Freedom to follow on Moslem ground one’s own habits and customs, and perform the rites and fulfil the duties of one’s own religion.
Right of foreigners to be judged by the ambassadors and consuls of their respective governments in suits both civil and criminal, between one another, and the obligation of the local authorities to render aid to the consul in enforcing his decision and judgment concerning the same.
Inviolability of foreigners’ domiciles and, in event of urgent necessity for arresting a delinquent, obligation of government officials not to enter the dwelling-place of a foreigner without having previously notified the ambassador or consul, and unless accompanied by him or his deputy.
These statements are sufficient to show that merchant, traveler, and missionary in Turkey are there as foreigners, and as such they and their domiciles are under foreign protection. They have the privilege of holding property and of buying and selling the same. Mission Boards and foreign companies, being foreign corporations, cannot hold property in the empire. All property real and personal is held in the name of an individual. Exception is made in the case of the schools which have a firman (imperial irade) or which have obtained formal recognition from the sultan, in which case the institution itself holds the property in its own name, being a recognized chartered institution.
It is well that the missionary and merchant have been and still are independent of the Turkish officials, for, with the ignorance of those in the interior and their readiness to play into the hands of every rival or persecuting agency, there would be constant liability to arrest, imprisonment, and even deportation. In spite of the extra-territorial laws, missionaries and merchants repeatedly have been put under arrest for imaginary charges, and otherwise officially annoyed. These difficulties have been met in quietness and overcome without loss of position or prestige. In no instance has a missionary been arrested for an actual crime or misdemeanor. The usual charge against them is that they are plotting against the government, and the officers make attempts to search their houses for documentary evidence and for arms. These various evidences of hostility have not seemed to strain the generally friendly relations existing between the missionaries and the local governments.
Perhaps it should be stated here that all foreign capital invested in the country is held in the same way and has the same foreign protection. This is true of all Catholic institutions, Russian churches, monasteries, and schools, German orphanages, and mercantile warehouses, English residences, and stores,—everything that belongs to foreigners representing foreign capital is under foreign protection.
At the same time it is recognized that the school, hospital, or church which occupies one of these foreign buildings is a foreign institution and as such has, according to the Turkish capitulations, special immunities and privileges. All dealings with the Turkish government, even to the present time, are based upon this supposition. This does not seem strange or unnatural to the Turkish government, which permits the English, German, French, Austrian, and other governments to have their own post-offices at Constantinople, Smyrna, and other ports, in which they sell only their own postage-stamps and conduct all the postal business they can procure.
Under treaty rights above quoted, every concession or privilege granted by the sultan to the schools, churches, hospitals, or institutions belonging to England, France, Russia, or any other country, belongs by right to American institutions. The fact that America was discriminated against in this respect for many years, and that American institutions were thus deprived of privileges and concessions which had been conceded to similar institutions of several European powers, is well known, both at Constantinople, and in the United States. Happily these matters have now been adjusted.
After seven years of negotiations, in 1907 the sultan finally conceded in a formal manner the same rights and privileges to American institutions in his dominion which had already been granted to similar institutions of France, Russia, Germany and other countries; but as yet in most cases this concession exists largely in form, while the actual enjoyment of the privileges is withheld. At the same time insuperable obstacles are thrown in the way of the purchase of real estate by Americans and they are even forbidden to improve property which they have already acquired. It is only by eternal vigilance that American interests in Turkey can be safeguarded.