The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1921. AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 244, 9 July 1921, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1921. AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION

The apparent collapse of tho Greek military effort in Asia Minor creates a situation which the Allies are bound to deal with promptly in some fashion unless they are content to see it go from bad to worse. It may be doubted, however, whether there is any serious danger of the Kemalist attack on Constantinople which has lieen mentioned as a possibility in the cablegrams of the last day -or two. ■ The Ismid Peninsula, from which the Greeks have retired, extends between the Blaek Sea- and Sea, of Marmora, and its extremity forms the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus. Obviously; therefore, Constantinople is' in some measure laid open to attack, but even from the purely military standpoint such an enterprise is unlikely to appeal to Mustapha Kemal and bis associates. Although the Allied occupying force is small, it is supported by warships and aircraft, which could render'it effective aid if the Kemalists attempted an advance to the Bosporus. Mr-. Winston Churchill, has said that such an attempt by the Kcmalists is unlikely owing to their lack of heavy artillery. Military considerations apart, . the course taken by . past negotiations, suggests that Mustapha Kemal and his followers would be playing their cards very badly if they set the Allies at defiance and endeavoured to seize Constantinople by force of arms. The really serious feature of the existing situation is that the additional prestige and influence Mustapha Kemal has gained bv bis successful campaign against the Greeks may add greatly to tho difficulty of working put.a settlement in Asia Minor which . will safeguard racial minorities and conduce to lasting peace. Even before the Greeks opened their illfated offensive it was obvious that Mustapha Kemal and the Nationalist Government ho has set up at Angora were the real centre of native power ’in Turkey, and that the authority exercised by the legal-ly-constituted Turkish Government at Constantinople was purely nominal. Now that the Greeks have failed to prove Mustapha Kemal “a mere man of straw,” only two obvious alternatives are open to the Allies. They must either reach a settlement with the Kemaiists by negotiation, or take up the military . task to which Greece has proved unequal. Since Mustapha Kemal is in a position to fall back upon trackless mountain fastnesses, which are familiar ground to his own troops, adoption of the second alternative would involve a costly and arduous campaign. It further complicates the situation that the Kemalists are in more or less friendly touch with the Russian Soviet Government, and no doubt could count upon it for military supplies if they found themselves engaged in a campaign against the Allies. In addition war with the Turkish Nationalists would be almost certain to occasion serious trouble amongst the Moslem population in India and other Asiatic countries.

Presumably in the new conditions created by the Greek military failure, the Allies will revert to the position they took tin when they received Greek and Turkish delegations at a conference held in London four months ago. witih a view to the revision of the Treaty of Sevres. The Turkish Nationalists, it may be remembered, sent their own delegates to the London conference, and these delegates took up an attitude which prompted at least one English newspaper to remind them that Turkey did not win the war. Having received and discussed the representations of hoth Greek and Turkish delegations, the Allies framed a set of proposals entailing a considerable modification of the provisions of the Treaty of Sevres. They stated that they would be prepared “in certain contingencies” to reconsider the expulsion of the Turks from Constantinople. . They proposed to reduce.the “demilitarised zone’’ —the area under international control —retaining in this category, however, the Gallipoli Peninsula and about fifty miles of the northern coast of the Sea of Marmora., the Asiatic coast of the Dardanelles, both shores of the Bosporus io a depth of from 12 tn, 16 miles, nnd the islands commanding the Dardanelles in the Aegean and Sen of Marmora. The Allies, it was also stated, might also consent to the rapid evacuation of Constantinople and of the Ismid Peninsula, and tn limit the Allied occupation to Gallinoli and Ohanak. In regard Io the Villa.vet of Smyrna, ceded to Greece, under the Treaty of Sevres, it was proposed that this area should “remain under Turk-

sovereignty.” It was stipulated, however, that a Greek force should bo maintained in the town of Smyrna, and that the rest of tho territory should be policed by a gendarmerie with Allied officers, and recruited in proportion to the numbers and distribution of the population—that is to say, the relative proportions of Greeks and Turks. In addition the Allies proposed that the Villayet of Smyrna should be placed under the direct control of a Christian Governor, appointed by the League of Nations, and assisted by an elective Assembly and an elective Council. It bears closely on the existing situation that Bekir Sami Bey, who was chief of the Turkish Nationalist delegation at the March conference, found fault chiefly with the Allied proposals concerning Thrace and Smyrna. The solution proposed for Smyrna, he said, “far from ensuring peace, would become a source of permanent conflict." On the other hand, in regard to the question of the Straits, he observed that, "Turkey having no objection to the principle of opening them, he believed that agreement would result.” It was in the hope of retaining all that they gained under the Treaty of Sevres that the Greeks opened their ill-fated offensive; in April last. In view of their military failure they may now he willing to accept such a settlement as the -Allies proposed, but even so, the problem will remain of inducing the Turkish Nationalists to assent to conditions which will adequately safeguard Greek and other racial groups, not only in Smyrna and Thrace, but. in Armenia and other territories. The Nationalists have thoughout proclaimed that they will be content with nothing less than the complete recovery of Smyrna and the recovery of at least a. portion of Turkey's former holdings in Thrace. However anxious the Allies may be to arrive at a peaceful settlement of all questions outstanding in Turkey, it may be hoped that any action they take will pay due regard to the fact that Turkish rule over other races has. everywhere and at all times resolved itself into a vile and blasting tyranny. Unless the attitude or the Nationalists has changed in very recent times., international control of the Straits will not be seriously disputed, and in regard to territories of mixed population there is some scope for compromise on the. lines of the Allied proposal relative to Smyrna. Unquestionably, however, it would be a crime against humanity to place Greek and other racial groups in Asia Minor once again at the mercy of the- Turk. ■