KHALIF EXPELLED FROM CONSTANTINOPLE.

2 A.M. DEPOSITION.

CONDUCTED TO FRONTIER.

As was started in the later editions of The Daily Telegraph yesterday, the Angora Assembly, by an overwhelming majority, passed on Monday the bills for the abolition of the Khalifate, the expulsion of the Khalifal family, and the confiscation of their property. The measures dealing with the future control of religious affairs, the “Evkaf” (Pious Foundations), theological schools, &c., were also adopted.

Under the new law the Khalif and his family were allowed ten days in which to leave, the country. But the deposed Padishah has not, in practice, even been accorded this short delay and has already been compelled to quit Turkish territory.

Telegraphing from Constantinople yesterday, Reuter’s correspondent says: “At two o’clock this morning the Vali of Constantinople and the Director-general of Public Security, accompanied by police, proceeded to the Dolma Baghche Palace, where they ordered the Khalif to seat himself upon the throne, whereupon the decree ordering his deposition was read. The Khalif was then ordered to descend from the throne and make arrangements for his immediate departure. An hour later, accompanied by two wives and his son, he was conveyed by motor-car to Chatalja, on the frontier, where a special train was in readiness for his departure.”

Another Reuter telegram says that the Khalif’s destination is Switzerland.

CURIOUS REVELATIONS.

Although the expulsion of the present Khalif and his family had been expected for a short time past, the manner in which they are being, as it were, bundled out of the country, after being stripped of their main possessions, has taken even Turkish opinion by surprise. The true explanation, however, has at last leaked out. It is that President Mustapha Kemal Pasha has decided to antedate his proposed triumphal tour through Eastern Thrace, via Constantinople, and intends to set out before the end of the present month. But he could hardly have visited the old capital, if the Khalif had still been there. Indeed, it has always been less the fear of a murderous attempt on his life by religious or political fanatics than abhorrence of the idea of having to pay his respects to the Khalif that until now has accounted for the Angora dictator’s refusal to journey to Constantinople. The mere suggestion of any other sovereign Power than his own has long been intolerable to Kemal.

Surprise has also been caused, at any rate outside Angora, by the suppression of the Khalifate as an institution. When the Sultanate was suppressed and the Indian Moslem leaders remonstrated with Angora on the abolition of the temporal powers of the Khalif, they were assured that this abolition would only be temporary. Angora is capable of inventing a similar lie in the case of the abolition of the Khalifate if Indian Moslem indignation should prove louder and more persistent than is anticipated. But the Indian Moslem leaders and any deputation they may propose to send to Angora will be on their guard this time. They should not be hoodwinked a second time.

Apparently the Kemalist authorities intend to follow the example set by the Bolsheviks in the proposed seizure of holy objects. How far the foreign bondholders of the Ottoman Debt will really benefit by the confiscation of the Khalifal treasures remains to be seen.

The recent anti-khalifal campaign in the Turkish Press, inspired with a view to discrediting the Khalif and his relatives, was supplemented by strange charges or threats of prosecution brought against them by the Government police. A trumped-up case of this nature actually reached the courts, but was summarily dismissed.

Meanwhile 200 officers of the former Imperial army who continued faithfully to serve the ex-sultan and the Cabinet of Prince Damad Ferid in 1920 have been definitely cashiered by Angora.

FATE OF THE PATRIARCHATE,

The Greek Orthodox clergy and population at Constantinople are once more a prey to anxiety concerning the fate of their Patriarchate, now that the Khalifate has been done away with. There are already ominous symptoms. The Turkish police only the other day raided both the printing press and the cellars of the Patriarchate. They claim to have discovered in the former a Greek so-called “Black Book,” describing in French and Greek the events of the Armistice period. This chronicle, according to the Chauvinists, shows the treasonable conspiracy against the Turkish State hatched by the Patriarchate, it is true, not under the present Patriarch, but under his predecessor, Mgr. Meletios. The police also claim to have found hidden away in the cellars a huge and richly embroidered Byzantine flag presented to Mgr. Meletios by a Greek millionaire, adding that this flag was destined to be hoisted over the Great Mosque of St. Sophia on the occasion of the intended entry of the Greek army into Constantinople. It is not difficult to imagine the use to which Angora might turn such stories as these. The present Patriarch, Mgr. Gregorios, has had to appeal to the police for protection against the violence threatened by the unfrocked priest, Papa Ephtim, and his hirelings. Will he obtain it?

The Bank of Athens Constantinople branch, which was closed by the Turkish authorities a short while back, is to be reopened for the purpose of liquidation under the control of a Special Commission. The money and precious objects on deposit belonging to Christians – most of whom have left the capital – are earmarked for compensation to Turkish depositors.

LIVELY DISCUSSION. CONSTANTINOPLE, Monday Night.

The Assembly approved without discussion the bills with regard to the suppression of the Commissariats of Pious Foundations and Religious Affairs and the Chief of the General Staff. The bill concerning the Khalifate, however, aroused a lively discussion consequent upon a proposal by Mustapha Kemal Pasha to exempt the ladies of the Khalifa! family from expulsion. The amendment was finally rejected.

The bill was voted integrally, the Vali of Constantinople being commissioned to attend to the execution of the prescription within ten days.

The Deputies for Gumush-haneh and Kastambol respectively spoke against the abolition of the Khalifate. The time was not yet ripe, they said, for a change, and the Assembly would do better to occupy itself with the load of work which still remained to be accomplished in the economic and financial domain. Both speakers were shouted down, but continued to speak after quiet had been restored. They contested the right of the Assembly to abolish the Khalifate, and accused the Assembly of inconstancy, remarking that decisions taken one day were abandoned the next.

A telegram from Angora states that it is proposed to appoint immediately several independent tribunals with unlimited powers, even including the death sentence, the jurisdiction of which will extend to Constantinople itself. – Reuter.