Hidden Brotherhoods of Central Asia

Prince Sabahaddin

The proposed guest was a man whom he had not seen since 1912, but whom he regarded as unusually interesting. He mentioned the name, which I could not catch over the telephone, and said that he had recently come to Turkey from the Caspian region.

I learned that the name of the guest was Gurdjieff, and that the Prince had first met him by chance when he was returning from Europe to Turkey after the Young Turk revolution of 1908. He had met Gurdjieff only three or four times, but knew that he belonged to a group of occultists and explorers with whom he had travelled far and wide. The Prince regarded him as one of the very few men who had been able to penetrate into the hidden brotherhoods of Central Asia, and had always profited by the talks they had had together. He could not, or would not, tell me any more.

J.G. Bennett - Witness p.55