A Diplomat who had many years of Turkish experience, having been connected with one of the Embassies in Constantinople for over ten years, tells me that, during the last month, and especially after his marriage with the Sultan's niece, Enver Pasha has affected a sort of private Court, and surrounded himself with truly Imperial luxuries. Audience with him was more difficult than with the Sultan.
"Enver flatters himself to act independently," said my diplomatic friend. "He tries to play the great diplomat and the great captain, but really he is only a toy in the hands of Germany. He has reorganised the army and the navy with German officers, German arms, German money, and he seems to believe that he has been very clever and got very much for nothing. He does not realise that acting as he did has completely ruined his country, whatever the result of the war.
"I believe that Germany's plan is this: She hopes that Turkey, with her fleet reinforced by the two German warships, will obtain an initial success in the Black Sea. In this case she reckons on the Pan-Islamic feelings waking up all over the Mussulman world, which will mean serious trouble for England and France in North Africa, necessitating the withdrawal of a part of their troops from the principal theatre of operations.
"If Turkey does not succeed in her action against Russia, the latter will see her way open to Constantinople, and will probably not be able to resist the temptation of sending down a large part of her troops, and so press with less force on the Austro-German frontier.
"Moreover, Germany hopes that this will break the perfect accord which, up to the present, has lasted between the nations of the Entente. As you see, Turkey in the German plan is reduced to the modest proportion of the victim which will serve her in the matter of settling accounts at the end of the war."
To-day the general service decree issued three days ago takes effect, and the newspapers say that Turkey will be able to raise an army of over two and a half millions. The uniforms of the soldiers are extraordinarily like those of the Germans, the only difference being the substitution of the fez for the cap.
The troops look fit, and have brand-new uniforms and boots; the cavalry, which has been taken over from the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, possesses exceptionally fine horses.
But the weak spot of such troops lies in the officers; some of them, belonging to Asiatic families, are ignorant and hardly understand the use of modern arms or the systems of modern warfare; others, German-trained, have absorbed a large amount of the grimness of their instructors, and the soldiers have neither sympathy with nor confidence in them. The Turkish soldiers are said to be good fighters, but in all probability their fame still rests on the Crimean campaign. During the Tripoli and Balkan wars they proved to be less than mediocre soldiers.
These soldiers, who are going to fight an unknown enemy for a reason of which they are ignorant, are in Constantinople in great numbers, and every day new contingents arrive from the other side of the Bosphorus. They walk about Stamboul with a sort of surprised look in their black eyes. The officers prefer Pera and Galata, the European parts of Constantinople, and are mostly seen accompanied by Germans.
Pera offers really very little in the way of attractions just now.