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 CHAPTER XXI

A TURKISH CABINET—THE THREE BEST-KNOWN MINISTERS—A CABINET OF YOUNG MEN

Unlike the European type to which we are accustomed, the Cabinet of the Assembly is almost exclusively composed of very young men, possessed, however, of the strong determination to serve their country.

Mustapha Kemal Pasha has great faith in youth, and his oldest minister is probably no more than forty-two. "Youth," he said, "makes mistakes that can be corrected; age and experience make the mistakes of routine." Fethi Bey, who is the chief's right hand, also believes in youth, and was himself a minister at thirty-two.

Here, again, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are independent, the one of the other. One may fall, while the other remains. I am inclined to think, on closer examination, that the Ministers are seldom entrusted with the initiative and responsibility which our Ministers, in theory at least, enjoy; although for them all criticism and supervision comes, as it were, from below. They might, perhaps, be best described as Heads of Departments, whose every action is open to all eyes in the Assembly, submitted to the keenest scrutiny, and freely discussed. Sometimes they seem able to keep their position after heated discussions and interpolations, but, on the other hand, they may fall in consequence of some detail which, with us, would pass unnoticed—such as the nomination of an unsatisfactory functionary. They are all, certainly, very able men; with extraordinary energy, enthusiasm, and devotion. Although not constituted as a formal Cabinet,