RELATIONS IN THE NEAR EAST.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3147, 11 December 1922, Page 2

RELATIONS IN THE NEAR EAST.

In view of thei conference at. present fitting at Lausanne, the following article by Frank H. Simonds, the American commentator on European polities', is of interest:— Turning, now, to the Near East, the past month has seen, the collapse of the Greek army, the overwhelming triumph of Kemal Pasha, and the presentation to a divided Europe of one more acute crisis 1 . In the examination of this affair, too, one must uncover still further evidences of the results of AngleFrench differences, for the return of Turkey is the direct outcome of an Anglo-French quarrel in which the French assumed the historic British role as the protector of the Turk. The origin of the present war, for it is a war, is to be found in the settlements of Paris. At that Conference Greece was represented by Veuizeloe, who had done so much for the. Allied] cause. Thanks to his services and his skill. Greece was allotted 1 at Paris all of the remaining Turkish territory in Europe right up to the Ohaitaljai lines, which are the outer defences of Constantinople. In addition the Greeks received the Bulgarian territory between the Bhodopian Mountains and the Aegean sea-coast. Adrianople was. the chief city in tin's region, but the Greeks were permitted to hope that they would have the eventual possession of Constantinople, itself. In addition, Greece was permitted to garrison, or rather pushed into the occupation of, Smyrna, largely because the Italians coveted this prize, but also because a majority of the population were actually Greek. In the lofty language of the Paris period, Greece was to have a mandate for Smyrna and' a considerable territory about it on*the mainland of Asia. Finally, Greek claims were honored both with respect of the Dodecanesns, an archipelago in the Aegean occupied by the Italians in their Turkish war. and of Northern Epirus, also elainjed by the Albanians who were supported by the Italians. But on his return to his own countiy Venizelos met with political ruin, hirst, Alexander, whom he had made King in place of Constantine, died ns the result of a monkey bite. Then Venizelos was defeated in a generAi election, Constantine came back from exile. Venizelos lied and his supporters were proscribed- Thus it was Constantine, the friend of Germany and the brother-in-law of the Kaiser. who stood to harvest all the considerable profits which had accrued to his country by reason of Venizelos. Meantime the international situation had changed. The French bad come to see in Greek expansion the evidence oi iV British design to dominate the eastern Mediterranean, using Greece as their agent. They had. too, every reason to hate Constantine, who had been personally responsible for the killing o many French sailors in Athens during the, war. France,, therefore, began to agitate~for a revision of the Near Eastern Settlement and to advocate the return to the Turk of all of the Greek holdings in Asia Minor. . French police was further influenced l,v the fact that the French mandate of Syria had a long frontier with 1 inker and the Turks were threatening reprisal there for French support ot Greek claims in Paris. In the end, after some negotiations, the hrencli. made a separate treaty with the l urks, which obtained security tor Syria in return for French evacuation of Cilicia and tacit agreement to support the Turks against the Greeks a suppuit which included the sale ot . amounts of war material. I his war material enabled Kemal to equip Ins army. , , . rr French policy in the matter or A hi - ke v was closely imitated by the Italians, who had hoped to acquire Syria and were jealous of every Greek gain, for thev correctly saw in the rise, of a Greater Greece a bar to all their own hopes of ultimate domination in the Eastern Mediterranean. Somewhat later than the French, they too., made a separate treaty with the Turks, u Inch was equally unfavorable to the Greeks. Meantime the British support of the Turk bad had evil consequences throughout the British Empire. Masters of Constantinople, where they were nominally in occupation together n ith the French and Italians, the British bad forced the Sultan to accept the Paris settlement, but this acceptance bad been repudiated by Kemal Pasha, who went to Asia, made Angora. Ins capital, and rallied the remnants oi the old Turkish army about him. This resistance of Kemal aroused the war spirit of all the millions of Mohammedans in the British Empire, who saw the Sultan as the head of their faith and British policy as a. deliberate assault upon Islam. In India and Egypt the consequences were serious. Moreover, in the British Isles there were loud protests against this Near Eastern policy, which was having such unfortunate results in various parts oi the Empire. The Greeks .however, were in Smyrna and last summer, under British sanction, they undertook a grandiose campaign. with Angora as the ultimate objective. On -the whole their troops were well led and fought well; after several real victories they arrived before Angora and were foiled only by a breakdown of their Hues of communication. But in the end they were obliged to retire. Kemal Pasha, escaped ruin and began the systematic reorganisation of bis forces, largely aided by the French, the Italians and oven by the Bolshevists, who welcomed tins chance to retaliate for British aid given to various Russian leaders who sought to overthrow the Soviet regime. Last winter it became clear that the Greeks would not he able to conquer Asia Minor and in March there was a conference in Paris in which Trance, Italy and Britain served terms upon Greece and Turkey—terms which proposed an immediate armistice and an eventual evacuation of Smyrna by Greece. But Kemal Pasha had no intention of abandoning Adrianople and the preparations for a new campaign were pushed, while French support of the Turk was disclosed daily in the Paris press. Finally, a few weeks ago. the Greeks threatened to seize Constantinople and actually withdrew troops from Asia for this gesture. This drew a protest Irom all Allied capitals and promoted an agreement between France, Britain and Italy to resist such an attempt, hut did lead Lloyd George to a speech in the House of Commons in which he clearlv disclosed his sympathy with the Greeks. After this speech there was a further agreement between the Allies that-there should shortly he a conference at Venice to settle the whole Near Fastoru problem. But Kemal Pasha, was now ready and a few days later \the world was surprised by the news that the Greek army in Asia Minor had been defeated, driven from the line of the Bagdad railway and was in wild and hopeless (light/ What had happened was clear. Greece has been at war almost constantly for the past ten years and her population has been mobilised for all of these years. War weariness at last •.vss-aUvA ',\y\\\\ wml people »ud the army refused to light As I write these lines, the 'Turkish army is at the gates of Smyrna and all question of Greek resistance i.s at an end. The city lias been turned over to the Allied commanders, the western

