BULGARIA AN ENIGMA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 17 April 1939, Page 3

BULGARIA AN ENIGMA

BALKAN ENTENTE Italy’s invasion of Albania has inevitably turned the eyes of the world towards the Balkans. Should the further development of Italian and German ambitions bring threats to national independence there, a close i mutual understanding between four countries, fostered for years past, •should enable them to show a united front against external pressure, comments the “N.Z. Herald.’’ The Balkan Entente, subscribed to by Rumania. ’’i ugoslavia. Greece and Turkey, represents an attempt to establish collective security on a limited and regional basis. Bulgaria has never been a member, because she refused to aban- | don or compromise the revisionist aims pursued ever since the settlement at I the end of the war which deprived her of a substantial amount of territory. I Through having thrown in her lot with | the Central Powers. Bulgaria was heav- j ily penalised by the peace terms im- i posed on her. and, unlike Turkey, was | not able to obtain any mitigation of | them. Consequently, if revision became practical politics she would have claims against all four members of the Balkan Entente—against Rumania especially. Until recently there were encouraging signs that the bitterness j which remained as a legacy of the Great War. and of the Balkan War of | 1913. was disappearing. It was held j that Bulgaria might be received as a ' member of the Entente, that grievances could be adjusted, and the ranks of the Balkan countries closed. On the other hand, the irreconcilable Bulgarian revisionists undoubtedly looked to Ger-

many as their most promising champion, and the likeliest assistant in the realisation of their aims, particularly that of gaining an outlet to the Aegean Sea. Which section, the pro-Entente. or the pro-German, would prove strongest by test cannot be nominated. Since the Italian stroke little has been heard of Bulgaria, and that little is concerned with internal politics. The country remains the enigma of the Balkans at a time when the tension there is acute.