Turkey Running Wild.

New York Times 100 years ago today, February 1, 1913:
    The most ominous feature of the situation in the Near East is the menace of anarchy in Turkey. Practically that country has for the past four years been ruled, so far as it has been ruled at all, by a succession of groups of leaders who have gained or lost their power through military conspiracy. Three such changes have taken place within the last year. The rule of the army is not necessarily bad if the army is fairly agreed and leaders, or better, a leader can be thrown up, with sagacity, courage, and capacity to keep the army under control.
    No such leaders have appeared in Turkey, with the result that the Government which undertook the National defense against the Balkan allies went down helplessly and swiftly beneath an attack that a strong Government would have prevented or suppressed. There is no certainty that its successor is substantially stronger. Already there is dissension and probably revolt in the army, and with the army seriously rent the Young Turks will be almost equally powerless to make war or to make peace and preserve order afterward. If there is serious disturbance among the forces holding the Tchatalja lines, most of whom are from the Asiatic provinces, there is sure to be still more in those provinces. The case of the Shevket Government is so desperate that it looks as if peace must come from sheer dread of the anarchy that would follow a defeat around Constantinople. Should the Turks yield under pressure from the Powers, the Powers themselves would be forced to undertake the preservation of order and probably to back, the present Government as the one instrument at their command. This would be at best a most complex and difficult task and full of risks hard to foresee or to meet. But it is one that will surely face the Powers if they succeed in bringing about Balkan peace.