TENSION EASED

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21986, 9 January 1937, Page 13

TENSION EASED

TURKISH THREAT TO FRANCE BOTH SIDES WILLING TO NEGOTIATE I MOBILISATION OF TROOPS REPORTED EARLIER (UNITED PEBSS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Received January 8, 8.30 p.m.) PARIS, January 7. An important meeting to-night between M. Pierre Vienot (Under-Sec-retary for Foreign Affairs) and Bay Fuad (the Turkish Ambassador) is believed to have eased the tension between the two countries over Alexandretta and Antioch. Both sides indicated their willingness to negotiate in a friendly atmosphere. An earlier message said: It is reported that Turkey is mobilising her forces near the southern frontier. Official circles intimate that France will not tolerate Turkish action against Alexandretta or Antioch. It is stated that France has 30,000 white colonial troops in Syria, and the commander has been instructed to “resist any illegal movement.” Madame Tabouis, writing in the newspaper “L’Oeuvre,” declares that Turkey wishes to avoid at all costs the Italian occupation of Alexandretta, and that she has decided to push.,the matter to the extreme at a time when neither England nor France desires to be involved in the Eastern Mediterranean: According to a' message from Istanbul, Turkey is demanding' an immediate decision by the league, and no reference of the matter to the Permanent Court- of International Justice at/The Hague. It is declared that Turkey will withdraw from the league if the decision is not favourable to her.