THE FALL OF BAGHDAD.

Bruce Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 43, 4 June 1917, Page 3

THE FALL OF BAGHDAD.

EFFECT IN THE EAST. From a distinguished authority on the Middle and Near East Reuter has received the following views on the effect of the fall of Baghdad: The capture of Baghdad will have a resounding echo not only among the Arabs of Mesopotamia, the Hedjaz, and Eastern Syria, but also in Persia, Afghanistan, and the adjoining regionsof Central Asia, if not further afield. The surrender of Kut last year was the main item of Turco-German propaganda in Abyssinia to convince the ex-Emperor Lid j Yasu that the Crescent had conquered the Cross. The ex-Emperor of Abyssinia in consequence became a Mahommedan under Turco-German auspices and headed an anti-Entente movement, which has not yet been entirely suppressed. To the Persians the taking of Baghdad will be especially welcome, as an omen that Kerbela and Nejef will soon be freed from the heavy hand of the Turk, who last year desecrated their holy places containing the shrines of Hussein and Ali.

To the King of the Hedjaz, now the Ally of the Entente, the extinction of Turkish misrule in Baghdad will be gratifying and heartening in this struggle for Arab freedom from the Ottoman yoke. But great as will bo the echo in tho East of the fall of Baghdad, its depressing effect in Berlin and among the Germanophile rulers of Constantinople will be even more considerable. In Bulgaria, too, the event will not be without an echo.