islam</em>, has the rank of vizier, and access to the council of <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a>, or <em>divan</em>. At twelve years of age the future <em>ulemas</em> leaves the primary <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> and enters a <em>medresse</em> (<a href="../cathen/13694a.htm">seminary</a> attached to the mosque) as a <em>softa</em> (student) where he learns grammar, ethics, and <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theology</a>. He finally receives from the <em>Sheikh-ul-islam</em> the diploma of candidate (<em>mulasim</em>) and can be elevated to the rank of the <em>ulemas</em>; he may become <em>cadi</em> (judge). To advance further he must study for seven years, when he may become <em>imam</em> of a mosque. The <em>ulemas</em> wear a white turban, the <em>hadjis,</em> who have been at <a href="../cathen/10099a.htm">Mecca</a>, have the green turban. The <em>mesjids</em> are simple places of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>. In a large mosque or <em>djami</em> maybe found <em>sheikhs</em> in charge of the preaching; <em>kiatibs</em>, who direct the Friday <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>; <em>imams</em>, charged with the ordinary service of the mosque (daily <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, <a href="../cathen/09707a.htm">marriages</a>, burials); <em>muezzins</em>, who ascend four times a day to the minaret to call the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a> to <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>; <em>kaims</em>, a kind of <a href="../cathen/13322a.htm">sacristan</a>. Several orders of dervishes form the <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">regular</a> <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> and devote themselves to special practices of which some are noted for their extravagance (howling and whirling); they are distinguished by a conical felt hat. The principal religious <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a>, which the faithful perform with <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zeal</a> are: <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> four times daily, the weekly Friday service, the observance of <em>Ramadan</em> (abstinence from eating, drinking, and smoking from the rising to the setting of the sun). <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Islam</a> is going through a crisis by contact with the Western world, and under the influence of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> many of the enlightened Turks dream of reforming its <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>. On the other hand there has always been a certain opposition between the <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arabs</a>, who pretend to represent the pure <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a> tradition, and the Turks. The pan-lslamic policy of Abdul-Hamid had weakened this opposition, and he had availed himself of his title of caliph to form relations with <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> of the entire world.</p> <p>Today the pan-Islamist movement, of which the University of El-Azhar at Cairo is one of the principal centres, and which has numerous journals at its command, seems to be unfavourable to the Turkish Caliphate. The <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> "<em>Al Da' wat wal Irchad</em>" is about to create in <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> a new <a href="../cathen/15188a.htm">university</a> destined to form <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a> missionaries.</p> <h3 id="B">Greek Orthodox Church</h3> <p>The principal indigenous <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> community is the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a>, which is the survival of the religious organization of the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine Empire</a>. Its head, the "&OElig;cumenical <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of the Romans" (such is his official title), resides at Constantinople, in the Phanar quarter. He presides over a Holy Synod formed of twelve <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitans</a> and a "mixed council", composed of four <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitans</a> and eight <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laymen</a>. Two million <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a> obey him. The oecumenical territory is divided into 100 eparchies or <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a> (83 <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitans</a> and 17 <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>). Since the <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schisms</a> of Photius (867) and of <a href="../cathen/10273a.htm">Michael Caerularius</a> (1054), the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a> has been separated from <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> by a succession of ritual and disciplinary observances rather than by dogmatic differences. The tendency of the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a> to autonomy has brought about the crumbling of patriarchal authority and the forming of autocephalous churches; outside of the Ottoman Empire may be found the Russian Church, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of the Kingdom of Greece, the Servian Church, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/04589a.htm">Cyprus</a>: in the empire, even since the firman of Abdul-Aziz (11 March, 1870), the <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarians</a> have organized an independent church under the name of "Exarchate". The <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> Exarch resides at Orta-Keui on the Bosporus and governs 3,000,000 <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a>; Thrace and <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a> are divided into 21 <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> eparchies, but a Holy Synod resides at Sofia. The Arabic speaking Syrians, or <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a> who are attached to the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a>, are under the authority of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a>, who resides at <a href="../cathen/04611a.htm">Damascus</a>, of the Patriarchs of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> and of Alexandria, and of the <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">Archbishop</a> of Sinai, all independent of Constantinople.