THE DARDANELLES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22392, 13 April 1936, Page 8

THE DARDANELLES

Turkey has chosen an appropriate moment to reopen the Straits Question. To be specially observed is the argument—that owing to rearmament the Lausanne Treaty Powers can no longer guarantee the security of the Straits and bo shield Turkey from external menace. The obvious purpose of Turkey, which has been disclosed before the League and in other ways, is to have the right to refortify the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. The remilitarisation of vital zones of the shores of these waters, which during the war had •such meaning for this little country, was not forced on a defeated Turkey by order of the Allied Powers, but arranged after long and hard bargaining on equal terms at Lausanne. The Treaty gave what had originally been promised Russia—neutralisation of the Straits. The new Russia opposed this settlement because of the then fear of attack in the Black Sea. To-day, however, Russia is in agreement with Turkey, though there has been nothing to suggest the existence of a secret understanding. Other nations are concerned, however, and it is that fact which makes the Straits Question the extraordinarily complicated international problem it is. Apart from the Mediterranean Powers, all of which have as much interest in the freedom of the Straits as in the control of this narrow waterway, every State from Germany to Bulgaria that uses the Danube will demand a voice in the discussion of the Turkish request.