RECONSTRUCTION OF TURKEY

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 175, 12 April 1923, Page 7

RECONSTRUCTION OF TURKEY

BIG AMERICAN SCHEME

ACCEPTED BY ANGORA ASSEMBLY

By telegraph.—Press Association. —OoFYBIGHT. (Rec. April 11, 8.10 p.m.) Constantinople, April 11. The National Assembly has approved the acceptance of the Chester scheme. The agreement provides for the employment of. Turkish labour only. The Premier declared that the project would' draw Turkey and America, into closer friendship.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. (Rc. April 11, 11.5 p.m.) Nev? York, April 11. The “New York World’s” Washington correspondent says the Angora Assembly’s ratification of the American Chester concession in Turkey, while not? quite a surprise in official circles here, nevertheless is considered sudden. General Gocthals, who built the Panama Canal, and is president,of the Chester firm, hurried to consult with tho State Department, whose experts . freely admit the responsibility which the concession puts upon the United States. 1 .Tho United States is now' compelled to participate in the problems growing out of the Turkish question and the Far Eastern mandates. The feeling is that Angora acted quickly, because it desires American capital in Turkey. The latter will now probably use the United. States against Britain and France in the Mosul questions, and other Far Eastern problems.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn'. [The Constantinople correspondent of the London “Daily Express,” in a message last month, said: “The simple Turk ■ had been greatly puzzled by a comprehensive Am&rican scheme for the reconstruction of Turkey. It included the transformation of Angora into a dream city, containing the outstanding features of London, Paris, *few York, and Washington. The syndicate also proposes to run sugar refineries, afforestation, a network of railways, roads, bridges, and canals, irrigation, schools of agriculture and engineering, health centres and hotels, and to form tourist and travel companies-. This is merely a summary, the all-embracing trust’s proposed tentacles peaching to the uttermost part of Anatolia. The Proposals indicate that, though the United States is averse from sharing European political burdens, American business mon are determined to share o.nv concessions offering. One hundred and fifty members of American chambers of commerce have arrived in Constantinople.”]