MEDITERRANEAN PACT PROPOSAL

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1949, Page 5

MEDITERRANEAN PACT PROPOSAL

LONDON, February 23.

It is understood that the Turkish Foreign Minister (Mr Sadak), who recently saw Mr Bevin, supports the Greek idea of a Mediterranean Pact. Greece and Turkey believe that a Mediterranean Pact would greatly reinforce the North Atlantic Pact. “The'visits to London of Mr Sadak and Mr Tsaldaris are a reminder that Western Europe’s interests lie in the Mediterranean as well as the Atlantic”, says the Times in a leading article. “If the Atlantic is now the centre of Western power and Western civilisation, the Mediterranean remains both strategically and spiritually an essential part of the Western world.

“It is only natural that while the Atlantic Pact is being discussed in Washington these Mediterranean countries should look for a reassurance that they are not forgotten. This is as true of Italy as of Greece or Turkey. The Atlantic Pact must be the firm base of Western defence, but without control of the Mediterranean it would be a precarious tenure”.