</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a> has two divisions of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, one consisting of the <em><a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a></em> or <em>papas</em>, who marry before they take orders and cannot become <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>; the other, called the upper <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, chosen from among the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>. The <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> are quite numerous. Those of <a href="../cathen/02047b.htm">Mount Athos</a> form a veritable independent Republic composed of twenty <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> governed by the Council of the Holy <em>Epistasia</em>; its head, the <em>protepistates</em>, is chosen in turn from the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> of the great Laura, Iviron, Vatopedi, Khilandariou, and Dyonisiou. The <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a> has no organized missions, but the Hellenic propaganda is maintained at least in the <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> throughout <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a>, where there is antagonism between the Greeks and <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarians</a>: the latter have had often to defend their <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religions</a> and national independence against the former.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3 id="C">Dissenting Churches</h3> <p>A certain number of <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> communities represent the early and <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schismatical</a> <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sects</a> who have remained separate from the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a>: a portion of these <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> have, however, returned to the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. The Gregorian <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a> (who connect themselves with <a href="../cathen/07023a.htm">St. Gregory the Illuminator</a>) have been separated since the <a href="../cathen/03555a.htm">Council of Chalcedon</a> (451). They have many heads, the <a href="../cathen/03454a.htm">Catholicos</a> of Etschmiadzin in Russian territory, the <a href="../cathen/03454a.htm">Catholicos</a> of Sis (200,000 faithful in Cilicia and <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>), and the <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenian</a> <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople, who is assisted by a national assembly of 400 members and two councils, civil and <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> (800,000 <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>, divided among 51 <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a>); finally, the <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenian</a> <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, in communion with Constantinople. On the Turco-Persian frontier may be found about 100,000 <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorians</a>, whose patriarch resides at Kotchanes; his dignity is hereditary from uncle to nephew; many have been reunited to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a>. The <a href="../cathen/10489b.htm">Monophysites</a>, or <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a>, to the number of 80,000 in <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, Mesopotamia, and Kurdistan, represent the remnants of a church that was once powerful; its head, who calls himself <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a>, resides at the Monastery of Dar-uz-Zafaran, between Diarbekir and <a href="../cathen/09650e.htm">Mardin</a>.</p> <h3 id="D">The Catholic Church in the Turkish Empire</h3> <p>The <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in the Turkish Empire comprises two classes of faithful: those of the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin Rite</a>, and those who preserve their traditional rites, and are united to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>, whence the name Greek-Uniats, Armenian-Uniats, etc. Turkey, a missionary country, depends directly on the <a href="../cathen/12456a.htm">Congregation of the Propaganda</a> which has as representatives three apostolic delegates, at Constantinople, <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a>, and Bagdad; assisting them are vicars and prefects Apostolic, heads of the mission and provided with episcopal powers (except the power of conferring major orders). The Latin <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> are scattered over the entire empire, although 148,000 Albanians form an important group under the <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">Archbishops</a> of <a href="../cathen/05209a.htm">Durazzo</a>, Uskub, <a href="../cathen/13648a.htm">Scutari</a>, and the <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">Abbot</a> of St. Alexander of Orochi for the Mirdites.