THE HEAR EAST

Otago Witness, Issue 3584, 21 November 1922, Page 21

THE HEAR EAST

SITUATION' STILL GRAVE. ANGORA DOMINATED BY EXTREMISTS. LONDON, November 13. The Morning Post's Constantinople correspondent says: “The situation is still very grave. Rafet Pasha maintains an uncompromising attitude. The Turks arcseizing the passports of the Greeks who are trying to leave the country and are also arresting Greeks on trumped-up charges, thus increasing the alarm among the Christian population. It is evident that the Angora Government has decided to rid Turkey of all Christian elements. The Christian populations of the large towns are in flight towards the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Forty thousand are approaching Samsun alone by every road. The Turks, however, com tinue to detain males between the ages of 19 and 55. Without doubt Angora is now completely dominated by the ex tremists. THE CALIPHATE QUESTION. DELHI, November 12. Enlightened Moslem clerical opinion favours the election of a Caliph instead of an hereditary Sultan. This they claim is in full conformity with the Islamic Commandments. The principle of inheritance was an innovation of thd’C’aliph Moawiya The head of the famous Moslem shrine in Delhi has issued a communique, in the course of which he says: "May Angora's decision prove a return to the days of the first four great Caliphs, the rightful successors of the Holv Prophet. The whole Islamic world will heartily welcome an elected Caliph.'' The Aga Khan (.Sultan Mahomed Shah, head of t-lie Ismaliah Moslems who are settled in British India) cabled from Paris that he intends returning to India in December. He warned the Indian Moslems against precipitate and ignorant action, and advised sending a strong deputation to Europe. ALARMIST STATEMENTS. DELHI, November 12. A certain section of the vernacular press has published wild statements regarding the Amir s army, which they do-

dare is marching on India in connection with the Near Fast crisis. This, of course, is totally untrue. MILITARY RREPARATION S. LONDON. November 12. lire Riga correspondent of The Times reports great Russian military preparations in the Caucasus. The equipping and supply of munitions for the forces on the Angora frontier is proceeding steadily. PLEBISCITE IN SYRIA. PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA. ROME, November 12. The Angora Government informed the Italian Foreign Office that the Turkish delegates at Lausanne will propose that a ilebiscite be taken in Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia at such time as will allow the inhabitants who have been driven out to return t-o their homes. CHRISTIANS REFUSED BREAD. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 12. Turkish bakers in the Asiatic suburbs refused to supply bread to Christians. PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT BRITISH. LONDON, November 13. The Daily Express's Constantinople correspondent confirms the gravity of the situation. He says : "The Turks'are pushing forward plans to gain everything possible before the conference. Many believe that it is better to clear out' altogether, possibly obtaining guarantees if we make our evacuation the price of the bargain. The streets of the European quarters are unsafe. Nobody knows what the next day will bring forth. Every married foreigner is sending his family away. Business men are cancelling their contracts, and the Consul is compiling a list of the residents in order to give instant warning of danger and to move the British colony to ships at Varna.” URGENT WAR CREDIT OF £30,000,000 BELGRADE, November 13. The Government ordered Parliament to pass an urgent war credit of £30,000,000. I’RE.M ATI 'I! E ARRIVAL. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 12. Several delegations bad left for Lausanne before the postponement of the con-

ference was announced, including the Serbians, Rumanians, and Kemalists. Ismet arrived at Lausanne and decided to proceed to Paris. Apparently he will occupy the interim in conversing with I'reneh statesmen. Ismet Pasha, interviewed at Lausanne, said that the postponement of the conference was a serious mistake. The Turkish army and people could not be kept in a state of anxiety and intense strain There was the gravest danger of incidents occurring which would produce a conflict between the Turks and the Allies. Advices from Lausanne state tnat Ismet iasha professed to be astounded when he learned of the postponement of tile conference He declared that the Allies had assumed a serious responsibility, and added: I tell you frankly that this deay , s dangerous. It is not easy to hold lack a whole nation and a whole army in the uncertain state in which the armistice stands. The tension is intolerable for the whole nation, which asks only oeace iOn the word of France, because of my confidence m you, I have done a thinvery few generals would be able to do 1 stopped our victorious and enthusiastic troops suddenly on the lines arbitrarily drawn and actually told them ‘You must go no further. There is th e sea, Scutari and Constantinople, everything you dream °' i 1 ai, yOU t 0 cam P 0,1 ’ ‘his very spot. At the same time, I promise you that Turkey shall be re-born, independentand sovereign. You will find you have not fought in vain so many long, weary months.* I am now asked 'to fulfil these promises. I left the armies behind me in order to make peace possible. I am now told: ‘Not yet. We have to arrange matters.’ Let me ask your generals what effects this fresh delay will have on the Turkish people, on the sovereign assembly representing it. The situation is inextricably confused at Constantinople and fighting may break out. Would it not be better, seeing that Constantinople lias been promised us, to leave the sole responsibility for order in our hands? These delays are fatal. Let me say that we Turks are free people, not a colony. We are equals, not vassals.” Ismet Pasha indignantly denied that the Angora Assembly had demanded the closure of French schools in Asia Minor. He stated : “On the contrary, we have made the French language compulsory,”

