Turkey

For the signing of the National Pact and the establishment of the Turkish Republic see the section HISTORY. The existing Grand National Assembly has now been put on an electoral basis and there have been two general elections in Turkey since 1922. Deputies are elected by selected voters. There are what are called First Class Electors and Second Class Electors. The former class consist of those citizens who are not foreigners or undischarged bankrupts and who have not, by reason of service with foreign embassies or consulates acquired special privileges or rights. These electors elect voters of the second class who proceed to the election of the deputies. There are some 400 deputies in all and they are paid LT 360o per annum.

The sequel to the abolition of the Caliphate came on April loth 1928 when the Grand National Assembly in session at Angora unanimously approved of the proposal put forward by General Ismet Pasha, the Prime Minister, that certain articles of the Con stitution should be amended in order to separate religion from the State. In detail his proposal was that a new law should be substituted for Articles II, XVI, XXVI and XXXVIII of the Con stitution. These articles dealt with the form of oath taken by Deputies and the President. The new law makes the oath secular and so dissociates religion from State proceedings.

Local Government in Turkey is highly organised and of an cient standing. The country is divided into vilayets or provinces, kazas or counties, nohiyes or districts which contain smaller units of government in the Kassabas (towns) and villages. A vali is the chief administrative officer of a vilayet being appointed by the Minister of the Interior and representing directly the Grand National Assembly. The head of a kaza is a kaimakam, who is also appointed by the Minister of the Interior. The head of a nahiye, however, is a mudir and is appointed by the District Assembly. The vali has an administrative council to assist him.

There are both Provincial Assemblies of the vilayets and Dis trict Assemblies of the nahiyes. The Provincial Assembly meets once a year for a minimum of 15 days and a maximum of 4o, with the vali as its president. Delegates to this assembly are elected by kazas in the proportion of one delegate to 18,75o male or two for 31,25o. Above the latter figure delegates are elected one for each 12,50o males.

After the reorganisation made in 1923 there were 62 vilayets in Turkey-in-Europe and Turkey-in-Asia. Of these 62 vilayets 8 only were in Europe. The ancient system gave only 12 vilayets altogether for the whole of the Ottoman Empire. The reorganisa tion has therefore further decentralized the government even more than before.

One result of the Treaty of Lausanne was to establish from an international point of view the regime of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. Article 23 of the Treaty of Lausanne lays down the "principle of freedom of transit and navigation (by sea and by air) in time of peace as well as in time of war." The fullest facilities are to be given to the shipping and the aeroplanes of all nations in time of peace. In time of war, if Turkey is a neutral, the rights of international shipping are still considerable and if Turkey is a belligerent the Straits shall still be free for all neutral shipping, the right of search shall be kept by Turkey. No fortifications other than those requisite for local protection of shipping shall be allowed and all the forts of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles are dismantled. A permanent Allied Commission of the Straits sits at Constantinople.

Education.

The bulk of the population of Turkey is still illiterate. Recent estimates give only 15% as educated and able to write. The problems that face the present government are therefore pressing. The law of 1929 which introduced Latin characters as compulsory in the place of the old Arabic is not so gigantic an educational problem as it would appear in larger and more educated countries. Angora is to control the whole educa tional system and its finance.

Under Article 87 of the new constitution primary education is now obligatory on all who are Turkish by birth. Government schools correspond exactly to British elementary schools. In March 1924 a total of 490 medressehs (Church schools) were closed and the primary schools were opened. 19 secondary schools have also been established with 7,400 pupils and co-education is encouraged in both types of school. The number of primary schools is said to be 6,o00, with 430,000 pupils. There are also 23 training schools for teachers for commerce and agriculture, with 5,200 students.

Higher education is provided at technical schools, at the Law School of Angora and at the Stamboul University, which now occupies the offices originally built for the Ministry of War—the Seraiskerat. There are technical schools at Stamboul the Ecole des Arts et Métiers for mechanical training and instruction in carpentry; at San Stefano (for Agriculture) ; for Forestry at Buyukdere and for Viticulture at Erenkeui. At Haidar Pasha there is an excellent Veterinary School. The University of Stam boul has five Faculties—Law, Letters, Science, Medicine and Theology, and a reasonably high standard. There is also an Ecole Normale.