</p> <p>The Uniats comprise many distinct groups: (a) the Greeks, whose union was proclaimed by the <a href="../cathen/06111a.htm">Council of Florence</a> in 1438, live in <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> and <a href="../cathen/04396b.htm">Corsica</a> (Albanian colony of Cargese). In the Turkish Empire there are only some hundred or so placed under the authority of the <a href="../cathen/09118a.htm">Apostolic delegate</a> of Constantinople. Among the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a> who have striven most to bring about a union with the Greeks <a href="../cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a> must be remembered, and <a href="../cathen/09169a.htm">Leo XIII</a> (Encyclical "Orientalium dignitas", 30 Nov., 1894). (b) The <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchite</a> Greeks (110,000), in <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, Palestine, <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>; their patriarch resides at <a href="../cathen/04611a.htm">Damascus</a>, and has under his <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> three vicariates (Tarsus, <a href="../cathen/04615b.htm">Damietta</a>, and Palmyra) and eleven <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>. (c) The Bulgarian-Uniats, <a href="../cathen/04347a.htm">converted</a> about 1860 to escape from the Phanariot despotism. There remain 13,000 directed by the vicars Apostolic of <a href="../cathen/01161a.htm">Adrianople</a> and <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>. (d) The Armenian-Uniats, organized since 1724 under the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Cilicia and Little <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenia</a>, who reside at Zmar in the Lebanon. ln 1857 <a href="../cathen/12134b.htm">Pius IX</a> conferred this title on the <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenian</a> <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">Archbishop</a> of Constantinople (70,000 <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>, 2 <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">archbishops</a>, of <a href="../cathen/01283b.htm">Aleppo</a> and Sivas, 12 <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, the most of whom are in <a href="../cathen/11712a.htm">Persia</a> and <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>). (e) The Syrian-Uniats, converted by Latin missionaries in 1665; a firman of 1830 has recognized its autonomy (40,000 <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>, a patriarch residing at <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a>, and 12 <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a>). (f) The Chaldean-Uniats, <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorians</a> converted to <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a> in 1552. Their <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Babylon resides at Mossoul (80,000 faithful). (g) The <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronites</a> of the ancient Lebanon, a <a href="../cathen/10502a.htm">Monothelite</a> community which <a href="../cathen/01044d.htm">abjured</a> its <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> entirely in 1182. Its head, <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a>, resides at Bekerkey, near Beirut; he has 7 <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">archbishops</a> under his <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a>. The 300,000 faithful have remained particularly attached to <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a>.</p> <h2 id="section5">Catholic and Protestant missions</h2> <p>The <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> propaganda has been carried on in the Turkish Empire by means of the missions, the oldest of which date back to the time of the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a>. As early as 1229 <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a> and <a href="../cathen/12354c.htm">Dominican</a> missions were established in Palestine and as far as Damascus. In 1328 the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscans</a> received the "custody" of the Holy Places, and constructed their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of the Mount of Sion, of the Holy Sepulchre, and of Bethlehem. Today the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a> custody of the Holy Land numbers 338 religious. The missionaries have, however, encountered great obstacles in their work, and they have been unable even to consider a direct propaganda in regard to the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a>. Nevertheless, their moral influence is considerable; it manifests itself by social works due to their initiative (schools, <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospitals</a>, dispensaries, etc.) which are very prosperous, and are maintained by numerous organizations founded in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>: the <a href="../cathen/14079a.htm">Society of Foreign Missions</a> of <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a>, founded in 1658; the Propagation of the Faith, founded at <a href="../cathen/09472a.htm">Lyons</a> in 1822; the Society of <a href="../cathen/06233b.htm">St. Francis Xavier</a>, founded at <a href="../cathen/01001a.htm">Aachen</a> in the year 1832; the Leopoldsverein, founded in <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a> in 1839; the Society of the Holy Childhood, etc.</p> <p>Among the <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> orders represented in the Turkish Empire must be mentioned: the <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuits</a>, who have established the University of St Joseph of <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a>, whose faculty of letters numbers distinguished <a href="../cathen/11302c.htm">Orientalists</a> and epigraphists, and whose <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> of medicine, placed under the control of the University of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, forms a nursery for native physicians; it has a <a href="../cathen/09227b.htm">library</a> and a printing-press supplied with Latin and Arabic characters; it publishes a journal and an Arabic review, El-Bachir, and EIMachriq; the <a href="../cathen/02104a.htm">Assumptionists</a>, at Constantinople; many of whom devote themselves successfully to the study of archaeology and Byzantine antiquities; the <a href="../cathen/08056a.htm">Brothers of the Christian Schools</a>, who had, in 1908, 3449 pupils (8 colleges at Constantinople, 8 at <a href="../cathen/14060b.htm">Smyrna</a>, others at <a href="../cathen/14633a.htm">Salonica</a>, Angora etc.); the <a href="../cathen/03320b.htm">Capuchins</a>, established in <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenia</a>, <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a>, <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a> etc.; the <a href="../cathen/10357a.htm">Lazarists</a>, at <a href="../cathen/02392a.htm">Beirut</a>; the <a href="../cathen/03354a.htm">Carmelites</a>, at <a href="../cathen/02202c.htm">Bagdad</a>, Tripoli, etc.; the <a href="../cathen/13398b.htm">Salesians</a>, in Palestine; the Sisters of <a href="../cathen/15434c.htm">St. Vincent de Paul</a>, who have opened in almost every district <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a>, <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospitals</a>, and workshops, and who are respected by the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulmans</a> for their self-sacrifice; the Sisters of Notre Dame of Sion, with <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> in Constantinople; the <a href="../cathen/12354c.htm">Dominicans</a>, established at Mossoul and <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, with a Biblical <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a>. In 1910 a normal <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> was established at <a href="../cathen/13024b.htm">Rhodes</a> to <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">educate</a> members of religious congregations to act as teachers in the East.