In addition to the regular military forces mentioned above there are large forces of gendarmerie, necessitated by the many subject races and turbulent elements within the empire. This force amounts to about 60,000 men, of whom about 16,000 are mounted. It is distrib uted throughout the empire and during the Great War the bulk of this force performed army duties, being replaced by territorial forces. The Turkish infantry is armed with the 7.65 millimeter Mauser magazine rifle, model of 1890. The artillery possesses about 110 quick fire field and horse batteries of 7.5 centimeter Krupp batteries. The mountain artillery has 22 batteries of the same size Krupps and 27 Schneider quick-fire batteries.
After 1909 the Turkish army was reorgan ized under direction of a German military mis sion, whose head was Field Marshal von der Goltz. The mission consisted of about 20 offi cers. Four years later the scheme was ampli fied and the mission expanded to 40 officers. Marshal Fiman von Sanders and his suite took charge in January 1914. For the history of the Turkish campaigns see WAR, EUROPEAN.
The only ships of real value as naval vessels are the Torgut Reis of 9,876 tons and armed with six 11-inch guns, fitted with en gines developing 10,000 horse power and capable of steaming 16 knots; the Sultan Selim, battle cruiser, formerly the German .Goeben (see GOEBEN AND BRESLAU) of 22,640 tons, armed with 10 11-inch guns and 12 six-inch guns and four torpedo tubes, engines of 70,000 horse power and having a speed of 27 knots; the cruiser Hamidieh of 3,800 tons, armed with two six-inch and eight 4.7-inch guns, engines of 12,500 horse power and with a speed of 22 knots. In addition there are about 20 gun boats and vessels, one-half of them being mod ern, nine destroyers and six torpedo boats, with some transports and a considerable number of auxiliary vessels and motor boats. A sub marine flotilla was brought into being during the Great War. Under the terms. of the armistice concluded 30 Oct. 1918 all Turkish ships and vessels of war were surrendered on 5 November to the Entente powers. The ves sels lay at the Golden Horn, except the Sultan Selim (ex-Goeben), which was at Stenia, in the Bosporus.
Religion.— Mohammedanism is the officially established and recognized religion, but other forms of worship are tolerated. Among these non-Mohammedan native communities or °Millets" which are recognized by the Turkish government are Latins or Catholics. Orthodox Greeks, Armenians, Armenian Catholics, Chal dean Catholics, Protestants, Nestorians, Syrian Catholics, Syrian Jacobites, Melchites, Jews, Bulgarian Catholics and Maronites. All these may possess their own ecclesiastical rule and their spiritual heads have a high place in the civil community. The sultan as caliph is supreme head of the Moslems. The chief ecclesiastical dignitary is the Sheikh-ul-Islam, but his functions are judicial and legal rather than spiritual. He is a member of the Cabinet.
There is no priesthood in Mohammedan Turkey in the strict sense of the term. The Ulema, however, or persons connected in one way or another with the official ministrations of Islam, form a separate class. The principal charges in connection with mosques, theological schools, etc., are to a large extent hereditary. The number of mosques in the empire as it was in 1914 is computed at 2,120, of which 379 were in Constantinople and many others in territory now torn from the empire. The num ber of the clergy was 11,600. Connected with the mosques are 1,780 elementary schools, where education is supplied gratis. The temporalities of the Church are controlled by the Ministry of Pious Foundations (Evkaf), which has a separate budget of its own. The revenue of the Evkaf is derived chiefly from charges on and reversionary interests in real property which has at one time or another been made the sub ject of consecration to religious purposes, and which is known as Vakuf. The department of the Sheikh-ul-Islam is not provided for in the budget, but in that of the state. Moslems form 92 per cent of the whole population; Christians about 7 per cent and Jews the remainder.
Education.— Elementary education is nomi nally obligatory for all children of both sexes. A law of 6 Oct. 1913 provided that children from 7 to 16 should receive primary instruction either in state schools, schools maintained by religious communities, private schools or, sub ject to certain tests, at home. State schools are under the direct control of the Minister of Public Instruction. Community schools also are inspected by the Ministry. There are several religious foundations which maintain theological seminaries. There are also inter mediate or secondary schools for boys from 11 to 16 years of age, and similar institutions for girls were inaugurated in 1918-19. Five such schools for girls in Constantinople have 2,000 pupils. Aleppo has 710 Moslem, 250 Christian, and 30 Jewish, with 19,000, 8,000 and 2,000 pupils respectively. In all 36,230 schools were enumerated in 1918 with 1,331,200 pupils. There arc training schools for teachers but the standard is low. French, English, German and American missionaries maintain sectarian schools. A university was founded at Con stantinople in 1900. It was reorganized in 1918. There are five faculties, arts, theology, law, medicine and science. The faculty of medicine and the Military Medical School occupy a modern bililding at Scutari. Other schools of higher learning are the Imperial Art School, the Greek Great National School, with 400 students, and the Greek Theological Seminary with an average of 80 students.