TURKS AND THE ALLIES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14039, 23 April 1920, Page 5

TURKS AND THE ALLIES.

PEACE TREATY DIFFICULTIES. It has been known for some week . that M. Clemenceau was pressing. fo the retention of the Turkish Govern ment at Constantinople. British opinioi was so definitely to the contrary (say a London correspondent) that it cnmi ns a bombshell when the press announ cod that Mr L!oyd v George had assente< to the Turk remaining in Europe. Thi country was deeply moved by - tha statement-, particularly when it was al leged that the Prime Minister had als< sought to make this subject, a "fait ac compli" before Parliament could discus; it. Mr Lloyd George certainly appears to have acted with haste in directing Admiral de Robeck, the. British Commissioner at. Constantino pe, to make public the Allies' decision Londor knew it. Similarly. Lord Chelmsford circulated the news in India several clays before Parliament- had been informed of the fact. This change 'in British policy upon the Turkish question was felt to be the more surprising when one recalled the outspoken denunciations of the Turk by the Prime Minister. True.

«'■'rlv in the war\ at the time this country was pleading for the sunport of India's Moslem soldiers to assist in the campaign, the Prime Minister distinctly declared that we were not fighting to deprive Turkey of her capital, or of her rich lands in Asia-Minor and Thrace. But so recently as last December' he spoke in a very different tone. He declared that- the Straits had been. treacherously closed in our face, and the porter could never again be trusted. He used words of scorn respecting the "miserable, wretched, contemptible empire. on the Bosphorus." and described it as "a human cancer."' whicli ought to lie removed. We hear to-day that the "cancer" is to remain. The Turk is not to be thrown over into Asia Minor, "bag and baggage." He is to stop where he is. He has. however, bee* once more scolded, and warned (past warnings to Turkey would fill a ship) that unless adequate security is maintained for the non-Moslem dements of the empire, and for the Allied troops, including also the Greeks in Asia Minor, the decision regarding Constantinople will be modified. It is also announced that the command of the Straits will not be retained by the Turks. The porter is no longer to be trusted, and the Straits will be held under the authority of the League of Nations. The newspapers which support, the Government tell us the Sultan has been very much impressed by the warning of Admiral do Robeck. His Majesty seems to have been reduced to what is described as a blue funk, for he rushed cablegrams to all his outlying administrators "'do be careful." If this is true, we may take it as the first occasion on which a Turkish ruler has been alarmed by the threats of a Christian nation. It is a pity the advice cabled by the Sultan to his administrators was not. sent a few days earlier, for th(j world would have been snared the commentary upon Mr Lloyd George's "volte face." that he had made his action known immediately 011 the top of Turkey's latest outrage, the massacre of 7000 men. women and children in Cilicia. Tt is not surprising that many petitions are being sent" to the Government protesting against their unexpected clemency. One memorial numerously signed reached Mr Lloyd George yesterday , in which he. was reminded of the massacre of a million Armenians in 1916. and of other black pages in the long chapter of Turkish misrule. The document is signed by both archbishops, many bishops, by men eminent in literature and science, and by famous Nonconformist pastors. Since Mr Gladstone's Bulgarian agitation, this country has never seen the Turk so kicked and mauled as he is to-day. Mr Lloyd George's critics in or out of Parliament are using this Turkish question for purposes of political warfare. Thev "!ve wliioped up all their strength, and forced the Prime Minister to give an early day to debate this subiect in the* Commons. Tt is expected that fulldress discussion will be opened in the Commons this evening. Mr Lloyd George will then announce his. justification lor failing to use a great oppovtunitv to clear the Turk out of- Europe. But- we have another side of the Turkish stow which is not wholly humanitarian. There are over fi0.000.000 of ' 'ir IV)i(;w-?uhiccts in Tndia. and from 20.000,000 to 30.000.000 in other parts of the Empire, all of whom are Moslems. Mr Montagu. the Secretary of State for India, and dozens of .ex-T.n'di«n administrators, tell us how deeply the Mussulmans would resent the expulsion of the -Turk from Constantinople. Tt ; s nnt- clear they all attach much value to his position as Khalif. that is, head of the faith. Manv of them h-ve no respect for him on that account, but his forcible removal from Europe would be reckoned as an insult to the Moslem wrrld. Lord Bryce disbelieves these

opinions, and Lord Brvce holds the brief against- tile Unspeakable One. His writings and especially Jiis report of Turkish atrocities in Asia Minor, are such a record of crime that Lord Bryrc firmly believes the Turk to he but the devil in buman form: On the other hand, the .Moslem;; in India are .sending a powerful deputation to England in order to support Mr Lloyd George's decision. It is. indeed, clear that the Prime Minisier is acting all through in the interests of our Moslem fellow-sub-iects. He has nlwavs had great faith in the personal advice of Mr Montagu, and it is largely, almost mainly, to that gentleman we ewe the present situation. It should also he borne in mind that the changed policy will help to pacify 'lie Egyptian as well as the Indian Mos-' lems. Another influence which is said to have had considerable effect upon our Prime Minister is of a more sinister kind. M. C'lenienceaii and all the states|men of France are distinctly favorable. Ito the Turk. Naturally, they wish to Ivve no troubles with the Turk in Syria. There is also the very important factor th'it. Trench investments in Turkey are larger than those of anv other Power. Finance always counts in international diplomacy, and it is openly stated that French and Italian finance have weighed in the scale against expelling the Turk from Europe. It may seem strange, hut it is. nevertheless. the fact that the Labor Party

is taking n hand in the Turkish question . Outside trade unionism, the words "self determination" have a fascination for the Labor Partv. Moreover, that party probably desires to disprove Mr Churchill's taunt that Labor is not fit to govern. Labor therefore chips into this first-class subicct of foreign policy, and tells the world.what it thinks aboutthe Turkish ciuestion. Tt has issued a manifesto on the principle of self-deter-mination. and its application to the various peoples of the Ottoman Empire. According to this document. Constantin-" ople should riot be senarated from Turkey. the Straits should be free, with a strip of territory along the shores under >''e control of the League of Nations. The organised Turkish atrocities in Armenia are strongly condemned, and

Labor asks for that province to he reconstructed by the League of Nations. At the same time, the destiny of Turkey is considered to be of less importance to Islanr than the destinies of

| much larger Moslem populations that have come under some form or other of European dominion. Therefore the Labor Party demands national self-go-vernment for jndia. Egypt, and Mesopotamia. and its restoration in Persia. TJiis manifesto is a daring flight into "'la haute politioue" hy a political party which is primarily concerned in shorter hours and larger wages. Tt is one of several evidences that some of the wirepullers of British Labor are working hand in hand with Indian malcontents.