DEADLOCK WITH TURKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18292, 8 January 1923, Page 5

DEADLOCK WITH TURKS.

CAPITULATIONS ISSUE. NO COUNTER PROPOSALS. ANOTHER ANGRY SCENE. AFFRONT TO ARMENIANS. TURK LEAVES MEETING. By Telegraph—Presa Association—Copyright. (Received 11.5 p.m.) A- and N.Z. . LAUSANNE. Jan, 6. The Turks bailing to offer counter-pro-posals, 4 the Capitulations sub-Commission of the Near East conference-adjourned indefinitely. It will be difficult to bridge the differences even by an unsatisfactory compromise. The Minorities Sub-Commission of the Near East Conference adjourned after an angry scene. Riza Nur heatedly refused to listen to further narration of the sorrows of Armenians, declaring that they themselves were responsible for their misfortunes. He then walked out of the room. ... The Allied missions conferred .on the situation thus created, and sent a protest to Ismet Pasha, the head of the Turkish delegation. ANGORA'S PEACE. TERMS.' REPARATIONS DEMANDED. A. and N..Z. CONSTANTINOPLE. Jan. 5. Advices from Angora state that after the Turkish National Cabinet had heard the envoy from Lausanne, Raouf Bey, the Turkish Prime Minister, addressing the National Assembly, said that lasting peace was" immediatelyl, obtainable if the Powers recognised Turkey's judicial independence. Turkey could not accept control over the demilitarised zones of the Straits. She must have reparations, including the price of dreadnoughts not restored by Great Britain. If tho Powers did not grant reparations Turkey must have liberty to exact them from Greece.

EFFECT OF PARIS RUPTURE.. TURKS' POLICY UNCHANGED. Reuter. ' LAUSANNE, Jan. 5. Ismet Pasha, interviewed, denied that he intended to take advantage of the situation created by the breakdown at the Paris Conference. He said that he cameto Lausanne to conclude peace, and he was unable to see why disagreement on the German reparation question should affect negotiations at Lausanne. CASE FOR THE CAPITULATIONS. FOREIGNERS' ONLY SECURITY/. The foreign trader's point of view regarding the Turkish capitulations is expressed in the following article by an English merchant in Constantinople :— The danger to the foreigner if the capitulations are abolished lies (1) in the fact that Turkish law and Turkish customs based on the religious law of the Sheriat are very different from those of Western civilisation, and cannot be applied to Western peoples; and (2) in the fact, proved through all the centuries of Turkish rule, that without the treaty rights enjoyed by the foreigner under the direct enforcement and protection of his country's representatives there can be no security or comfort for him in Turkev. The foreigner must have the protection of the capitulations to safeguard himself and his family against unjust arrest and imprisonment, against violation of his home, against seizure of his property, and against unjust taxation. Turkish rulers to-day are anxious to abolish the capitulations as''humiliating and unfair to their subjects. There is no doubt that we foreigners do occupy a favoured position and enjoy the protection of our Governments, but this has been essential, and even to-day is necessary, for under Moslem law we • still continue to be as strangers. In such matters as personal status, divorce, marriage-, succession, etc., no Turkish law as it stands to-day could give us justice. The real question is not the humiliating position the Turks are supposed to be in. It is the special, privileged position we are in w.ith regard to fiscal matters. We cannot be taxed without the consent , of. our own authorities, customs duties cannot be increased. No opposition is raised to the reasonable desire to change such a condition of affairs, provided all are treated alike and have the protection of their consulates and embassies.

The attitude of the National Government since 1920 does not inspire us with any confidence. They have already seized the din-Smyrna railway, though a British concern working under a concession. The British import and export trade is larger than that of any Power. About 10 per cent, of the Turkish public debt, £13,000;000 to £15,000,000, is British. The Telephone Company is almost entirely British capital. Half the quays and docks are ' British. The National Bank of Turkey is entirely British capital. The mining concessions held by British firms are larger than those of any other country. Forty-six per cent, of the shipping which passed through the Bi»phorus before the. war was British. British shipping companies have almost th» entire carrying trade of '. the country. Fire assurance companies do not pubfish figures, but it is generaliy understood that three-quarters of the properties insured at the seaport town are covered by British offices. The banking interest of nearly the whole of the export trade from the shipping ports of the Turkish Empire passed through London. These and other vested interests are. such that they put our commercial interests higher than those of any other foreign State. We shall lose, the greater part of this if we cannot, hold to those clauses of our treaties which protect us and which alone have enabled us to build up the trade. We admit thai the* Englishman should not enjoy special privileges or exemption in fiscal matters to the financial detriment of the Turk. Certain old exemptions may be surrendered, provided proper safeguards are: supplied 'againstunjust and unequal application of taxation. But we cannot surrender a single point affecting the inviolability of person or domicile. The Turk has not yet given an Y, guarantee, nor. shown any indication even that the foreign resident could count on him for justice. If • the Englishman is to be left to the jurisdiction of the Turkish Courts ho will soon leave Constantinople, just as he has left the inland towns. He has a right to expect the protection of his own Government so .long as country of his domicile, cannot give % him justice, and . in his own mind he knows full well, that the time has not yet come when he! can trust m the latter.

With respect to .educational;• establishments', Great Britain has not so large an interest as the United States or France, who will therefore be affected much more seriously than she. would 'be if the laws the Nationalist Government:"'have promulgated are put into force. By these laws nearly all,, foreign schools are likely to be closed,, as they are' only permitted in localities where there are" a sufficient number of subjects of the. same State to necessitate the opening of a school, lor the children of its nationals. The pro-' pagation of the English language througn American schools is, however, a distinct advantage to British trade, and any steps taken by. the United. States Government to maintain them should receive, the full support of the British Government. The- British schools affected in Constantinople' are three. -The English ..-High School for Boys, the-' High School for Girls, .and the British 'School. ! All three are doing excellent work. ■