REAL POSITION IN NEAR EAST.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3138, 9 October 1922, Page 8

REAL POSITION IN NEAR EAST.

Oh August 4 in the House of Commons Mr Lloyd George, in reply to questions, made what was described as the most outspoken declaration on the subject of the British attitude towards the state. of war in Asia Minor that had come from any Minister. In the light of subsequent happenings it is o’ particular interest at the present juncture. . i I Mr Lloyd George said that the Go-;' vernment had nothing to conceal up their policy in regard to the Near East j It was desirable, above all things, thaiij peace should be established in that I quarter of the world. The Govern meut had no other desire. But tin peace must be a just and fair peace, and one which was likely to 1 endure Lieut.-Commander Kemvorthy seemed to present a ease of a friendly Turkey I alienated by the policy of the Britisl Government. The lion, and gaJlain me in her appeared to have forgotten that, eight years ago, when we were engaged in a very deadly struggle wit! the Central Powers, when the Dar dandles and the Bosphorus and' every access to the Blaek Sea were vital to ns. this friendly Power slammed tb» gales of the Dardanelles in the face o' the two countries without whose con tiinmns assistance the Turkish Empire would not have been in existence. (Cheers.) We fought one great war’d to preserve Turkey from her enemies | Before that we had constantly inter-lj vened in protect her against those whr attacked her, and as lato as 1878 the whole power of this country was mohil ised to protect the same Turkey fron the consequences of a disastrous defeat indicted upon her by her old enemies In August, Bil l, when France and 1 the British Empire were engaged togcthoi in a life-a nd-death struggle, Turkey who should have assisted ns without hesitation, as the result of a. conspiracy which she entered into before the ! war with onr greatest enemy. Jid up the greatest disservice which any conn try could d« i to another. 'l’lic actior taken In Turkey then had the effect of prolonging the war by probably affl couple of years. The collapse of Rns-il sia and of Ronmania was almost entirely due to that. It would never have happened if the Black Sea had been free. The difficulties we had in supplying Russia. with ammunition were almost entirely due to the fact that we could only got at Russia through Archangel during a few months in the year. Another delusion of the lion, member was that the occupation of Smyrna by the Greeks was entirely the I work of Great Britain. What was done there was duo to a Commission appointed by (he Great Powers in Paris, upon which France. Italy, America, Japap, and Great Britain were represented by one of Hie greatest Dominion statesmen, Sir Robert Borden, who, in addition to being a man of great breadth of view, was an eminent jurist, and had the aid of officials of the Foreign Office. The Commission recommended that Smyrna and the adjoining vilayets ought to ho handed over tc Greece, liecanse they were predominantly Greek in population, in wealth, in interest, and in history. That was not the view alone of Ins Majesty's Government. France and America took the same view. The only Powei which expressed no opinion was Italy. It was quite true that for reasons which were well known France changed her mind since. There had been nr change of policy on the part of this country. The change of policy hadj been entirely on the part of other,| Powers. , I The fall of M. Venizelos and the ac-| cession of King Constantine had pro-fl dated a, certain chilliness of opinion in,H France, and also undoubtedly in tbisn country, towards Greece. It made a t very considerable difference to French j opinion. He did not believe that there | would have been any of tins trouble if fl M. Venizelos had remained at the head 3 of affairs. His influence as one of the.' greatest democratic statesmen m Eu-je rope would have been sufficient to keep! French public opinion loyal to its on-| giual decision in this respect. But* King Constantine had been for certain acts ol hostility to Allies, which hurt France very deeply.3 and he was not at all surprised at the fact that French opinion felt angry with,' Greece because it elected to si and J by its King. If Greece was loyal tow her King, that was her business; we| must judge the whole question uponj its merits. A modification of the Treaty 2 of Sevres was produced. Two efforts, had been made to gel the parties ton agree. The first was made in London. 