THE TURKISH SOLD'ER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3693, 30 November 1912, Page 10

THE TURKISH SOLD'ER.

FATALISTIC AND IMPASSIVE

An article published in a recent issue of the London “'Spectator’-’ from the pen of a writer who has found firsthand knowledge of his subject, throws s °me interesting light- on the character of the lurkish soldier. The Avriter says : —The Turk is a fatalist. Zones of fire have no thrilling significance for him. If lie is to be preserved, lie will be preserved: if he is to be killed, he Avill be killed, and in. that case will enjoy bis reward from Allah. The writer has seen Turkish reseiwists plodding and slouching across open country under a severe fire from entrenchments. It was a. hot day. Their coats hung from their backs, being carried, not worn. Some of them cn-ewed cigarettes as they advanced. Occasionally they -would stop to fire. Their boots were in a terrible state, some being tied on Avitli bandages. But the impressive thin w properly considered, was that the rate of the advance never varied. Possibly if there had been coA'er to run to it would have been different, though one doubts it. These sorry-looking, hungry felloAvs neither lagged nor hurried. They had had no pay for Aveeks. At the end of a long day’s marching and fighting they would eat bread and some oliA-es and drink some coffee, and .perhaps, tear, some mutton—always mutton —to pieces in their fingers. If only a. fatalist could also have dash and forethought-, surely there would be the world’s perfect soldier! The Turk has not got dash, and never will have- it. Swiftness and real military bearing Avill generally be able to overcome his terrifying courage. Was it not Napier Avho, in describing Albuera, said, “Then Avas seen with Avhat majesty the British soldier fights.” The Turk also fights with majesty, but it is a purely' passive majesty. His Avonderful military instinct will not suffice for the hard days that -lie before him, although since the ReA'olution his equipment has been enormously improved and his pay has been regular.

An incident which occurred in the experience of an English officer, illustrates the indifference of Turkish soldiers to bodily danger. It is possible that the story has appeared in print; if so, we trust that we* shall not spoil it, as we write from memory. The officer, accompanied by a guard of Turkish soldiers, somewhere in Turkish territory, went to the edge of a cliff by the sea and began to shoot at a seal. Far below him he saw the head of the seal bobbing up and down in the water as a seal’s head will. He had fired a.jjond many shots, and the last bullet had gone pretty near the mark, when one of the soldiers with him politely asked, “Do you not think, sir, that you have now fired often enough at Sargeant Yussuf ?” The seal was, indeed, the sergeant. The officer was horrified at what he had done. Certainly the black head of the bathing Yussuf, wet and glittering, had looked exactly like the head of a seal. He expressed his deep concern, but the soldiers did not seem particularly to apprehend what lie was concerned about. In any case, they assured him the sergeant would not mind. Presently the sergeant put on Iris clothes and, smiling, climbed up the track to the. top of the cliff. The officer apologised handsomely, blaming himself freely. But Yussuf, like his companions, did not seem to think there was much to he concerned about —after all, the mark had been very small, it was natural to fire at it, it was unlikely that the officer would hit it, and he (Yussuf) had not minded at all. That expresses the Turk’s attitude towards life. Life is a fight. Bullets come and go like rain, and do not matter very much more. The attitude was expressed again in the old Turkish custom of putting a round shot or a shell in a gun when a salute was fired. Blank shot was something inexpressive and inadequate. If the shell liit anyone, that could not be helped; at all events it was not worth worrying about. It is in keeping with the

leisureliness of the Turkish soldier that he should be consummate in all military plans which require sitting still. Put him behind fortifications, and any army in the world will be hard.put to to dislodge him. 'Osman’s defence of Plevna, to take .only one typical case, will be a page of shining renown in the history of a military people long after the'Turk lias been deprived of the opportunity to misgovern other people in Europe