nations have hurried warships to the scene to protect their nationals, and the considerable Greek Christian population is threatened by an Armenian fate. . , To all proposals for an armistice Kemal has responded with the natural retort that an armistice will he accepted only when it includes all of Turkish war aims, which means, in fact, assurance that Turkey will regain Adriiuiople as well as Smyrna. Since, the Allied fleets control the Straits, there is no obvious wav for Turkish troops lo he sent into Europe. I hit Kemal has already openly asserted that if such transfer is opposed hy British warships. Turkish troops can retaliate hv the invasion of the .British mandate of Mesopotamia. Actually, then, the whole Near Eastern settlement now goes into the wastebasket and Turkey is on the point, of returning to Europe. We have now to consider the consequences of this complete reversal of the decisions of the last war registered in the Paris settlement. The first and most obvious consequence must he the return to the Turk of all of his Asiatic holdings in ■ Anatolia. Nor is it less manifest that his position at Constantinople will he far different from that assigned to him in the existing treaties. • .In the next conference to settle the Eastern question, and a conference is almost certain, France will open y champion the Turkish claim to full title in Constantinople and she will pro mini's have Italian support, although this is less certain. She will also advocate the return of Adriiuiople to the Turk. In a. word, a restored Turkey will now ho one of the' details in French European policy, , But ties is only a detail; rrenoli position in the whole Islamic world has l,nen strengthened at British expense. British prestige in the Near East has suffered a staggering blow. Moreover, Britain Ini'- now to face the dangers of a hostile Turkey on the very borders of a turbulent Mesopotamia. In the end the French in Syria will probably find a similar distadvantage. hut for the moment. French influence with Kemal is likely to he pre-eminent. As for Greece, she has suffered an appalling disaster: Of the vast territories won hy \ enizelos she has already lost Northern Itpinis siiid the Aegean Islands .together with Smyrna aid her Asiatic holdings. That she can hold Adriiuiople or any part of Eastern Thrace seems totally unlikely. She will thus he thrown hack upon the frontiers which she obtained in the Treaty of Bucharest, which liquidated the Second Balkan War. Her dream of regaining Constantinople ml becoming a great nation once more is thus indefinitely postponed. Meantime one is reminded ol how history loves to repeat itself. Never save through divisions in the Christian world, could the Turk have reached Europe in the first place. For more than a century he has hung on. despite In’s weakness and direpntc, because of this sanu,' European anarchy. Had Britain consented that France should add Tangiers to her Moroccan) colony it is highly possible that the Turk Would this time have been exiled for good. But, blocked at Tangiers. Frame has upset British policy at the Golden Horn and for the moment won an advantage which may not be negligible in the next conference ol the Powers.