File No. 3058/8.
Ambassador Leishman to the Secretary of State.
Constantinople, September 28, 1908.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the department instruction, No 417, of the 31st ultimo, inquiring as to the probability of a change in the attitude of the Turkish Government in matters of the assessment of personal taxes in Turkey against former Ottoman subjects and the emigration of their relatives, other than wives and minor children.
In reply I beg to say that while the establishment of constitutional government in Turkey removes the restrictions against free travel and renders it possible for everyone to emigrate or immigrate at pleasure, no change has taken place regarding the question of nationality; and until such time as the Ottoman law of 1869 may be amended, persons of Ottoman origin who have secured foreign naturalization contrary to the provisions of said act continue to be [Page 759] regarded as Ottoman subjects and liable for the personal taxes imposed by their parent government; these taxes, as the department is aware, being assessed through the Christian community to which the party belongs, and levied upon the non-Moslem population in lieu of military service.
It is quite within the range of possibilities, however, that the law under which the military tax (amounting to about $1.60 per head per annum) is assessed may be changed in the near future, as the program of the progressive party contemplates admitting all classes, irrespective of race or creed, into both army and navy.
I have, etc.,