THE TURK AND THE WAR

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 57, 23 February 1918, Page 4

THE TURK AND THE WAR

Three developments in this week's j war news re-direct attention to the part Turkey is playing in the war—the renewal of the British advance in Palestine, the report that Turkish troops have appeared on the Western front, and the report that the Turks have re-en-tered Trebizond, the Black Sea port that the Grand Duke Nicholas captured in his brilliant campaign of 1916. The British advance in Palestine, after the capture of Jerusalem, and the repulse of the Turkish counter-attack at the end of December, was delayed by the rainy season. The line has now been pushed on several miles, and Jericho has been occupied, Jericho's appearance to-day is not at all in keeping with its historical fame, but it is a point of some importance on the right flank of an army advancing northwards. On the east of it is the Jordan, and a line of hills, and then there is the desert. Its occupation therefore was a necessary preliminary to the substantial advance Sir Edmund Allenby may have in view. . Tho country northwards is hilly, but not so difficult as that around Jerusalem, and, unlike that of Mesopotamia, the climate makes campaigning possible through the summer. Sir Edmund Allenby may hope to reach Damascus this summer, though that famous and important city is over a hundred miles north of our present liitc. In a letter written in December, a general officer in Mesopotamia, after saying he thought that there was little left | for the British to do in his part of the world, referred to Palestine as the centre- of interest. "I hope success will i continue to follow us in that direction until Damascus, which to the Turk is the most important place in that part of his Empire, has fallen into our hands. The capture of Damascus, in my judgment, would settle the fate of the Caucasus and Mesopotamia." We should say that if the British Government mean to try to push on to Damascus, it is largely because they hope that by so doing they will induce the Turks to make a separate peace. It is true that, apart from this consideration, such a campaign would help the Allies by keeping Turkish troops employed, but this could be done to almost the same extent by the threat of an offensive, and sea transport is very precious now, and large reserves of men and munitions are needed on the Western front.

The employment of Turks on the Western front will cause no surprise. Turkish troops have been used by the Germans against the Russians and Rumanians for some time. If Turkish officials grumble at Turkish divisions being sent to France when Bagdad remains in our hands, and Sir Edmund Allenby cannot be stopped in Palestine, the German Staff doubtless replies that the Western is the decisive theatre, that if Germany wins there decisively Turkey will get back all her lost territory without having to fight for it. The reported arrival of Turkish troops at Trebizond suggests that without a decision in the West Turkey may recover Armenia. There has been very little news from that theatre for some months. How far the Russian front has been demoralised by the anarchy following the revolution we cannot say. As recently as a couple of months ago the Russians were reported to have taken some trenches west of Trebizond, and if the Turks have reached the town, d*noralisation must have been recent and rapid. Unless recent reports of demoralisation among the Turks in Asia Minor, which country is said to be in a condition little better tban Russia, are correct, we may see all the territory the Grand Duke won in his 1916 campaign lost to the Turks, and Armenia again subjected to a blasting tyranny. The few Armenians remaining there after the hideous wholesale massacres of 1915 will be oppressed, and many of them murdered, and Germany, which did not lift a finger to protect them before, will not do any more now. Such may be the tragic irony resulting from a revolution in the name of liberty.