GALLIPOLI AND GREECE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 34, 3 November 1917, Page 7

GALLIPOLI AND GREECE

THE BETRAYAL OF 1915

AMAZING REVELATIONS BY '.',.,' .'VENIZELOS,'-..-:

• f v Til. Venizelos's 6peech, luiimarlßed below, throwß a'new liclxt on the hi* • .wry,, of the.. Dardanelles expedition. , - At one time Xing .Constantino c0n- .... tented to. send. an. army corps, to Gallipbli, and th,e Turks had already began the ovacuation of Constantinople, -• which-was at that time defenceless. • -Another passage tells that the offer of the cession of Cyprus was refused by his successor. Sir Edward Grey, it will .-• be remoinb'ered, announced on October ":26, 1915,- that it had lapsed- because • ■ Greece, not- bavin? helped Serbia, had ■ not■■• fulfilled the conditions on which - iV was made. M. Vcnizeloß also shows . how disastrous were the effects of the . betrayal of Serbia, and the consequent ■ entry of Bulgaria into the war.- A ■ -.: Greek army, he says, could .have been - - m Sofia in a month,] • : v -M-,!- Venizelos, . after slating that his ' '.iirst declaration in-favour- of the Entente ! was made- during the Battle of- the .Jlarne, said:.. "The first result was" that j Ureal Britain declared to me that the ..'British Fleet would not allow the Turki ish Fleet to leave the Dardanelles even ! if Turkey decided to attack Greece." ; M. .Venizelos then.. referred to (lie offered cession of Cyprus, which, ,ho •said, was refused by his successors, and' ,; continued:'"The King of England thank- .' «d King Constantino for the readiness of {frecco to place herself on the side of . .j'tlie Entente, ami (lie British Admiralty ."ordered Admiral Kerr'to'make arrangements with our "naval staff in order to prepare. an eventual plan of attack tgaihst Gallipoli. Admiral Kerr received the following reply from the Kins, 'who had changed his mind: 'Why all .this? 'I-see'no reason to make war. against Turkey!' The King," M. Vcni- : izelos added, "spoke to me regarding this. U did hot'then"know the existence of

'the telegram which the King sent to Wife German Emperor through the inter'.niediary of Jf. Streit, Minister-of For- ' 'eigri Affairs,- declaring that in no case jwouluThe-King ranks war on Germany's tallies unless they- attacked Greece. ■i- M. Venizelos, proceeding, said:—"When •|3 learnt that an attack .upon the Dardanelles, was in preparation I-asked for /the mobilisation of an army corps. . This '.'.project, however, and: this policy were -Jopposed--by the Headquarters Staff, ./which went against. my policy not on (military grounds, affirming that- we had 'nothing to do with Asia Minor. I must 'avow that King Constantine, although'he |Was against the Dardanelles enterprise, 'was somewhat shaken, when he read my 'third memorandum, which unfortunately cannot yet be published, .containing all the military arguments in favour of our 'taking part.in it. I must avow that it iwas seldom that the King, when we were fin conversation together, did not give way Jto. my arguments. On this occasion also, .lafter.reading my memorandum, the King ;'.waid to me, with great emotion, 'So be it itlien, for tho love of God/ That meant fthat the King gave his approval." Tho. ,|Recond Crown Council was then held at .f&L Venizelos's request, and after it hnd ijnet .everyone believed tb'at Greece would depart from her neutrality,,and that 11. ;3lallis. bad urged.the King to . venture ■ lrnon this step...

How Constantinople was Lost. •' Dealing with the claim of 11. Goimaris imd his colleagues to have saved Greece (from the destruction which then threatened her, M. Venizelos oited the passage 'in the report of the British Eoyal Com,'mission in which it is stated that within la fortnight of its mobilisation the Greek [division would have found itself on the Wallipoli peninsula, which was then undefended, for the defence works at Gallipoli were not commenced until a month Sater.. Within another fortnight the Greek troops would have entered Constantinople, whioh the Turks had already •decided to evacuate. "That," exclaimed M. Venizelos, "is what would have hap- ' peited.if we-had intervened in February, 1913. morning the Greek Army MU'.d have landed at Gallinoli, which firas defended by only 6000 Turkish sol-, 'idiers scatt'ered : "in 'different .fortresses."

' Jf.• .Venizelos. Tead- out at this .point a rwimber'of 'dispatches from the-Greek rejjtiresetative at ■ Constantinople in confirmation of these statements, and dwelt on the effects which would bav'o followed raromUhe destruction of Turkey. He then pvehf'on'to explain the circumstances of entry into thn war. and tho [certainty felt at Sofia, in-spite of his Bulgaria had nothing to.' .wear/from Greece.

;' ' tri facilitating the intervention of ' j!Bu]garia into .the war," exclaimed 'M. pVenizelosj-witH emotion, "so- that she ijcpuld attack Serbia. I am entitled, speaking -from this .Tribune, to ' proclaim .solemnly that we betrayed by our action pot' merely our ally Serbia, but the vital interests •of Greece. We were working- . }for purely German 1 - interests.. ' The existence of a'powerful Serbia in the Balkans . [iVas a 'Creek asset which we shamefully '.threw away. - 'Was'-'th'js-'jolicy of'the ■Crown a. benevolent "policy' towards Serbia or was it a'policy of treason? .Task jagain what advantages were to be secured pov this infamy? ' WhJre are the thirty [.pieces of silver?.. Neither- advantages nor i pieces of silver'.were: the 'motive—the sole (motive was".TJeufechland'über Allies'; that was the sole motive of the Crown," M. Venizelos then proceeded to describe, how the mobilisation was/carried-[into-effect, revealing "the'aims'of King iConstantine and the line of polipy which flo. pursued. - "If we ' prevented' the '-•crnshing of-Serbia,"'he had said to the ts' n & -''within-30'.daTS-..we.should, get" to :;.Spfia;. in any 'case we should gpt to a .; point.beyond which the 'Aust'ro-Ger.man ■advance for technical reasons would be impossible." To ail these' arguments • the. King's only .reply continued to be, "I do not wish to intervene;.we shall be ■beaten by Germany."' Fih'allv, however ■ King Constantine gave his'consent to a ■request being made.to the Allies for the -.350,000 men which Greece was to have 'furnished to Serbia in accordance with the treaty..

M.; Venizelos had no sooner relinquish. Ed office than the King changed his mind, but the step had already been .-taken., and in.due. course the'franco. • British; droops landed at Salonika'; . The • Za'imis.. Cabinet did not nrotest' 'against ;the'..'Jandirig. .; "If .at'; this; point" I. did -ji.it become a.' ..revolutionary;" deMared M. Venizelos, "it was'because a civil war ttoiild have been provoked, and Bulgaria (would have profited by the occasion to invade' Greece." .

The vote of confidence in the Government, which was passed una.nimouslv Rafter the speech, reaffirmed "the sacred <naracter of Greece's 'obligations to Serbia," and .the-'determination'to sacrifice everything in the struggle for' liberty.