THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1923. GREECE AND TURKEY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18874, 29 May 1923, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1923. GREECE AND TURKEY.

Ix is news that has indicated a relaxation of tho tension consequent upon tho deadlock between Greece and Turkey. The situation created by the refusal of the Greeks to entertain tho Turkish demand for an indemnity reached last week a stage so acute that war seemed to be imminent, and there was a danger that the Lausanne Conference itself might be wrecked. The war-cloud seems, however, to have passed over, and the work of the Conference is not to be tragically interrupted. The dispute which threatened to have such grave consequences has been adjusted at Lausanne, where M. Yenizelos and Ismet Pasha, for the time being the most prominent figures, have had the benefit of the solicitous counsels, in the interests of peace, of the more influential delegations. The Turkish demand for reparations from Greece has been waived in return for a conces’sion on tho part of Greece by': which she agrees to an alteration of the frontier in Western Thrace which will give Turkey the town of Karagatch and a triangular area of territory. The Turkish claim to Karagatch was a bone of contention in the earlier stages of the Lausanne Conference, and the Turks were reluctant to relinquish • it. It is not clear whether the proposals which the Greeks- and Turks have agreed to find mutually acceptable originated with the Allies or with M. Venizolos, nor is the point a material one. They evidently have the approval, as they have had the support, of the Allied representatives. If the sentiments expressed by M. Yenizelos are those of his nation as a whole the Greeks will be well content that there' is to be no call for a resort to tnc determined course of action which thenleaders were so recently declaring themselves to be prepared to take. No doe’ the Angora Government has appreciated both tho firmness of the Greek attitude over the issue in dispute and the determination behind tho Greek throat of another appeal to arms. The effect of

the disastrous defeat suffered by the Greeks last year at the hands of the Turkish Nationalists will have been to implant in the Greek mind a desire for retaliation which cannot have yet abated. The Greek army has been reorganised, and its leader has spoken with confidence of its readiness to take the field and of its ability to do so with success. While such statements may have been partly intended for Turkish consumption, the massing of ten Greek divisions in Thrace wa's a step of a practical kind very strongly suggestive of an intention to translate words into deeds. Even, however, if the Angora Government was impressed by the Greek attitude, its relinquishment of its claim for, a Greek indemnity seems to point to a genuine recognition on its part of the„ advantages 'of maintaining the peace and of the folly, of further conflict. At the same time, the satisfaction expressed by M. Venfeelos over the results achieved by negotiation indicate his relief'at the turn which events have taken. That relief should be very general. Certainly the Allied Governments will share in it. For it has not been only the question of peace as be-, tween Greece and Turkey that has been in the balance. Had there been a resumption of war on the part. of these two Powers there would have been a serious risk of the flame of con-flict-spreading to such an extent as to involve other Balkan; States. All the influence of the Allies might not have been able to prevent this, and their own interests in the Orient might have been seriously imperilled. Happily reasonable counsels have prevailed, and the agreement to which the Greeks and Turks are subscribing seems to be c good augury for the ultimate outcome of the prolonged negotiations at Lausanne.