THE LIGHT ON THE DARDANELLES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 36, 6 November 1917, Page 5

THE LIGHT ON THE DARDANELLES

SENSATIONAL STORIES BY A GERMAN

JOURNALIST

HOW VERY NEARLY WE DID IT

(By J. C. Segnte, in the "Daily Mail.")

Tho inner history of Turkey during tho preeont war has boon disclosKl in a remarkable book just written by Herr 11. Stuermer, a Gorman journalist who acted as tho special correspondent or tho "Kolnische Zoitung" in Constantinople during tho years 1915 and 1916, and tho spring of the present year. Shamed and disgusted by the Turkish massacres or the Armenians as far back aa tho summer of Inst year, ho tried for many succeeding months—down, indeed, to tho beginning of the present shut hie eyes to Gorman responsibility for these crimes, but his efforte-tho outcome of loyalty to tho Fatherland-failed. German guilt, not only for these massacres, but also for the wholesale corruption ot Turkey, could' no longer bo denied, and in April last, horrified by tho nnmerous crimp* which they had witnessed, Herr Stuermor and his wife fled from Constantinoplo into Switzerland. They.now live in exile in Geneva, that contre oi the world's refugees, and his book, "Two Tears of War in Constantinople, written in German, has just been published by a firm of Swiss publishers. His description of the struggle for Hie Dardanelles, based upon the observations '. of. an eye-witness who was in the confidence of the German Ambassador and the German and Turkish commanders, ehows how nenr success tho great liailipoli thrust Reached. He says that the fate-of Constantinople hung upon a hair, and proceeds: "The eeverar more warships on March 18 would have settled the fate of. Constantinople. The courageous fellows who wero serving the coast forts wero amazed when they saw that the attack had ceased. Dozens of German gunners who worked Uie Tchanokkoleh 0 batteries on thai memory able day told me later that they had reached the limit of enduranceand iethe archives and the fund, had already been removed to Eonia. Constantinople Puzzlerf. "It is curious that on a later occasion nlso-the first days of fate of Constantinople.hung upon °, hair. On this second occasion tho English, after considerable enforcements of troops had reached them, extended their attack from Ariburnu northwards to jSSarta, and after a most heroic aeeault the Anzacs had in fact occupied the St of Kodjadjemen Dagh wfoch abBolutely commanded tho whole GaUipoii peninsula and the comparably unp ofected back Dardanelles forts. Even today in Constantinople people do i.ot know why the British, troops could not follow up this achievement to final «?* cms The fact is that on this occasion ato archives and gold wry speed J transported into Asia, and-a German oflicer in the capital assured me that be had hired a window for his tailT»™ Grand Hue de Pera in order that ttat might witness the entry of the Allied troops. Whilst the Turks defended he city P of th« Caliphs at tjie door of he Dardanelles, the remaining; £•««"? capital, the' cosmopolitan Galata-Vwi. trembled at the weal and woe of tho struggling Allies, and lived hours of tremendous anxiety right through till tUe final solution was reached. , _ . "The possible attitude of Bulgaria played a great part in these norveraokinff calculations, not only on the 'Turkish, side, but among the hundreds of thousands of disloyal Ottoman subjects who throng tho Turkish capital. Tiie Turkish stand on Gallipoli threatened to collapse through lack of ammunition, fears were entertained that Bulgarm would join tbo Entente Powers, At the time aa interesting declaration from a hi"h Sofia source reached me Tegardiug the German efforts to win over Bulgnrm Everyone wondered at the seemingly little skill the German Minister at Soon, Dr. Michahelles, displayed. King Ferdinand certainly made great difficulties, and at an advanced Btn.?ov-of thw negotiations' said to the Prime Minister, lladnrslavoff, referring to the offered French loan: 'Leave me in peace with the tier' man Jews, but you take the good French money.' The Gorman Minister was removed from Sofia to a northern ]iost, and even well-informed Bulgarians thought his removal signified a punishment for his lack of tact, . "Ae a matter of fact, he had received Beeret instructions from Berlin to the effect that he should not do his best to win flie Bulgarians over. The Imperial German Chancellor, in fact, even then— during the great 1915 summer offensive against Russia—believed in the possibility of a separate peace with Russia, and he knew that Russia would refuse to lay down arras without punishing Bulgaria if that Power proved a traitor to the Slav cause by attacking Serbia. This oonSuleration ceased to prevail later, and' Bulgaria was induced to enter the war."

Corruption and Cruelty.

The account of German methods of corruption at Constantinople which Herr Stuermer gives makes revolting reading. He says that huge chests filled with gold to be distributed for propaganda purposes are oonstantly arriving at Constan. tinople from Berlin. The German Embassy is a source of money to hundreds of spies, corrupters, adventurers,_ and emissaries of all kinds and nationalities. The "News Bureau" attached to the German Embassy, he saya, issues thousands of pamphlets weekly, which are circulated throughout the Turkish Empire, and leading articles, news items, and photographs are offered to Turkish newspapers, accompanied by substantial cheques. Germany, he declares, buys the services of bankrupts, extortioners, slave dealers, and even of men who organise the sale of young Armenian and Serbian girls in tho market place. Through the agency of these creatures tho gospel of the Holy War" is propagated. Herr Stuermor deals at length with the economic sufferings of the Turkish populace, but says clearly that hunger "will never compel Turkey .to make a separate peace." At times of acute bread scarcity, he eays, dozens of people drop down dead in Constantinople from hunger, and ho often witnessed food riots in which Turkish women took a prominent part. Food prices even last spring were so astonishingly high that he often asked himself what the poor could find to eat. The desire for peace among all classes when he left was pathetic in its intensity, and discontent at German rulo steadily grows. His description of the Armenian massacres confirms all the details given in Lord Bryco's report on tho subject. He admits that German responsibility for them is very great. From the balcony of his flat in Constantinople he and his wife daily saw groups of ill-treated Armenians passing under police escort throu"h tho city. On one occasion Irau Stuermer was unable to walk out into the street because tho doorway was crowded with trembling, tortured Armenians who had escaped from the Turkish police. The sight of these Armenians, the knowledgei of Turkish cruelty and the fact that Germany was a passive participator in her nlly'a ■rimes, filled the German journalist with horror. "At that moment," ho says, I broko with Germany in iny soul.