Manawatu Daily Times. FRIDAY, JULY 13 ,1923. TURKEY’S RETURN.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2695, 13 July 1923, Page 4

Manawatu Daily Times. FRIDAY, JULY 13 ,1923. TURKEY’S RETURN.

Yesterday's -cables brought the welcome news that at last the Lausanne Conference has come to terms with Turkey. Though th e full details oi the Peace Treaty have not been telegraphed, we can form some idea of Its main conditions. The restored ana regenerated Ottoman Power has suffered much curtailment of territory. Turkey has lost Mesopotamia, Palestine, Syria, the Hedjaz and Armenia. But what ren adns to her forms a homogeneous Empire, and she retains Constantinople and a strip of territory in Europe, considerably larger than that allotted to her under the Treaty of Sevres. Two-thirds of the Ottoman public debt has been taken off her shoulders to be transferred, it is hinted, to the Balkan States, and, presumably, Greece. She has also obtained the abolition of the capitulations, which limited her sovereignty, by exempting the citizens of foreign Powers from the operations of her laws, thereby giving rise to great abuses. The retrocession of Gallipoli and Chanak, for which provision is also made, will give rise to mixed feelings here and in Australia, but it is probable that special arrangements have been made with regard to the care and upkeep of the graves of our fallen soldiers. Nothing is said of the Dardanelles, perhaps, the most important point in dispute, but hero again wo may reasonably conclude that the arrangement formerly agreed upon, safe-guarding free passage through the Straits, has been adhered to. Thus Turkey, largely through the ill-advised attack of Greece, remains in Europe, and the * bag and baggage ” policy has once more been postponed. The Treaty exempli ties the futility of attempting to apply—in the present state of the world—prim ciples of abstract justice, and brings home to us the power of expediency in world politics. If Britain were not the largest Mohammedan Power, it is probable that Turkey would not have got off so lightly, but the effect in India of a war with her has doubtless had great influence on the negotiations in which Great Britain has taken a leading part'. The remembrance of the atrocities committed by the Turks on their former Christian subjects, will, no doubt, prevent for a time any feeling of cordiality to the new Turkey, bu(. peace has been made, and it is useless to harbour feelings of resentment which would prevent co-operation with the rulers of the Ottoman Empire in their difficult task of re-organising the cons’derable territory still remaining to them. The Kemalists have given signs of a desire to adopt an energetic ana progressive policy—too progressive, perhaps, Lc suit a large number of Mohammedans; and it is to be desirea thaf the hopes of enlightened measures on the part of the new rulers will not be doomed to that disappoint, raent which followed the advent to power of the “new Turks.” The danger centre in the Near Easf lias now been shifted to the turbulent Balkan States, and a strong, united Turkey will probably adt as a check on the warring ambitions of the nations, which have, during the last half century, been carved out of the former extensive Ottoman Empire. The con. stitution of the new Government in Constantinople will be watched witn interest. The separation of the spiritual ann temporal powers has been, apparently, accepted by the Moslem world with far less protest' than might have teen expected, and has removed to some extent the danger of deposing the House of Othman, which still retains the Caliphate. Kemal ana Tsmet will, it is to be supposed, be the real rulers, for the so-called elections, to the National Assembly were a farce. Whatever form the new Government may take, ll is safe to assume that It will not* be a democracy in the Western sense. A truly representative ana active Parliament is not likely to be seen in Turkey for many years.