</p> <p>All these missions are officially placed under the protectorate of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>. For the most part the missionaries are French, but there are also a large number of <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germans</a>, <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italians</a>, and English. Besides these <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> missionaries, rival <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">societies</a> display immense activity. First of all, the Jewish Alliance, which has founded <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> in most of the large cities; the <a href="../cathen/15760c.htm">Zionist</a> movement has for its object the repeopling of Palestine by <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>; a few colonists have been attracted thither from <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>. There are throughout the empire <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> missions from <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>, and America. In 1842 an <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglican</a> <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">bishopric</a> was established at <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, whose titular is alternately English and German. All the large <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">societies</a> of <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> missions are represented in the Orient (American Board of Foreign Missions, American U.P. Mission, Church Missionary Society, Deutsche Orientmission, German Pioneer Mission, Evangelical Missionary Society of Basle, etc.). All seek to establish their influence by the same propaganda: distribution of Bibles and Gospels translated into the native languages, <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospitals</a>, dispensaries, <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> etc. At Beirut there is an American University, and more than 30 <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a>, comprising 3000 pupils. At Constantinople there is the American Robert College.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">DUTTAND, <em>Empire Ottoman, Turquie d'Europe, Turguie d'Asie, Nouvelle carte administrative, economique et consulaire</em> (Paris, 1908); CUINET, <em>La Turquie d'Asie</em> (5 vols., Paris, 1891-94): <em>Syrie, Liban, Palestine</em> (Paris, 1896-98); BERARD, <em>La Turquie et L'hellenisme contemporain</em> (Paris, 1893); <em>La revolution torque</em> (Paris, 1909); DURAND, <em>Jeune Turquie, vieille France</em> (Paris, 1909); PINON, <em>L'Europe et l'empire ottoman</em> (Paris, 1910); IMBERT, <em>La renovation de l'empire ottoman</em> (Paris, 1909); VON OPPENHEIM, <em>Von Mittelmeer zum persischen Golfe</em> (2 vols., Berlin, 1899-1900); MARK-SYKES, <em>Dar-el-islam</em> (London, 1903); TINAYRE, <em>Notes d'une voyageuse en Orient</em> in <em>Revue des deux Mondes</em> (July-Nov., 1909); Du RAUZAS, <em>Le regime des capitulations dans l'empire ottoman</em> (2nd ed., Paris, 1910); JANIN, <em>Les groupements chretiens en Orient</em> in <em>Echos d'Orient</em> (1906-07); FORTESCUE, <em>The Orthodox Eastern Church</em> (London, 1907); DE MEESTER, <em>Voyage de deux benedictins aux monasteres du mont Athos</em> (Paris, 1908); BERTRAND, La melee des religions en Orient in <em>Revue des deux Mondes</em> (Oct., 1909); DOWLING, <em>The patriarchate of Jerusalem</em> (London, 1909); JEHAY, <em>De la situation legale des sujets ottomans non musulmans</em> (Brussels, 1906); BERTRAND, <em>Les ecoles d'Orient</em> in <em>Revue des deux Mondes</em> (Sept., Oct., 1909); <em>Carte des ecoles chretiennes de Macedoine</em> (Paris, 1905); LOUVET, <em>Les missions catholiques au XIX siecle</em> (Lyons, 1900); KROSE, <em>Katholische Missionsstaistik</em> (1908); STREIT, <em>Katholischen Missionatlas</em> (1908); BERRE, <em>L'action sociale des missionnaires et les dominicains francais en Turqizie d'Asie</em> (Paris, 1910); <em>Les massacres d'Adana et nos missionnaires</em> (Lyons, 1909); NOPCSA, <em>A Katolikus Eszak-Albania</em>, XXXV (Foldrajzi Kozlemenyek, 1907); MALDEN, <em>Foreign missions</em> (London, 1907); BLISS, DWIGHT, AND TUPPER, <em>The Encyclopedia of missions</em> (2nd ed., London, 1904); BLISS, <em>The missionary enterprise</em> (2nd ed., New York, 1911); WHERRY AND BARTON, <em>The Mohammedan World of Today</em> (New York, 1911).</p><p class="cenotes">Periodicals: <em>Missiones Catholicoe cura S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide descriptoe</em> (Rome); <em>Revue du Monde musulman</em> (Paris; see Nov., 1911, <em>La conquete du monde musulman</em>); <em>Echos d'Orient</em> (Paris, 1897--). BEACH, <em>Statistical atlas of missions</em> (London and New York, 1910); HUBER, <em>Carte statistique des Cultes chretiens</em>: I, <em>Turquie d'Europe</em>; II, <em>Turquie d'Asie</em> (Cairo, 1910-11).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Bréhier, L.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Turkish Empire.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15097a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Bréhier, Louis.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Turkish Empire."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 15.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15097a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Jeffrey L. Anderson.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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