The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1922. “TURKEY MUST LEARN”

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11366, 13 November 1922, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1922. “TURKEY MUST LEARN”

On the whole, the situation in the Near East appeared at the week-end rather clearer and better than for pome days past. The crescendo of the Turkish demands continued. In addition to the abolition of the Capitular tions, the Kemalists now insist upon—(1) A plebiscite in Western Thrace, to decide whether or no that area as well as Eastern Thrace shall be ceded to Turkey; (2) the return of Mosul; (3) the complete independence of Turkey; (4) an indemnity of £240,000,000 from Greece; (5) the restoration by Britain of the Mesopotamian oil wells: and (6) the surrender of Syria by France. They reiterate, also, their demands for the evacuation of the Allied forces and the withdrawal of warships. But this creeoendo of demands has had a very different result from that intended by the Turks. Swelling with pride at their victories over the Greeks, they, no doubt, expected that they would succeed in bluffing the Allies into making one concession after another, and that Turkey would win back all, and more than all, her pre-war territory and power. They have succeeded, however, only in welding the Allies together more firmly than ever to make a united and determined stand against their absurd and utterly intolerable pretensions. “The policy of the Turks is one of Nationalism gone wild, almost suicidal in its character,” declared Lord Curzon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, in his speech last week in the City of London. “The pretensions of the Turks cannot be tolerated. They have not any conceivable justification. They are an affront to the Allies and a challenge to Europe. There is absolute accord between the Allied Generals and High Commissioners on the spot. . . . Turkey must learn that there is a limit to concessions. We cannot purchase peace at a cost of humiliation or disgrace. Turkey must learn that the strength of Britain and the might of Europe are rocks against whioh she would hurl herself in vain.’’

The French press, on the same day, ■was almost unanimous, states a Paris cablegram, tliat the Allies must use force, if necessary, to make tlie Turks respect them. There was a general demand for the Rending of reinforcements to the Near East; the cruiser Waldeck Rousseau and the battleship Jean Bart were dispatched to Con stantinople; while on Friday last the Italian Premier, Signor Mussolini, addressing the Ministerial Council, said’: “The Turks might consider themselves victorious over the Greeks, hut they must- not be allowed to imagine themselves victorious over the European Powers. It is for Italy to take a strong stand beside the other Powers,

and the Italian High Commissioner at Constantinople has been instructed to do his share in maintaining a united front against Turkish pretensions.’’ Several Italian warships, also, were ordered to Constantinople. Still more significant, perhaps, is the fact that the armoured cruiser Pittsburg, flagship of the United States squadron, acting on sudden orders, left Gibraltar on Friday for Constantinople. Whatever the reason for it, her presence at the Golden Horn will impress upon the Turks the fact that America, is keeping a keen eye on the position in the Near East; and the moral effect of that watchful eye cannot but be for good. The net result of these happenings was expressed in the decidedly | optimistic note struck by the British Premier, Mr Bonar Law, at the Lord Mayor’s banquet: “There was nothing now about Constantinople, where the Allies were acting with the conrpletest unanimity. He believed the difficulties would be overcome, and peace in Europe be secured, if the war-time Allies acted together.” Meantime, the Allied High Commissioners have handed a Note to the Angora representative demanding the observance of the Capitulations and of the stipulations of the Mudros and the Mndaniai Armistices; and, failing compliance with this demand, the High Commissioners are empowered to declare a state of siege, which is a step beyond martial law. Of course, a great deal depends upon whether the Allied High Commissioners and generals have at their disposal a sufficient force to enable them to hold their own, should the worst come to the worst. Field-Marshal Foch stated some time ago that the Turks cannot be prevented from passing the Straits without a great military force, 100,000 men being mentioned as the minimum required to hold the Straits. The Allied forces on the spot can scarcely total as yet more than one-third of that number; but the Allied warships Save been considerably reinforced, and must now constitute a naval force not lightly to he reckoned with; while, as the “Petit Parisien” has pointed out, the Allies can easily reinforce their troops by appealing to the Balkan Allies, and there are reasons for thinking that Roumania particularly, whose collapse during the Great War was mainly due to Turkey’s treachery in closing the Dardanelles against her munitions supplies, would send troops to Constantinople at the unanimous invitation of the Allies. All this must be as well known to Kemal as to the Allies. Another factor that will give him pause is the telegram from General Sherif Pasha, urging him hot to pToceed with his latest demands. The Kemalists’ action regarding the Klialifate, states Sherif Pasha, is disquieting, and constitutes a grave error, being capable of compromising the moral support which Turkey receives throughout the Moslem world. It is impossible, he considers, for Islam to permit the Khalifate to be deprived of the temporal power, the Sultanate, which is essential to uphold the dignity of the Islamic faith. All things considered, then, it is hardly likely that Kemal Pasha will force matters to the arbitrament of the sword; unless, of course, he knows that Soviet Russia is prepared to back him up speedily and effectively, and it is really Germany that is pulling the strings both in Russia and Turkey. It may be that it was the fear of something of this sort at the back of it all that brought France and Italy so quickly into line again with Britain. “There is (states a London message) a thinly-veiled apprehension in France that an outbreak of war with Turkey, backed by Russia, may cause Germany to consider whether she cannot reap advantage by the Eastern turmoil.”