TURKISH VICTORIES

Evening Star, Issue 18070, 11 September 1922, Page 4

TURKISH VICTORIES

INVESTMENT OF SMYRNA. ITS FALL REPORTED. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. CONSTANTINOPLE, September 9. A wireless message from the front reports the surrender of Smyrna.—A. and - N.Z. Cable. EARLIER MESSAGES. PARIS, September 8.. It is reported that the Turkish com- . mandor has demanded the surrender _ of the entire Greek forces in Smpna, vhich city tho Turks expected to reach on Saturday. Turkish aeroplanes are flying over Smyrna dropping propaganda leaflets, and also announcing that the Turks will rot bo responsible for any to the city arising out of resistance to their advance. The Greek administration in Smyrna de- • parted on Friday after handing over the city to tho allied Consuls, who sent a wireless message to Komal Pasha asking him to arrange for the passage of the allied officers through tlio Turkish lines hi order to enable them to -discuss with him the peaceful occupation of the city. Tho Greeks are making strenuous efforts to evacuate their troops from Smyrna and other parts before tho Turks arrive. There is much excitement in tho city, where there are over 200,000 refugees. Many of these are short of food, and some are starving. Tho British and' American warships landed patrols to maintain order, • A. and N.Z. Cable. TERRIBLE GREEK LOSSES. PARIS, September 9. Three army corps belonging to the Greek northern army were annihilated, the commanding officer being wounded and taken prisoner.—A. and N.Z. Cable. ' GREEK DISORGANISATION. PARIS, September 9. Five hundred officer's surrendered with General Triooupis. Owing to the disorganisation of the Greek forces and the absence of news from Athens concerning the movements of the armies, when the Greek Cabinet appointed him Gommander-in-Chief General Triooupis learnt of his appointment from tho Turks.—A. and N.Z. Cable. TURKISH CLAIMS. A BIG ORDER. PARIS, September 9. Ahmed Djevid Boy, representing tho Kemalist Government in Paris, states that the Turks will clear the Dardanelles no matter what troops are occupying it. _ Turkey will insist upon having possession of Constantinople, Adrianople, and Thrace.— A and N.Z. Cable. CALL FOR YENIZELOS. WILL NOT WORK WITH CONSTANTINE. LONDON, September 10. The ‘Sunday Observer states that Greek circles regard King Constantine’s selection of M. Calogeronpolos as Prime Minister as a first step towards bringing back. M. Vcnizelos. It is suggested that King Constantine, in the interests of Greece, may abdicate in favor of the Crown Prince, with whom M. _ Yenizolos is willing to co-operate if he is recalled; to Athens, but bo will not co-operate with King Constantino. It is considered probable that the Allies are exerting pressure to bring about the recall of M. Venizelos to deal with the crisis.—A. and N.Z. Cable. TURKEY TRIUMPHANT. DIPLOMATIC SUCCESS FOR FRANCE. LONDON, September 10. - (Received September 11, at 9.50 a.m.) The 1 Sunday Times ’ says : “ We gave Greece our blessing and encouragement, while tho French gave the Turks guns and tanks. The result is a broken Greece, a triumphant Turkey, and) a jubilant Franco, and Britain is sore and dissatisfied. What will very quickly be upon us is the old 1 Turkish question in a new guise. The Turks, inflated with their success in Anatolia, dream of preparing for the recapture of Turkey in Europe. It would condemn all of South-eastern Europe to a perpetuity of war if the Turks, through discord among tho Allies, wore allowed to slip back to their old position.” —A. and N.Z. Cable. GREEK POLITIO.IL CRISIS. ATHENS, September 10. (Received September 11, at 10.30 a.m.) M. Calogeropoulos failed to form a Cabinet.—A. and N.Z. Cable. FRENCH COMMENTS. ANGLO-TURKISH WAR SUGGESTED, PARIS, September 10. (Received September 11, at 10.30 a.m.) Tho warships Metz and Strasbourg have j been ordered to the Levant, j Tho ‘ Petit Parisien ’ asset's that the French contingents which disembarked at Smyrna will now rejoin their respective vessels. Other newspapers allude to the report that, aa the Greeks are withdrawing their forces from Bigba, on the Asiatic side tho Sea of Marmora, there is a likelihood of their being replaced by British contingents. The ‘ Petit Parisien ’ asserts that the true it will lead to France sending contingents to the same locality. 1 Le ffluvre ’ hints at the Grcsc-o-Turkish conflict developing into an Anglo-Turkish war.—A. and N.Z. Cable. HISTORY OF GREEK ADVENTURE IN ASIA MINOR. The British communicated tho Sevres Treaty to Damad Fend Pasha (Grand Vizier) at Constantinople on May 11. 1920. This treaty proposed to close the Greek pincers about Constantinople, to cut it off from Asia Minor permanently, with a garrison restricted' to 700 men, and to place what remained of Turkey in Asia Minor under the permanent military', economic, and financial control of Great Britain, Franco, and Italy. As soon as possible I Ferid) summoned a meeting of eighty prominent Turks at Yildiz Palace to adopt it. Permitting no discussion, Ferid ordered- those who favored it to stand, and, scenting trouble ahead, he whispered to the Sultan to stand. Considerations- of etiquette bade everyone present to stand as well, but the late “ Topdjeh ” Risa Pasha broke into a vigorous protest. In a voice trembling with emotion, he told Ferid that the meeting had risen out of respect to the Padishah, and not in resignation to the treaty; that the meeting had no authority to vote on tho treaty, and that, even if it had, it could not adopt the treaty as long as Asia Minor was in open revolt against it. Without further ado, Ferid declared the treaty adopted-, and added, in an audible voice, that Asia Minor could go to tho devil. The treaty was signed at Paris on August II by two of Ferid’s appointees, but it bad already become apparent that Ferid would bo unable to assemble a Parliament to ratify it as long as the Government of the Grand National Assembly remained in being at Angora The National Assembly had scraped together sufficient Turkish forces to main- . tain touch with the Greeks along a front which followed the lino df • tho Bagdad Railway from Fski Shehr to Afium-Kara-Hissar; but, with its navy taken over by the British under the terms of the armistice, it was unable to contest the Greek command of its coasts, and the Greek rear in Europe was, of course, quite out of the question. Bottled up in Asia Minor, the Assembly’s only military contact with the

Greeks was the frontal contact of the line from Eski Shehr to Afium. With a British military mission now attached 1 to the Greek High Command, the Greeks encircled the left flank of the makeshift Turkish forces in front of Mum, and sent them pell-mell into a disastrous retreat. Some seventy-five miles to the rear, and only forty miles in front of Angora itself, they re-formed on a north-and-sonth lino along the Sakaria River, where Mustapha Kcmal Pasha himself took command. Here the Greeks again sought to encircle their left, but Keraal pulled down his forces to meet them. Crossing the Sakaria south of tho 'Turkish lines, the Greeks drove some fifty miles duo east in a vain effort to find tiro Turkish left. With tho Turkish positions now shifted to an east-and-west line, at a distance of some fifty miles south-west of Angora, the Greeks hammered away for twenty-one days in an effort to break through—a struggle which same day will bo appreciated as one of tho world’s historic battles. It then became dear that tho Turkish strength had been under-estimated, that the Greek transport itself was being taxed ■beyon-d its capacity, and that tho Greek position must shortly become a perilous one. The Greek retreat followed, during which more than 100 Turkish villages were partially or completely destroyed. Tho front reverted to the old Eski ShehrAfinm line (which was broken by tho Turks in the present offensive). The Government of the Grand National Assembly at Angora had 1 'become the de facto Government of Turkey.