ABDUL'S CHAMPION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 187, 9 August 1922, Page 5

ABDUL'S CHAMPION.

■ "THE TTNKINDEST XV T." TOWNSHEND'S »AL JOHNNY. LONDON, August 1. General Townshend, speaking at Angora, said, according to the correspondent of the "Weekly Dispatch at Constantinople: "I'm proud to be the champion of the Turkish cause in the House of Commons. "Pro-Turk opinions are gaining strength daily, and people to England do not believe the charges of Kemalist atrocities against Christians. "I have lived long enough in Turkey to know the people well, and consequently attach no importance to such tales. General Townshend has telegraphed to the London "Daily Mail" from Asia Minor the following statement with reference to the allegation made in the House of Commons that he had broken his pledge not to visit Turkey:— "In my statement made on May 8 I said: 'It is not my present intention to visit Turkey"—see my speech in the House of Commons of May 30 (in which I dwelt on the vital necessity of stopping the conflict between the Greeks and the Turks, and on the need of British consideration of the Mohammedan Empire, asking why the Prime Minister did not see Mustapha Kemal at Genoa. "It clearly shows why I altered my mind, and that I intended to see Kemal Pasha. I was urged to do so by several members of the House of Commons, including the late Sir Henry Wilson. I consider it my bounden duty, in tbe cause of humanity and in the best and vital interests of "the Empire, to use my powerful influence with the Turks to stop this war, which is 6o unjust to them, and which, if not stopped at once, will break up Europe. "In spite of the personal opposition of Lord Curzon to mc, I have every hope, I repeat, of assisting to bring peace with the Turks as I did in 1918, to the immense advantage of England and France. I hope I may be pardoned if I succeed." General Tovrnshend's memory must be failing him. It is but six years since he surrendered the town of Kut-el-Amara to the Turks (on April 29, 1916), his force then consisting of 6000 Indian troops and 3000 British, chiefly Dorsets and Norfolks. The "Hero of Kut" seems to have forgotten that these unfortunate men, i many of them in a state of collapse from semi-starvation, were marched by their inhuman captors hundreds of mi'-v across the desert to the various prison camps. The British troops suffered badly enough, numbers dying on the road, but the Indian troops were treated like dogs, and the number who succumbed will never be known. Some idea of the extent of the British casualties in captivity may be gained from the record of the 2nd Norfolks. Ol this regiment 261 were taken prisonei when Kut fell, and only 78 survivors returned to Norwich after the conclusion of peace. General Townshend says: "I have live, long enough in Turkey to know the peoph well." Whatever time the General ha. spent in Turkey previous to the war his period of captivity was not as long as that of his men, and knowing no doubl that the testimony of the commandinc officer would tell in the world, the Turk; were careful to treat him with ever) courtesy and consideration. With th< rank, and file their methods were yen different.