A JOURNEY. TO ANGORA
THOUGH Angora is only some 300 miles from Haidar . Pasha station, . the German constructed terminus of the Bagdad railway, the train journey from one town to the other takes, well over 23 hours. I was provident enough to secure a berth on the, wagon lit and was consequently not too uncomfortable. I left Constantinople at dawn, at the hour of.the day, when it looks perhaps at its ,best. Wreathed in mist, it appeared, to be miraculously suspended between sea and sky and.evoked a wondrous-fairy7like frieze stretching to infinity. The sky was opaline, the water like, lapis lazuli and the town turquoise, Alone the Marble Tower whose base was fringed with spray gave- the impression of a " relief."
The first part. of the journey. was attractive, as the train for the greater part of the day runs along the Gulf of Isinid and then follows the Sakkaria river right through the gorges of the Taurus mountains ; but on waking up next morning I found that we were crossing a vast and desolate plateau with equally barren mountains stretching on either sideof us.. Very little sign of vegetation except here and there an oasis of green or a little plot of ploughed land ; and even more occasionally a ruined village to remind me that the country was not entirely unpopulated. I knew that . we were passing over the graves of many lost civilizations and that great and popular cities, which in the heyday of the Roman Empire had been celebrated for their temples, Greek theatres and Roman amphi- theatres, had once flourished here, but as these were tenanted only by nomadic shepherds or tillers of the soil whose homes were small mud hovels, there was little to lead the traveller to suspect their existence, the desola- tion around being so pronounced that it was hard to realize that it had not always been the same.
Hour after hour the landscape remained as dismal and as featureless, the only excitement which I could find to relieve the deadly monotony of the journey being provided by the groups of Anatolians whom I found assembled at the various stations where we halted. A great contrast I found these sturdy countryfolk to the Turks of Constantinople with their enervating vices and petty meinnesses, for these peaSants, though unclean as any of their buffaloes and clad in nondescript garments that mostly consisted of very patched and tattered shirts and pendulous cotton breeches gathered clumsily above woollen cross garters, were the embodiment of- sturdy virility, and as different from their effete European - brothers as a-mastiff is from a pampered- - I now began to understand why Kemal is so deliberately • turning away from Constantinople, and -low he hopes to restore the pristine energy and vital stamina of his race by subjecting it to the more invigorating climate and simple life typical of the Anatolian Highlands. After this monotony Angora impressed - me quite favourably. And viewed from the aviation ground near the station it is quite imposing. Built on a high ridge which the Enguri river has gradually isolated by forming a deep defile which separates it from the very volcanic mountains lying to the north, the Old Town shows a picturesque outline of grey roofs behind lofty Roman towers and battlements built in white and red stone. On the face of this ridge are the ruins of- the Armenian quarter, and below it, descending to the plateau, the New Town with the shopping streets, the Parliament House and Public Offices, these last being modern build- ings. All around a landscape so desolate as to possess a certain grandeur ; large stretches of treeless land and a great malarial swamp which the Turks are busy draining. As a contrast to this gloom, carefully tended fruit orchards and vegetable plots on the banks of the winding river, the only note of green in a brown and ochre picture. Angora is in short a typically eastern town, full of dirt, disease and squalor which Mustapha Kemal is determined to convert into a modern capital, a truly herculean task in view of the ingrained laziness and lethargy of the native, yet one that is by no means as hopeless as it seems. Under the impulsion of the Gazi's dynamic personality, the Turks are working with an energy and industry that upset all one's preconceived theories of their national character, and slow as is their rate of progress, it is at any rate .a real one, though the full measure of the Turkish achieveinent can only be fully appreciated by comparing present conditions with those prevailing a year ago.
There is still an enormous amount of work to be done. There are practically no roads (there being only two that are in good condition) the drainage and sanitary arrange ments are appallingly mediaeval ; the inhabitants are lodged in huts or wooden structures that would make Lord Weir's steel houses appear palatial, while the Water is so deadly in composition that even Mr. Passyfoot 4Ohnson would become a confirmed alcohol drinker after submitting to one experience of it.
