THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY' 6, 1923. BROKEN NEGOTIATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18317, 6 February 1923, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY' 6, 1923. BROKEN NEGOTIATIONS.

I The Allied delegates have left j Lausanne. The last word has been I spoken in conference there with the j Turk. Negotiations will doubtless be continued through the interI change of missives with the Angora J Government, but the effort to secure ! finality by face-to-face discussion t among plenipotentiaries has collapsed owing to the Turk's refusal to yield in the matter of the capitulations and economic points. At first sight it may seem that the capitulations involve an undue interference with Turkish sovereignty: to have alien law ruling, oven in the slightest degree, in Constantinople, is certainly an infraction of usual practice among European nations. But the Turk presents an unusual problem in Europe; he is not at home among its codes and the nationals of other peoples, so long as they remain within reach of his ready scimitar,, need the protective aegis of their own Governments. The Allies' delegates have made concessions to him. They have been prepared to give up the judicial capitulations, but have insisted on the safeguard of European advisers being consulted in the necessary reorganisation of the Turkish courts. Other concessions have been made. The Turk's forces in Eastern Thrace may be strengthened at his own sweet will; his pay-1 ment for war damages has been reduced from £15,000,000 to £12,000,000 ; and the dispute about Mosul is to be referred to arbitration. These eoncessions represent the utmost limit of the Allies' forbearance. Realising this, the Turk, in place of an unqualified acceptance of the treaty's terms, now agrees to accept the western frontier as proposed by the Allies, to submit to the opening and demilitarisation of the Straits, to surrender the claim to garrison Gallipoli, and to leave undisturbed the cemeteries .in the Anzac zone. With reference to Mosul, he proposes that its future be decided, not immediately, but within a year, by direct negotiation between Britain and Turkey. This reply to the Allies' final offer of a peaceful settlement indicates that the Turk recognises that he has strained the Allies' patience to the breaking point, and that his headstrong ambitions must be moderated.

It has taken long to bring him to this point. While lemet Pasha has been arguing and protesting at Lausanne, now showing a promising reasonableness , and.-' anon ~ relapsing into obduracy, the Turkish policy of aggression has been pursued; Ismet Pasha himself, in a speech made just before the departure of the Turkish delegation for Lausanne, encouraged the continuance of that policy. "Let us learn," he urged, "to attach more importance to ( acts than to words. We have much more to do yet in the accomplishment of our salutary task in the interests of the country." So the Turkish forces have been increased in Constantinople without waiting for agreement with the Powers whose troops were in occupation, and the Allies' nationals have been menaced. As the Conference has continued, distrust of it has been fostered in Turkey. "Every time we have tried to secure a result by having recourse to politics, we have lost," ran an authoritative statement in a Turkish journal of November 25 ; "if the Lausanne Conference makes the same impression onus, the consequences may be very regrettable." The resistance, of the Allies' delegates to Turkish claims to Kara Agaeh and Western Thrace was made the occasion of angry demonstrations in Constantinople. From Lausanne, in one of the* fits of irritability that alternated with his moods of reasonableness, Ismet Pasha telegraphed to Angora: "The Turks must hold themselves in readiness to defend their rights." .This reluctj ance to accept the inevitable has characterised Turkey all through the piece. It has wrecked the Conferj ence, and meant the prolonging of negotiations ere a- treaty can be signed. Upon the final stage of i those negotiations " between the ; Governments involved everything will depend. The capitulations represent such a serious.. occasion of ' cleavage that, despite the Turk's yielding on practically all" else, no working agreement is possible without an arrangement regarding them wholly satisfactory to the Allies.

Obviously, the hope that has buoyed up the Turk has been the possibility of disunion among the Allies. Lord Curzon's efforts to maintain their united front against Turkey have been worthy of all praise, for the task has been extremely difficult. The attitude of France has been particularly embarrassing toward the last stage of the Conference. What precisely Avas intended by the French Note * to Angora is not yet clear: it may have been nothing more than a diplomatic attempt to keep the way open for a separate agreement with Turkey in case the Lausanne Conference proved nugatory. The Turkish Government quite naturally placed upon it the construction most desired: the wish for a division among the Allies was father to the thought that disunion had appeared. As for the French motive, it is found in the fear of a triple alliance of Turkey with Russia and Germany. Already the latter Powers are understood to be in alliance; to keep Turkey apart from them would be, from the French point of view, good strategy. Hence the Note to Angora, whatever its exact purport and immediate intent. Unfortunately, it would involve, if meant to prepare the way for a separate treaty with Turkey, a breach of the Anglo-French Entente. Irritated by Britain's declining to share her

action in the Ruhr, France may have been moved to anticipate independent dealing with Turkey, ■ It; is well that in the final negotiations at Lausanne no breach of the Entente transpired. Whatever French fears may be of Turkey's alliance with Russia and so with Germany, it is incontestable that Britain has the greater power over Turkey; and the way of safety in dealing with the Near .East | lies in the maintenance of a close j reliance of France upon Britain's influence. In the' subsequent negotiations that must now complete what Lausanne has seen only partially accomplished, it is highly desirable that the Allies remain a compact body. j Before such a show of force the Turk must relinquish his last effort at resistance, and Europe's peace be rid of his irritating menace.