RUMORS OF WAR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3137, 2 October 1922, Page 2

RUMORS OF WAR.

(By Mercurius.) Unless Mustaipha KemaJ is compounded of the material's that are associated with the physical and mental weaknesses of bom fools there will be no war. It is not war that Mustapha Kemal, anxiously looking for. hut its avoidance, if it should 1 happen to be threatened by the Allies. Mustapha Kemal it was who held up the landing at Gull'ipoli, and he thoroughly understands the game of war, and he must know that against amy of the three Powers that are' mentioned as likely to jointly bring him to a. realisation of the necessity for caution he could not hold' up the end of his stick for a week. That being so we may dismiss the serious idea, that the leader of the Turkf is marshalling his Mahommedan forces to drive his Christian enemies l out of Turkey., as Turkey stood prior to the Great War. And' here it may not be out of place to mention the fact that there are two' Governments in Turkey—that of the Sultan in Constantinople, and: that of Mustapha Kemal in Angora, and it is here that a certain amount of "mix-up" has taken, place, and no doubt will continue to take place. Our readers have read of the Sevres Treaty. That Treaty was- drawn up by the Allies, and it was drawn up with such drastic effect on the Turkish Empire that it left that tottering edifice with so circumscribed an area "that 10,000.000 inhabitants out of 25,000.000 were all that were •■ left to her. The Sultan's Government signed the Treaty, but Mustapha Kemal's Government did not, and here the question must arise as to which Government is the de facto Government of Turkey. The Sultan's Government is moribund, but that of Mustapha Kemal is alive and kicking, as the Greeks have found to their cost. The Sevres Treaty gave Greece Thrace (with the exception of that bit of the Peninsula on which the European part of Constantinople stands), as well as Smyrna and part of its hinterland; hut before the Treaty could he given effect to the Allies made the discovery that it must be modified — modified in respect to first obtaining the consent of the peoples of the areas proposed to be disjoined from Turkey as to their future rulers. Tt was here that Greece, in defiance of the Treaty, made the fatal mistafc© that hj ed her in all her troubles .She marshalled her forces, and made a drive at Mustapha Kemal's capital (Angora), which is somo hundreds of miles inland, with the intention .of smashing his opposition and reforming the' Turkish Empire on a plan that would suit her purposes, if it suited that of no other country. She drove the Turks back to Eskishehr, two-thirds of the road to Angora. There the Turks. and the long distance from their base compelled the Greeks to call a halt, and that phase of the war ended. In the meantime the Greeks took occasion to strengthen their army in the field, and the Greek King, familiarly known as "Tino,'' expressed his determination of leading his army in person. The strengthening of tlie Greek army took a long time to accomplish, and while it was going on Mustapha Kemal was not idle, and between the two they were the means of creating a rift in the lute of the; Allies. Britain is said to have backed the Greeks and Franco is said to have supplied Mustapha Kemal with the necessary munitions of war. The Turk is infinitely a better soldier than the Greek, and when Tino led his Grecian phalanxes forward they were decisively beaten by the Turks. The Greek army began.a retreat, and the retreat became a rout. It was a case sauve qui peut. The Greeks made back to their base—Smyrna—with the victorious Turks following. The cable messages that appear in the daily papers are now telling the story of. that phase of the great Greek enterprise. Italy and Franco do not see eye to eye with Britain over the expropriation of Turkish territory, their reasons for this being not inconsistent with the national view that it might be dangerous* to their peace of mind and security if Greece were made as powerful in the Near East as Greece herself intended she should be, for Greece was not satisfied with the great stretches of Turkish territory that had been allotted to her, and gave the Allies notice that she intended to occupy Constantinople, which is at the present time held by Allied troops. She wa's firmly told that she would not be allowed to occupy that city, and she abandoned the idea. The Sultan's Government occupies Constantinople, practically under duress, and as it had signed the Treaty of Sevres there was no reason why Greece should Ik- allowed to impose itself on that city. Mustapha KemaJ, if not a rebel against the Government of his country, it at least outside the bounds of restraint. He is a freebooter of a sort but a patriotic freebooter, for Ims purpose is to secure for his country better terms than the Allies imposed under the Sevres Treaty. The Allies, however, had. before the Greeks made their plunge, expressed their determination to alter the areas of country that should bo disjoined from Turkey, but iu no case will they abandon their purpose of making the Dardanelles and the [josphorus free and untrammelled to all the nations of the earth in war or peace times. Mustapha Kemal can therefore obtain a greatdeal of what he is asking for without fighting, and what he cannot get is not worth fighting for. for he would not get it even if lie fought for it, and there is the great possibility that if he determines to fight he may get nothing. He knows that, and is therefore not likely to hazard so much on the throw of' the dice. As has been said. Fiance and Italy will not agree to all that Britain desires, but as Greece's greed has led to her entire defeat. Britain is not likely to stand sponsor to a power that has defied a treaty that gave her so much, and that has been rendered impotent in the undertaking. The three great Powers will, however, stand firm in making it impossible for Turkey to close the Straits, and that is the great essential in the present entanglement. "What will happen to Thrace will be a question for discussion, but as Roumania fought in the war, and Greece dodged her responsibilities in that respect, the Allies may pass the mandate from Greece to that country, and thus solve the difficulty. At all events, Greece is a palsied nation, effete through national ennui, and is thus incapable of holding the mandate unless with the support of every power interested. Tt is a deplorable business, and has brought to light the fact that the Allies do not comprise a happv family. France is forever trying to checkmate Britain, and that) cannot go on long without rendering, the Entente a bed of thorns for both.