5! where very considerable modifications| were introduced into the 'treaty ofS Sevres and there was good reason to $ believe that the representative of An-S gora was, on the whole, in favor of ae- % eeptiug. No doubt, had Angora accepted. Greece also would have accepted the terms then proposed; hut the Angora Government repudiated its ropre- ' sentalive. and the failure to conic to terms was entirely the failure of An-, gora. Then another effort was made in : Paris by I he Foreign Secretary to so-* cure another modiliea I ion which would secure peace and tranquillity in the region. It was proposed that there should be a meeting of all the parties somewhere in the Fast- Turkey and Greece, as well as tlie Great Powers; hut. as a preliminary, it was stipulated that there should he an armistice. That was a most obvious condition to impose. How could'the representatives sit iniaC'oii.staiitiiioplc or anywhere else to discuss terms of peace when the belligerents were engaged in cutting each other’s throats somewhere down in Bosra ? An armistice had been the condition of every conference of peace that had ever been held, and without any hesitation tho Powers were uiiiuii- ' minis in imposing that condition upon tlic parties. Greece accepted; the Angora Government refused. The Constantinople Government, he believed, were prepared to accept, and it was in Conslantinople that the Sudan was. Mnstapha Kemal might he a great factor, but tile head of Mam was in Constantinople. Mustapha Kemal insisted upon preliminary evacuation by the Greek army. To encourage (In* Turks in Hie refusal of the one condition which the whole of tile Powers sought to secure was not the road to peace. The Greek army said they could nol evacuate tills position, and leave half a million Greeks behind, until they knew what provisions had been incorporated in the Treaty for their proleciion. Of course that might be simultaneously. The hon. and gallant, gentleman had admitted that there had been atrocities commit led by the Turks; Iml had dwelt with great indignation upon one or two isolated instances of Greek atrocities and reserved 11 is anger for the Greeks. Had lie read (he official reports. It was perfectly true (hat in some cases there had been deplorable atrocities which Greek soldiers had perpetrated. In That part of the world that was inevitable during war. Mr Lloyd George quoted a passage from a. report by I he military-—-French. Italian. and British—stalling that in regard to an area which was the subject of inquiry there had been a large number of atrocities, lint I hat those on the part of (lie Turks had been more considerable and ferocious than those on the part of the Greeks. Ho wondered whether the hon. and gallant gentleman had acquainted himself with the reports of the American Mission in Pontus with regard to the atrocities

there. fn Pont us there was no war—no rebellion or preparation for rebellion. I But tens of thousands of men, women, and children had been deported, and tens of thousands died. Without any provocation there was calm, deliberate extermination—extermination ‘Was the word of the American Mission. Was it too much for the Greeks to say that before their troops retired from the line which they had occupied, with five hundred thousand persons of the Greek race left behind, they wanted some sguarantees that the same thing would |not happen there as in Pontus? Our business, ho continued, is to (hold the balance just and fail - between the two parties. Supposing the Armenians were in control of Asia Minor and had been guilty of atrocities against Mohammedans, we should have i been bound to intervene. It is a pure I question of humanity. (Hear, hear.) , The responsibility for the defeat of Turkey was ours, therefore the snIpreme responsibility for the peace, 'which is established with Turkey must be ours. We have the right to say we will make no peace which will place hundreds of thousands of poor, helpless people, who are looking to us lor (protection, at the mercy of those who have been guilty of the deportations land' outrages at Pontus without some I guarantee. There are two facts which modify the position. Turkey has refused to accept the condition imposed with regard to an armistice, and has allowed the wjjrld to be kept in a condition of disturbance and uncertainty. They have disturbed the balance of the Paris proposals by showing that they cannot he trusted with complete sovereignty m a quarter like the Smyrna vilayet. The Turk is an Oriental. He always plays time in diplomacy. He says: “Hang on and. out of sheer weariness, the other parly (will come to your terms.” It ought to he made quite clear that those terms Will not be definitely open to him. He says: “If I hold out I may get everything. If I do not. the worst that will I happen will be that I shall get the l Paris terms.” That cannot he the case. The (ion. and gallant gentleman (Lieut.-Commander Kenworthy) has quoted from a speech w Inch I made m 1917. That was definitely an offer to Turkey to come out of the war. She did not. The same oiler was made 'privately. Turkey went on for over a year, and went on until she was completely beaten, and added scores of millions to our debt and tens ol thou(.sands to the casualties indicted. Tnr.'key thinks she is entitled to the same 'offer a year later, after all that has happened, as that made to her al a time when there was a good deal to lie 'gained by getting her out. and it was (worth 0111' while to give her better terms. The offer was tried by a perfectJly fair, reputable, and honorable C'omImission. which gave a decision mid abided by it. The position is this: The bon. and gallant gentleman (Lieut.Commander Kenworthy) has suggested that we have not been lair as between the parties. Well, here is war between Greece and Turkey. We are defending the capital of one of the parities against the other.