ANGLO -TURKISH DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13170, 7 May 1906, Page 5

ANGLO -TURKISH DISPUTE.

A BRITISH ULTIMATUM- i TEN DAYS GRACE ALLOWED. WARSHIPS ORDERED TO PIRAEUS. ——— • i A WARNING TO THE SULTAN 1 By Telegraph.— Association.—Copyright. London, May 4. A Rbdter message from Constantinople' states that the British Government yesterday presented a Note to Tin key, equivalent to an ultimatum. The ultimatum expires in ten days. (Received May 6. 10.48 a.m.) London, May 5. The ultimatum, requests the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the disputed territory pending delimitation on the basis of the arrangement of 1892. The Sultan is warned of the grave consequences if he does not asquiesce. • The cruisers Carnarvon, Barbara, Suffolk. Venus, arid the torpedo storesbip Vulcan, with the destroyers at Malta, have sailed for Piraeus, the seaport of Athens. France and Russia are supporting Britain's demands. A hurried meeting of the Cabinet was held yesterday. The Carnarvon is a first-class cruiser, with a displacement of 10,850 tons, with engines of 22,000" horse-power, and carries 12 guns. The Barham is a twin-screw steel cruiser of-the third-class, She has a displacement of 1830 tons, with engines of 7400 horsepower, and: carries sis guns. The Suffolk is a first-class cruiser of 9800 tons displacement, with engines of 22.000 horse-power, arid she carries 14 guns. The Venus is a twin-screw steel cruiser of the second-class. She has a. displacement of. 5600 tons, engines of 9600 horse-power, and carries 11 guns. All the vessels are attached to the. Mediterranean fleet. COMMENT ON THE SITUATION. Commenting on the situation, in a leading article published on March 23., the London Daily Telegraph /says: — "There is no reason for immediate alarm. On the other hand, there is a possibility of complications of a character which is better iiridertood abroad than in England. .Of course, hostility to England oh the part, of Turkey as an isolated Powfor will not disturb anybody's rest. But Turkey as a catspaw may scratch unpleasantly. It is largely a question of railways, and of th» control of the high road to India. The plan of a railway from Beyrout, through Damascus and the Hedjaz, to Mecca, recommends itself to the Sultan as a means of enabling him to strengthen his rather precarious ' position in Arabia, and of securing some ■ kind of control over the Red Sea. His , zeal in this direction has been quickened by ; the opening of Port Soudan and tuft railway connection with Khartoum, by way of Berber. By connecting Akabah with Main, oa the Damascus-Mecca line, the Sultan could concentrate troops, on the Red Sea coast. "The British Government has naturally £6 watch these schemes with .some keenness, not only in so far as their development might constitute a menace to Egypt, but as affecting the security of the Red Sea route to India. For, at the Sam* time, the extension of the Bagdad railway might, in • certain contingencies, menace our supremacy in the Persian Gulf. We are not much alarmed by these possibilities, and least of [ " all by the rumoured project to connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea by a new h canal from Akabah. "Rut. 1 lionp-ti there is

t»nu iroiu AKaottii. jjiu. i.uougn more is no real ground ; for anxiety with regard to an incident which is at. present of microscopic proportions, and may not develop into a crisis, there is need for watchfulness. " The Sultan is a very wily diplomatist, and nothing suits his game—which, to do him justice, he plays with rare skill—bettor than to set the Powers at loggerheads. Fortunately, the control of our foreign affairs is in safe hands, and Sir Edward Grey may be trusted to see that British interests on the various high roads to India are not jeopardised. It is, however, well that the public should be reminded that Akabah, in the Red Sea, and Koweit, in the Persian Gulf, are strategic points, as. important as many other places far more familiar to their ears." f ~ THE SINAI PENINSULA. The Sinai; Peninsula, which is the scene of the present trouble, is situated on the north-west, of Arabia, and is embraced between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Akabah, northern arms of the Red Sea, and is shut in on the north by the desert. The town of Akabah itself, which the cables state is being fortified by Turkish troops, is a haven at the head of the gulf of that name, in the north-eastern horn of the Red Sea. It. is the ancient Alanathe Biblical Elatb, a town of the land: of Edom. - The peninsula takes its name from the sacred mountain on which Moses, according to Biblical history, received from Jehovah the Tables of Ten Commandments. . In this mountain mass there are three separate mountains clearly distinguishable— Serbat (6750 ft), Mount Catherine (8540 ft), lying south-east of Serbs 1. and Uram Shomer (some 8000 ft). The identification of the Sinai of Moses has never been actually settled, although tradition has pointed to Mount Catherine ever since the lime of Justinian. The mountain known as Jebel Katherin has two wellmarked peaks, a. northern one, called Horeb, and a southern called Jebel Musa (Mountain of Moses). It is this last summit which tradition has selected as the saored mountain of the Hebrew law-giving. The entire peninsula, especially the bold ragged mountains, has a stern, treeless appearance, though trees grow in the ravines beside the watercourses. Four or five thousand Bedouins • range over the peninsula, and feed their sheep and goats in the pasturages of the higher valleys. Caves which exist among the mountains were in the early days of Christianity the favourite abodes of 'hermits or anchorites, and rocks in the vicinity bear inscriptions which date from (he early centuries of the Christian era. TRESPASSING TURKS. The presence of Turkish troops upon Egyptian territory in the Peninsula of Sinai was first discovered in February last by R-uiiibley Bey, an Anglo-Egyptian Officer, as a result of which a. strong remonstrance was addressed from Cairo to Constantinople, which elicited the reply to the effect that " a vassal Power had no right to make such complaints to its suzerain." The impertinence of this answer was naturally resented by Lord Cromer, who referred the matter to London. It was stated at the time that the Sultan's force* had not only been establishing forte in territory admittedly Egyptian, but had also been threatening the officers of an Egyptian gunboat, lying in a bay near Kabah. All local effort, to remedy the • matter proved unavailing On further, representations being made by he Brit Government the Porte, it. » said, formally refu"3 to withdraw the Turkish troop, from near Akabah. affirming ] that he territory .is .Turkish, and not Eevntian. The British Government then ordered the cruiser Diana to proceed to the Gulf of Akabah, whereupon the Sultan '-climbed down." and consented to the despatch of a. joint Tiirko-Egyptiaa Coinaus. sion to settle the question on the spot though (as an English exchange puts it) " there was nothing to study. Jhe Diana orders were thereupon cancelled, and two high Egyptian officers proceeded to the scene of the dispute. It was assumed that (he matter would end there, but disquieting rumours followed, ' and , the negotiation* whieh hRV*i felHCe been pending tecta to h&vv , bttoa pittas pewful vwfa ;^