Boris Akunin - Turkish Gambit

'I see you are p-perfectly enamoured with this man,' Erast Petrovich said, interrupting the general.

'You mean Midhat? Absolutely,' said Mizinov with a shrug. 'And I would be more than glad to see him at the head of the Russian government. But he is not a Russian; he is a Turk. And moreover, a Turk who takes his bearings from England. Our aspirations are directly opposed, which makes Midhat our enemy. And an extremely dangerous enemy he is. Europe dislikes and fears us, but it lauds Midhat to the heavens, especially since he gave Turkey a constitution. And now, Erast Petrovich, I must ask you to bear with me while I read you a long letter that Nikolai Pavlovich Gnatiev wrote to me last year. It will give you a clear picture of the enemy with whom we shall be dealing.'

The chief of gendarmes drew out of the folder several sheets of paper covered in the fine, regular handwriting of a clerk and began reading:

'Dear Lavrenty,

Events here where Allah watches over us in Istanbul are unfolding so rapidly that even I am unable to keep up with them, although, setting aside all false modesty, your humble servant has had his finger on the pulse of the Sick Man of Europe for no small number of years. Due in some measure to my own zealous efforts, that pulse was gradually fading away and promised soon to come to a complete stop, but since the month of May . . .

'He is talking about May of last year, 1876,' Mizinov felt it necessary to explain.

'. . . but since the month of May it has begun beating so frantically that any moment the Bosporus could burst its banks and the walls of Constantinople could crumble, leaving you with nothing on which to hang your shield.

'And all this due to the fact that in May Midhat-pasha made a triumphant return from exile to the capital of the mighty and incomparable Sultan Abdul-Aziz, Shadow of the Most High and Defender of the Faith, bringing with him his "eminence grise", the wily Anwar-effendi.

'On this occasion, Anwar was wiser and he took no risks, acting like both a European and an Oriental. He began in the European style: his agents began to frequent the dockyards, the arsenal and the mint -and the workers, who had not been paid their wages for a very long time, poured out into the streets. That was followed by a purely eastern ruse. On the 25th of May Midhat-pasha announced that the Prophet had visited him in a dream (verify that if you can!) and instructed His servant to save Turkey from ruin.

'Meanwhile my dear friend Abdul-Aziz, as usual, was sitting in his harem, delighting in the company of his favourite wife, the charming Mihri-khanum, who was due to give birth soon and was therefore acting very capriciously, demanding that her lord and master must be constantly at her side. In addition to her celestial beauty, this golden-haired, blue-eyed Circassian woman is also famed for having drained the sultan's treasury absolutely dry. During the last year alone she left more than ten million roubles in the French shops on Vera Avenue, and it is quite understandable that the people of Constantinople were, as the English would say, with their penchant for understatement, far from fond of her.

'Believe me, Lavrenty, there was nothing I could do to alter matters. I entreated, I threatened, I intrigued like a eunuch in the harem, but Abdul-Aziz was deaf and dumb. On the 29th of May there was a crowd of many thousands buzzing round the Dolmabahce Palace (an extremely ugly building in an eclectic European-Oriental style), but the Padishah did not even attempt to reassure his subjects - he locked himself into the female quarters of his residence, access to which is barred to me, and listened to Mihri-khanum playing Viennese waltzes on the forte-piano.

'Meanwhile Anwar was ensconced in the offices of the minister of war, where he was inclining that cautious and prudent gentleman to a change of political orientation. According to a report from one of my agents, who worked for the pasha as a cook (hence the specific tone of the report), the course of the epoch-making negotiations ran as follows. Anwar came to see the minister at precisely midday, and coffee and bread rolls were ordered. A quarter of an hour later His Excellency the minister was heard bellowing in indignation and his adjutants led Anwar out of his office and away to the guardroom. Then the pasha strode about his office on his own for half an hour and ate two plates of halva, of which he was extremely fond. After that he decided to interrogate the traitor in person and set out for the guardroom himself. At half past two the order was given to bring fruits and sweets. At a quarter to four, cognac and champagne. Some time between four and five, after taking coffee, the pasha and his guest left to see Midhat. According to the rumours, for his involvement in the conspiracy the minister was promised the position of grand vizier and a million pounds sterling from English patrons.

'Before the end of the day, the two main conspirators had reached an excellent understanding and the coup d'etat took place that very night. The fleet blockaded the palace from the seaward side, the commander of the metropolitan garrison replaced the guard with his own men, and the sultan, his mother and the pregnant Mihri-khanum were transported to the Feriie Palace by boat.

'Four days later the sultan attempted to trim his beard with a pair of nail scissors, but so clumsily that he cut the veins on both of his wrists and expired forthwith. The doctors from the European embassies, who were summoned to examine the body, unanimously declared that it was a case of suicide, since absolutely no signs of a struggle had been discovered on the dead man. In short, it was all played out as simply and elegantly as a good game of chess. Such is the style of Anwar-effendi.

'But that was merely the opening; next came the mid-game.

'Once he had played his part, the minister of war became a serious hindrance, for he had not the slightest inclination to introduce reforms and a constitution, and the only question that really interested him was when he would receive the million pounds that he had been promised by Anwar. In fact the minister of war began behaving as if he were the most important member of the government and never wearied of reminding people that it was he, and not Midhat, who had overthrown Abdul-Aziz.

'Anwar endeavoured to convince a certain gallant officer, who had served as the deceased sultan's adjutant, that the minister's claim was true. The officer in question was called Hasan-bei, the brother of the beautiful Mihri-khanum. He enjoyed quite remarkable popularity among the sultry temptresses at court, since he was very handsome and dashing and he performed Italian arias with superlative flair. Everybody referred to Hasan-bei simply as "the Circassian".

'Several days after Abdul-Aziz trimmed his beard in such a clumsy fashion, the inconsolable Mihri-khanum gave birth to a dead child and died in great torment. And that was the precise moment at which Anwar and the Circassian become bosom friends. On one occasion, when Hasan-bei entered Anwar's residence to pay him a visit, his friend was not at home, but the ministers had gathered at the pasha's house for a meeting. The Circassian was a familiar face in the house and nobody questioned his presence. He drank coffee with the adjutants, had a smoke and chatted about this and that. Then he strolled slowly along the corridor and suddenly burst into the hall where the meeting was taking place. Hasan-bei did not touch Midhat and the other dignitaries, but he fired two bullets from his revolver into the chest of the minister of war, and then finished the old man off with his yataghan. The more judicious ministers took to their heels, and only two decided to be heroic. Their attempt was ill-advised, for the raging Hasan-bei killed one of them on the spot and seriously wounded the other. At this point the bold Midhat-pasha returned with two of his adjutants. Hasan-bei shot them both dead, but once again he left Midhat-pasha himself untouched. The killer was eventually captured and bound, but only after he had killed one police officer and wounded seven soldiers. And all this time our friend Anwar was praying devoutly in the mosque, a fact confirmed by numerous witnesses.