SHIFT IN BALKANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 35, 11 February 1937, Page 16

SHIFT IN BALKANS

BULGARIA'S' CONCESSIONS

It is officially admitted that negotiations are proceeding between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria for a pact of nonaggression and friendship, wrote the Belgrade correspondent of the "New. York Times" recently. It"is the first. time in, fifty ■ years, after many .wars, that the two countries are attempting to co-operate for peaceful development of -.relations. '• ■•' , ..' ■ , ; :The negdtiations.-began-.sqme.months ago' when" Premier "Milan. Stoyadinovitch was the guest.pt King- Boris in Sofia atid since they- have progressed uninterruptedly. It is believed that t^ey.will be finished in a few weeks, and that the agreement will be signed in" Sofia by Premier Stoyadinovitch. Both countries will recognise their existing frontiers and declare their readiness to co-operate closely in political and economic fields. The Yugoslav' Government stresses that its partnersJin the Little Entente and the Balkan Pact, ■ Czechoslovakia,. Rumania, Greece, and Turkey, have been informed of these negotiations and that the Turkish Foreign Minister, Dp. Rushdu Aras, has expressed great satisfaction with-the proposed agreement, asserting it promotes Balkan co-opera-tion and the elimination of foreign intrigues in this area. A Yugoslav-Bulgarian agreement is considered the first step towards Bulgaria's joining the Balkan Pact, thus completing this combination. It is understood, however, that Greece has raised objections, fearing that the agreement would weaken Greece's situation in the Balkans. -Greece is demanding assurances which are expected to be given. Bulgaria's decision to leave the revisionist front and acknowledge Bulgaria's frontiers evidently was the result of Italian influence. Italy is" attempting to improve her relations with Yugoslavia. GERMAN INFLUENCE.German influence also played a considerable part in the change of view by' Bulgaria's political leaders'.because Germany is anxious to maintain good relations with Belgrade and Sofia. King Boris visited Germany last summer and frequently conversed with leading Germans, including Chancellor Adolf Hitler, who certainly attempted to persuade'him to make peace with Yugoslavia. Bulgarian re-armament has been proceeding, ' evidently.-. with Yugoslavia's itacit consent. Sixty-one military-aero-planes are; repofted-'.'to have arrived from Germany. Yugoslavia did not protest when these aeroplanes flewover, and,i when some were forced down, allowed them to proceed. It is believed Bulgarian re-armament, like Hungary's, will be allowed by Yugoslavia. Macedonian revolutionaries, up to now Yugoslavia's greatest enemies, have consented to the change in the Bulgarian foreign policy, expecting better treatment of Macedonians by the. Yugoslav-Government,