Daybreak in Turkey / Second Edition

by James L. Barton

This execution aroused the ambassadors of England, France, Russia, and Prussia, who united in a formal demand upon the sultan to abolish the death penalty for a change of religion. Hitherto, there had been full liberty to change any and all non-Moslem religions, and for any one to abandon the faith of his fathers and to embrace Islam, but the right had been denied to a Mohammedan to depart from that faith.

Under pressure brought to bear by the four named ambassadors, led by the British, the sultan on the twenty-first of March, 1844, gave a written pledge as follows: “The Sublime Porte engages to take effectual measures to prevent, henceforward, the persecution and putting to death of the Christian who is an apostate.” Two days later Abdul Medjid, in a conference with Sir Stratford, gave assurance “that henceforward neither shall Christianity be insulted in my dominions, nor shall Christians be in any way persecuted for their religion.” The giver of these pledges was not only the sultan of Turkey, but he was also the caliph of the Mohammedan world. The year 1844 is memorable in Turkey and among the Mohammedans for this record of concessions in the interests of religious liberty in Turkey, and for all races, including Moslems.

In 1847 the Protestants had no standing in the Turkish empire. Nominally they were under the protection of the patriarch at Constantinople, but in fact they were without protection since their formal excommunication from the Old Church in the previous year. When their separation had been made complete, it was necessary that some recognition be secured for them from the sultan himself in order that they might continue to live in the empire. Through the British ambassador negotiations were carried on which resulted in the issuance of a firman by the grand vizier declaring that “Christian subjects of the Ottoman government professing Protestantism shall constitute a separate community with all the rights and privileges belonging to others,” and that “no interference whatever be permitted in their temporal or spiritual concerns on the part of the patriarch, monks, or priests of other sects.” This Protestant charter of 1847, as it was called, covered all Protestants who should change from the ancient Churches, but seemed studiously to avoid giving recognition to the possibility of Moslems accepting Protestantism. This charter was not issued with the imperial authority of the sultan, but only under the ministerial authority of the Porte. It was, therefore, liable to appeal at any time by either the sovereign or any succeeding ministry. In November, 1850, the reigning sultan, Abdul Medjid, granted an imperial charter to the Protestants confirming their distinct organization as a civil community and guaranteeing them religious rights and privileges equal to those granted all other religious organizations.

This secured in perpetuum to the Protestants the right to choose their own political chief, to transact business, to worship, to marry, to bury, and to perform all the functions of a religious organization under imperial protection. This was the Magna Charta of Protestantism in Turkey, and is called “The Imperial Protestant Charter of 1850.” This was supplemented in 1853 by an imperial firman which was sent to all governors in the provinces, as well as to the head men of the Protestant communities, requiring that the charter of 1850 be strictly enforced. The above were issued in the interests of the Protestants alone.

Besides the written pledge of the sultan given to the ambassadors in 1844, there was no charter in Turkey insuring religious liberty to Mohammedans, except as the above mentioned Protestant charters admitted of such an interpretation. That was indefinite and, it was feared, did not guarantee safety to a Mohammedan who should change his faith. The European nations had demanded that the death penalty for Moslems upon changing their religion should be abolished.

In February, 1856, Sultan Medjid issued what is called the Magna Charta of religious liberty in Turkey. It is entitled the Hatti Sherif (Sacred Edict) or Hatti Humayoun (Imperial Edict). It was regarded at that time as guaranteeing full religious liberty to all Turkish subjects of every creed and faith. One sentence reads, “No subject of my empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion that he professes, nor shall he be in any way annoyed on this account. No one shall be compelled to change his religion.” Lord Stratford assumed in his correspondence with his government that hereafter no one was to be molested on account of his religion or punished “whatever form of faith he denies.”

This imperial charter was recognized by Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, through their representatives who met in Paris in the same year to form the Treaty of Paris, to which body it was communicated by “His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan” and as “emanating spontaneously from his own will.” However, it was clearly understood that no right was conceded to the above named Powers “to interfere either collectively or separately in the relations of His Majesty, the Sultan, with his subjects nor in the internal administration of his empire.” This left Turkey the only interpreter of the document, and as sovereign in the administration of her own internal affairs, including the actual granting of religious liberty.

The acts of government and the behavior of Turkish officials at that period gave the impression that the Porte meant to recognize and enforce the principles of religious liberty. Many Mohammedans began openly to purchase copies of the Turkish Bible and to examine the claims of Christianity. In September, 1857, officials of the government in Constantinople carefully examined a Turkish gentleman, Selim Effendi, and his wife, and gave a certificate that they had become Christians without compulsion, and that “it was the will of His Majesty, the Sultan, that every Ottoman subject, without exception, should enjoy entire religious freedom.” The spirit of inquiry spread and a converted Turk was employed as an evangelist in Constantinople and was unhindered in his labors among his countrymen.

In 1858 religious meetings were held with Turks and Koords in Eastern Turkey. In 1859 it was reported that the Turkish governors of Sivas, Diarbekr, and Cæsarea, after considering cases of the conversion of Moslems to Christianity, declared publicly that a Mohammedan who became a Christian would not be molested. In 1860 cases were reported from the Taurus Mountains of converted Moslems, and of others who were attendant upon Christian services. One of these was a member of the governor’s council. In the vicinity of Aintab, at that time, some thirty Mohammedans were in attendance upon Christian services at one outstation. There were conversions of Turks reported at Diarbekr, Harpoot, and Cæsarea, followed by baptism, and without disturbance.

Up to 1860 fifteen Moslem converts had been baptized at Constantinople. One of these was a Turkish imam or preacher. In an examination before the Minister of War this imam declared that there were forty Turks in the city who believed as he did. This spirit of inquiry was wide-spread and continued until 1864. There was no doubt that Christian ideals were spreading rapidly among the Turks, and it is thought that the government formed the opinion that a considerable number of Mohammedans were desirous of reforming their own faith. Sultan Abdul Aziz became suspicious and fearful, and set spies to watch the missionaries. On a Sunday morning in Pera, Constantinople, Selim Effendi, a Turkish evangelist, and some twenty Turks were arrested as they emerged from their places of worship and were cast into prison. Without trial some of these men were sent into exile.