- Let ns not overlook that very important fact. If we were not there, there is ahsolTilely no doubt that Greece would occupy that capital in a very few hours. That would produce a decision. There was only one way in which the Greeks could get a decision, and that was by marching through almost impenetrable defiles hundreds of miles into the country. T do not know ol any annv that would have gone as far as the Greeks. It was a daring and very reckless military enterprise. They established their military superiority in every pitched battle, but they were beaten by the formation of the country and by the fact that they had to maintain lines of communication which I no other army in Europe would over have dreamed of taking the risk ol 'allowing. If wo were only holding the ring between them and let them fight it out the Greeks could march, to the capital and take it in a week. British. ,French, and Italian troops and the I British, French, and Italian Navies are there, and therefore do not let ns say that we are unduly favoring the Greeks, or that we are giving them some sort of preferential treatment. There are even suggestions, not altogether. perhaps, without foundation, that the Kemalist forces have liecu reequipped from Europe. (Cheers.) The Greeks under any other cireum stances would have been entitled to blockade the coast of Asia Minor and to search ships to prevent arms from |reaching the Kemalists. They are not I allowed to do that. That is what the limn, and gallant member calls prefer:enee for the Greeks. On the contrary, one of the mi fairnesses of the situation ■ is that we are driven by the position (which we are occupying there not lo igive a fair field and no lavor to light the issue old. ,' We could not allow that sort ol thing to go mi indefinitely in the hope which the Kemalists had got licit they would at last exhaust this little country, whose men had been in arms •lor ton or twelve years in one war or another, and which bad no indefinite resources. We only wanted a just peace established. Kacts that had occurred during the last few months had made it clem that whatever happened there must he adequate and efficient protection ol the minorities in that part of Asia Minor as an essential part of any settlement which Great Britain could accept. By these guarantees he did not meiui the word of Angora, that word was given in Armenia, and it had not saved the life of a single Armenian or Greek. The protection must he an adequate one. which would take form and effect in the very constitution of the Government of this province. There was no doubt at all I hat a sentiment had grown up that there was only one way by which Turkey could gob rid of hi” - embarrassment of the iioii-M u.ssuiman population, and that was by deportation or extermination. Abdul Hamid was largely responsible for I bal policy. .Milions of Armenians had been exterminated, and the same, policy had been applied to the Greeks. There was no doubt that (hat was I be policy which was governing am! controlling a great many Turkish oflicals. and had written in Mood the history of Hie lasi, thirty years in Turkey. It was now extending to the Greeks. ‘ He agreed that there had once ln,'cn a Turkey which, was tolerant and indulgent in its treatment of those people of a different religion and race; bid. a new spirit was inspiring a great many of those who were directing the policy ■ of Turkey, and tins factor must he taken into account in any settlement that was made. It was true that Greece was suffering from (lie unfortunate divisions among her own people. The marvel was that she had been able to accomplish so much. She had maintained a large army in Hie field for years. Many of Hie men bad itm seen I heir homes and families for twelve years. They were peasants withdrawn from the sod. ) et they were prepared to go on for the liberation of peoples of their race. They made a financial sacrifice that was almost incredible. They halved (heir notes -one-half of which was to be currency and the other 1 half to be in the nature of an enforced loan at 7 per cent. 'Chat sacrifice i was accepted without- a murmur by the 1 whole population. Such a people were i worthy of consideration at the bands j of an\ country. Therefore, he earnestly i trusted that whatever happen we should i

see the Christian populations of Asia Minor adequately protected against a. repetition of such horrible incidents as had disgraced the annals of that "land. (Hear, hear.) Sir T). Maclean said the traditions of the great Liberal Party were reflected in the speech of the Prime Minister. (Hear, hear.) He was glad that the session had closed not upon pounds, shillings, and pence, but upon a note of humanity and a declaration of our obligations to the oppressed peoples of the Near East, who were' under tho heel of a race which, despite the lessons of the past few years, bad learnt nothing at all. (Hear, hear.)