An Observer in the Near East

by William Le Queux

The leader of the Bulgarian organisation for the protection of the defenceless people furnished me with a complete list of all the atrocities committed by the Greek bands during the past year, but it is so long and the details are so revolting that I do not feel justified in including it in these pages.

The Turk is indeed a strange product. He hopes always to persuade the foreigner into adopting his own views. More than once I was told in Constantinople that there had been no massacres in Macedonia this year, and that the country, especially in the vilayet of Monastir, was quite quiet!

General Tzontcheff in Macedonia.

The Turkish Burial-ground at Scutari, Asia Minor.

I went there, and discovered the exact opposite to be the case. In Constantinople also I was strongly persuaded, by interested persons, not to go to Macedonia; but I went, and I saw things that it was not intended that I should see.

I had travelled all through the Balkans in order to learn the real truth, and I did not intend to miss out Macedonia. Turkey, of course, makes capital out of the fact that the Vlachs, or Roumanian population, are between the devil and the deep sea. These unfortunate Macedo-Roumanians live under the cross fire of Greek and Bulgar, each of whom claims the right to save their souls. The Turks point—and perhaps justly—to this fact as one of the chief causes of the present disturbed state of Macedonia. The Turk pretends to be asleep, and to disregard the intrigues of the other Powers, but the fact is that he is very wide awake, and knows quite well that hostilities must break out at a very early date. Only he is misled by Germany, alarmed by a bogey put forward by Austria and Italy, and a little afraid, at times, of British protests.

There remains Roumania. Her attitude is a very serious consideration in discussing the immediate future of the Balkans.

In Bucharest I found that, although a Federation of the Balkan States would be welcomed, yet one fact is still remembered. In 1888, when the Bulgarians offered the crown of Bulgaria to King Charles of Roumania, as the first step towards a Federation, both Russia and Austria opposed it so strongly that the King was unable to accept. Roumania’s position towards Macedonia is now one of armed inactivity. Though the Macedo-Roumanians are slaughtered by the Greek bands, Roumania is compelled to stay her hand and offer no defence, because alone and unaided, her protest would be worse than useless.