SloWly" all these- deficiencies are being put right and the town is being given a more modern aspect. There is one good restaurant which is the rendezvous of the diplomatic world where you can get quite palatable roast meat-and some really excellent beer ; a few shops have been opened more pretentious than - the usual -eastern • booth or -general store at - which you can buy anything from- a water melon or aubergine to* jewellery -; and - electricity has* been installed-L---this a .godsend if you are out at night, since it at least enables yOu to acOid- the Many large ruts that Meet* you on your way: 911 this has been done and far more would follow if there were not so many obstacles in the way of the reformers. There is in the first place a scarcity of capital so pro- nounced that when the officials*. have - been paid and the most necessary services enabled—to run, there is little left to carry on. I saw innumerable plans which Kemal- had drawn up for the embellishment of his city,-. plani for new railways and new roads, new schools and new houses, but the greater part of these enterprises.- were being .held. up for lack of funds--even -the new hotel. Most of the capital available, in fact, is being expended on the new residential .quarter which is being built at TchaiikaYa to' htitise the Embassies and high officials of the Republic, or on • the Presidential Firm which Kenial is having eeaistrueted---some- three --miles -outside the Old Town.
had the goad fortune-to visit the -Farm and found it thoroughly up to date, with tractors and agricultural Machinery of the latest German and French • type, and model dairies, barns and stables • equipped with every convenience. I was also shown various breeds of cattle, mostly, Swiss and. Hungarian, and numerous, beehives- from which the famous Angora honey is extracted, as well as extensive nurseries of fruit and pine trees which Kemal Pasha has had planted on the other side of his villa. Like Cincinnati's, the -Turkish Dictator adores the countryside and recognizes that his countrymen can succeed only as agriculturists. .
In spite of the dirt. and squalor Angora impresses by Virtue of the contrasts that it presents, and the new spirit that is noticeable among the Turkish officials whom Kemal has transported, en bloc from. the amenities of Constantinople. So perfect is their discipline and exemplary their self-abnegation, moreover, that though most of them haVe to endure discomfort and even hard- ships that are extremely distasteful, they are content to live and work here, for the supreme object of constituting a real Turkish nation free from the influence of foreigner or Levantine. They have done this, I am convinced, from a sincerely patriotic motive, and they are equally resolved to persevere, as they believe that, appalling as are the present conditions, they are improving every day and will ultimately be as satisfactory as those of any other town. A Hungarian who has known the Turks* for over forty years told me he had never seen such energy and industry as they are displaying at Angora, and judging from the hours which the officials now devote to work, I should say that few English civil servants work as hard. How much of it is wasted effort I cannot say, but as a Turk remarked there is so little in the way of amusement in the town that it is no wonder people turn to work out of sheer boredom.
For the present reconstruction is not proceeding as fast as desired. There is a dearth of builders and stone Masons and no money to continue the work - that has already begun: * Consequently. the eity*preSents the most unfinished aspect, modernity and mediievalism ever elbowing one another in spite of strenuous efforts to hustle the population into adopting modem methods and even a new headgear.
How the* Turkish non-official elements regard the many innovations that their progressive leaders continue to thrust upon them is difficult to estimate, but judging from appearance I would say that they are only accepting them under compulsion ; in fact that the great Majority of the peasant smallrholders who visit Angora regard -them with- the greatest - possible-disfavour. , The chief -impression of my visit -to Angora =is of a powerful will struggling against enormous '-difficulties', and of a new Spirit in.the Turkish. rilingclass that-should spell success, if the Powers realize their share of respon- sibility in the tragedy* that resulted lion" putting the -Greeks in Anatolia, and if the Turks themselves. do not make it -too difficult for the foreigner to invest capital. Without these two factors the Turkish effort to struggle out of the present difficultieS must be an un-hill one, - . DUDLEY REATIICOTE.
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