Note 20 — Chapter II · BACKWARD TURKEY INVITES ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION

In Turkey all Mussulmans over 20 years of age were liable to military service for a period of 20 years, 4 of which were with the colors in the regular army. Residents in the outlying territories, notably the Arabs and the Kurds, constantly avoided military service and went unpunished because of the inability of the Government to send punitive expeditions into these regions. Railways would have produced satisfactory bases of operations for such expeditions and would have shortened their lines of communication. The Statesman’s Year Book, 1903, pp. 1168–1170.