THE SOLIDARITY OF THE VANQUISHED.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3147, 11 December 1922, Page 8

THE SOLIDARITY OF THE VANQUISHED.

(By Lieut.-Colonel 1 Repington.)

Wo are in presence of a> far more subtle, extensive, and 1 dangerous coalition than is presented by Kemal’s brave little army of ptarhaps 100,000 men recruited from some 4,000,000 Turks In Master!i Anatolia, and capable; of being doubled, at least, now that the whole of this country is re-conquered and the Creek spoils enable more Turks to be armed. That is the purely Kern a list part ol tile proposition, but it is by no means all.

The. Russo-Tnrkish Alliance of last tear, followed by the Russo-German Treaty of Rapallo and the known tendencies of Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria, compel us to recognise a solidarity among our lately vanquished enemies and a clearly defined intention of bringing about by successive stages the revision, if not the destruction of the peace treaties with the aid of the Soviet Government of Moscow. The Bo - slioviks, prompted by Germany, and the Kemal'istsi in second place; recognised early the. leverage which they might exercise against the Western Powers by an appeal to Mohammedan feeling in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and no stone lias been left unturned to excite against ns, against Prance, and against Italy, the Mohammedan peopio under our sway. Not even the Spanish zone in Morocco has escaped, 'I lie propaganda has been carried on without ceasing for the past three years, in the Allied countries or their dependencies, or mandated territories, and in Central Asia; and MustapkiKemal is the convenient standardhearer of this great anti-European jehad. To suppose that Syria.. Tripoli. Tunis. Algeria, or Morocco have escaped by reason of French or Italian Turcophilism is the greatest error. If France left Cilicia, that was all to the good ol the cause for the Turk, and was attributed to fear, hut the propaganda. continues all the more vigorously in other French possessions, as it does in our. and the recent Turkish victories arc hailed as 'the opening of a. new era.

To those* who follow those underground workings the hand ot the Soviet is constantly seen. The German is Jess conspicuous and keeps in the background. hnL here we constantly lind him at work, and lie supplies a good deal ol the brains to the whole, undertaking. He is also busy with the reconstruction ol' the Soviet armies. The. whole movement Inis enormously profited by the French policy, which, by dividing the Allies, and seeking only tor economic benefits, has played the German, Turk, and Russian/ game exactly its they would wish it had been play. Onr late enemies are out lor the revision ot the peace treaties; and the revision ot the I reaty ot Sevres, largely due to the policy of France and Italy, is a success over which every German mbs his hands. The treaties were all ot a piece, and when one goes the rest begin to crumble. The Germans wish to bring back ih<S Turk to Europe in order to revive lor their benefit the old war combination, and to make an end of the idea of the intangibility of the treaties. After Sevres, N’euilly, and so on through Trianon and Saint-Germain to Versailles. The Turk once in Europe, the mine is laid under all the treaties, and the • designing German, as Liman von Sanders has admitted, counts on the 2()0 million Mohammedans of the world to keep the Western Allies fully employed in their own possessions. It is not a programme for to-day or to-mor-row,' but for a quarter of a century ahead. The Congress of Oriental peoples which is to meet next year under Kcmalist patronage is part of the picture, and will endeavor to unite all the Orient against the West in a common front, a eon-summation which the Germans admit they envisage with satisfaction and tranquillity. We have destroyed the German army, but not German brains 1 and patriotism. Turkey is to serve as the link between Germany and the whole of Asia, and for her to be this link she must he assisted back into Europe. So long as the Straits are, as they should be, the lino ot demarcation, tlio links do not join. The Turk in Thrace —which event, at French dictation, wo now “view with favor”—means that lie can mb shoudders with the Bulgarian, and there are M aeedonia, Salonika, and all the other districts towards the Adriatic where the Turk formerly reigned, and where lie can still find friends. The Soviet Government wish the Turk back so that they may one day help them against Boumania, and also because' they prefer a Turkish guard on the Straits to the international policeman. People must truly lie-blind who believe in Turkish assurances that they will keep l the Straits free. They wore taught only too well by the. war what importance the fortified Straits have, and the Russians mean them to fortify them, for then the Black Sea becomes a Russian lake, and Soviet designs further East can be prosecuted with a safety which is entirely wanting it the ships of the West- can steam in. Thus all the interests of the three Allies are identical, and Turkey can count on Russian support, as Russia can count on German. Let no man -forget that this is the combination that we" arc up against, even if France is blind and her policy a policy of dupes. Those who have travelled through Eastern Europe of late find the indication of this great conspiracy wherever they go. Much of the evidence cannot ho given, but those who wish to understand something of the workings, ol the agents employed .and of tile views ol Aneora, Moscow, and Berlin, should read a liitle book just published in Paris by Omer Kla/din. entitled “Angora al Berlin." It will open the eyes of many to the plans of tin's charming group of Powers, whose agent Kenial is. and make many things plain to English readers. Let ns hope that French Ministers and members of the Senate* and Chambers will read it too. The writer does not bold ,M. Poincare responsible for the policy initiated by tin* Angora Treaty, which was tlu> handiwork of bis predecessor. But ibe fact remains that the whole of France’s Near Eastern policy since the amdst'ec has been an ocean of errors and illusions .lias brought France nothing but deceptions. retreats. and heavy cost, and promises hereafter to leave France alone in face of all the enmities which she lias aroused. This is not onr wish or onr policy. We have gone to extreme lengths to keep will France by accepting a policy in Tbiacc which we know to lie wrong; hut i l ' France, after the Paris Note, 'epeal.s M. do Freyeinet’s error of ISSih and leaves ns to defend alone a policy wb'ch France herself imposed and attested. by .M. Poincare's signatures tln n tin* historian of the future will dal' 1 al! !•'ranee’s misfortunes from this tragic and cardinal mistake.