THE NEAR EAST

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 14, 17 July 1922, Page 7

THE NEAR EAST

BASIS FOR CONFERENCE

AGREED ON BY BRITAIN AND

FRANCE.

(UNITED Hill ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIBHT.>

(AtBIBALIAN - NEW ZEALAND CAILS ASSOCIATION.) PARIS, 14th July. The British and French Governments have agreed that the following points should be discussed at the Near Eastern Conference:— (1) That the Ambassadors' peace proposals of 26th March shall be adopted by the belligerents. (2) That the rights of Greece to search all ships going to Turkey shall be recognised. " . ■ I (3) That the protection of Christian minorities in Turkey shall be enforced. [The Near East Conference on 26th March made the following official statement :—The Armistice proposals are based on the desire (1) to re-establish Turko-Greek peace, not imposing any conditions suggesting the defeat of either; (2) to re-establish the nation and power of the Turks under conditions permitting resumption of independent nationality and the retention of Constantinople ; (3) to ensure to Mussulmans a most equitable regime; "(4) to maintain the secular and religious authority of the Sultan. The Conference, on the other hand, will compensate the Greeks for their sacrifices on behalf of the Allied cause during wartime. If this operation is successfully carried out, Turkey's soy- j reignty will be assured over Anatolia. Thus Constantinople and a large portion of Eastern Trace will remain under the Sultan's complete sovereignty. The territory in the neighbourhood of the Straits will be demilitarised, whether remaining in the Turkish Empire or passing to Greek sovereignty. The protection of the Armenians will be entrusted to the League of Nations, and Turkey's financial independence will be largely respected.]