They will not yet set up a Republic, as we understand the word. No nation on earth has less capacity or inclination for Bolshevism. There could never be any common chord between their faith and the principles of Lenin and Trotsky. One hears so much of the Red influence behind Nationalist demands that it is well to meet these men in their own houses (truly “in labour” for a Nation’s birth) to see and know that such accusations are absolutely false. Soviet Russia has been a “friend in need” to the Turks, and may befriend them again; but—nothing more.
The overpowering magnificence of the Bolshevik Embassy may be a measure of their designs, but carries no proof of achievement. When personages like Fethi Bey and Rauf Bey are working in tiny offices no better than glorified barns, one does not, of course, like to see the Soviets in possession of the only large and well-appointed building in the town. There is a staff of seventy, including an army of typists. The attachés are well supplied with cars, carriages, and other Western luxuries, paying their bills with gold Russian roubles.
They are allowed to distribute Red literature, though no one in Turkey thinks of reading it. When the Russians once sent a few Turks to Angora to preach Bolshevism, they were promptly shot by the Nationalist Government, pour encourager les autres! That was the end of Bolshevist propaganda!
I asked one of the deputies what Turkey thought she had gained from the Bolshevists. “When any foreign representative visits a country as friendless as Turkey,” he replied, “and says: ‘We thoroughly approve of all your ideas and principles; we want to show the world that we believe in the doctrines of freedom and independence that you are preaching,’ should we turn away from the only sympathy we received?
“Besides, we had many frontiers to defend; at least by shaking hands with the Soviet we secured one frontier. I know that this simple act of grateful friendship has been much discussed and severely criticised in Europe. It may have done us great harm; but beggars cannot be choosers. Who else stretched out a hand of friendship?”
“And gold and arms?” I inquired. “Forgive my indiscretion.”
“A very little gold,” he replied, “not a penny more than two million Turkish pounds. We had arms from all nations, no more from Russia than from Czecho-Slovakia. It will surprise you to know that most of them were bought from England and Greece.”
“But where could you get the money?” I next inquired.
“From our Anatolian population. In no other country, would the people have accepted such heavy taxation upon their lands, their cattle, and their corn. No other country has been driven to resist the whole world in defence of her very existence. Our taxes must have reached 75 per cent. So you see that if Europe does not care to help us, we can manage for ourselves, and waste no tears over her in difference.”