DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0041
TURKISH VILLAGE LIFE IN ASIA MINOR 31
these lines are going through the press, the war
with Greece increases enormously the Mohammedan
reaction, and embitters relations between Christian
and Moslem. The expulsion and actual deporta-
tion of Greek subjects from Turkey, if it be carried
°ut completely, will produce a profound effect in
many ways. To take one single instance, many
°f the officials of middle rank on the Ottoman
Railway are Greek subjects ; and, if they be all
expelled, it will be difficult to run the trains on the
line.
In respect of religious feeling or intolerance
there is a marked contrast between the village
Turks and the city Turks. In the villages you
rarely see any signs of bigotry or of dislike to
Christians. The people seemed never to have the
slightest objection to my going freely about their
mosques ; and, when I asked whether I need take
off my shoes, they generally assured me that it was
quite unnecessary. For a small consideration, a
dollar or two, they will permit the archaeologist to
make an excavation beside the mosque, or to saw
away part of a plank in the floor, when an inscrip-
tion is concealed under the soil or the wooden
flooring. Naturally, there must be a certain deli-
cacy shown in the preliminaries; you find out who
is the man of most weight and influence in the
village, and talk to him privately; you make it
these lines are going through the press, the war
with Greece increases enormously the Mohammedan
reaction, and embitters relations between Christian
and Moslem. The expulsion and actual deporta-
tion of Greek subjects from Turkey, if it be carried
°ut completely, will produce a profound effect in
many ways. To take one single instance, many
°f the officials of middle rank on the Ottoman
Railway are Greek subjects ; and, if they be all
expelled, it will be difficult to run the trains on the
line.
In respect of religious feeling or intolerance
there is a marked contrast between the village
Turks and the city Turks. In the villages you
rarely see any signs of bigotry or of dislike to
Christians. The people seemed never to have the
slightest objection to my going freely about their
mosques ; and, when I asked whether I need take
off my shoes, they generally assured me that it was
quite unnecessary. For a small consideration, a
dollar or two, they will permit the archaeologist to
make an excavation beside the mosque, or to saw
away part of a plank in the floor, when an inscrip-
tion is concealed under the soil or the wooden
flooring. Naturally, there must be a certain deli-
cacy shown in the preliminaries; you find out who
is the man of most weight and influence in the
village, and talk to him privately; you make it