ANGLO-TURKISH AMITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23044, 23 May 1938, Page 8

ANGLO-TURKISH AMITY

Anzacs who remember the part played during the war by British guns in Turkish forts covering the Dardanelles may find themselves in two minds at the news that part of a £16,000,000 credit obtained in London will be used by Turkey for renewing those Bame fortifications. It is true that the war hatchet has long been buried and that the Anzac attitude to "Joo Turk" is of the friendliest. So also are British official relations with the key State of the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas. If there were any guarantee that Anglo-Turkish amity would be permanent, none would question the London credits made available for increasing Turkish security. Unfortunately permanence in international alignments cannot be assured, but present policy, and the future so far as it can be foreseen, dictates British support for Turkey. Their friendship, ruptured by German dominance before and during the war, and by Lloyd Georgian diplomacy after it, was renewed with the signing of the Mosul agreement on June 6, 1926, and has steadily improved since then. It was tested by the sanctions dispute with Italy in 1935 and stood a he.avy strain. Turkish harbours and facilities were placed at the disposal of the Royal Navy. To-day both nations find themselves with parallel interests in Asia Minor. With Germany once again setting out on the old Berlin-Bagdad line, and with Italy seeking to use her foothold in the Dodecanese Islands (opposite the Turkish mainland of Anatolia) to further expansionist designs, Turkey needs to be strong and Britain welcomes a strong Turkey. Under General Mustapha Kemal, Turkey lias abandoned Imperial aims and is devoting herself to the economic development of her long-neglected homeland. All present circumstances lend approval, therefore, to the financial co-operation now being extended by Britain.