ALLIED HIGH COMMISSIONERS. CONSTANTINOPLE, ’November 13. The Allied High Commissioners have telegraphed to their Governments declaring that the attitude of the Angora Assembly indicates that the adjournment of the Lausanne Conference gravely compromises the suspension of hostilities. They emphasise that the date should he fixed immediately and unchangeably. ALLIES WARN TURKS. LONDON, November. 13. Official despatches to-day show that the Near East situation continues grave. Constantinople is described as being on the edge of a volcano. The Allied Commissioners warmed the Turks that severe measures will be taken unless they adopt forthwith a more moderate attitude. PARIS, November 13. It is officially explained that the delay in the High Commissioners taking united action on the subject of martial law at Constantinople is entirely due to the F rench Government’s telegram instructing their Commissioner to act with his colleagues in the matter being delayed three day’s in transmission. BRITISH PROTECTION SOUGHT. LONDON, November 13. The Daily’ Express’s Constantinople correspondent states that 140 members of the ex-Sultan’s palace staff went in a body to the British Embassy, begging protection. They remained at general headquarters all night, and then one said : “I a,m not afraid,” and went out. He was shot dead immediately, and tlfe rest, who are panicstricken, are now staying at the Irish .Guards’ barracks, awaiting a ship to take them to Malta. TURKS’ ATTITUDE CHANGED. LONDON, November 13. Evidence is accumulating that the Turks have changed their attitude towards the French. In addition to desecrating French graves in Smyrna, they destroyed French soapworks in Asia Minor and are renewing their demands regarding the Syrian frontiers. The French so far have not taken any steps to reinforce their troops at Constantinople. AME RIC A’S R EBPONSIBILIT Y. OTTAWA, November 13. Mr Philip Kerr, addressing the Canadian Club at Montreal, blamed the Near East trouble for the gradual disappearance of Allied unity. He said; “Americans set the pace in withdrawing from the League of Nations and having nothing more to do in a coherent settlement of the affairs of the world. It will be worse yet until we return to the point of view reached after the war, whose effect latterly has really been to Balkanise the world. PROSPECT OF' ALLIED UNITY. LONDON, November 14. The prospects of Allied unity are more hopeful, due to the receipt by Downing Street of a French Note. A semi-official message declares that the British and French general staffs have reached a complete agreement on the military- terms of the new Turkish Treaty. Negotiations are progressing between London, Paris, and Rome to arrange a meeting of Allied Ministers preparatory to the Lausanne Conference.

HARROWING SCENES ATHENS, iNovember 14. Mr James Crutcher, the director of the American Near East relief fund, reports that only those who are following the track of the stream of refugees can fully appreciate the significance of the vest flight which is destined to depopulate Anatolia of Christians. ‘I am now engaged,” he said, in removing 10,000 Greek and Armenian orphans. The great trek is now in full flood. All the roads which converge on Samsun are choked by lines of refugees in ox-carts, #ho are pressing forward regardless of fatigue. “The refugees’ desire,” says Mr Crutcher, “is to reach the sea. Forty thousand are approaching Samsun, and there is no hope of embarking them unices a fleet of ships is sent immediately. The Turkish military arc preventing the deportation of males between the ages of 19 and 45, and the stream of refugees is composed exclusively of women and children and aged and infirm men. Harrowing scenes are witnessed daily. Women are viving birth to children in the streets Many of the children among the refugees are blistered and bleeding, and are close to death. Many people are hiding in the mountains in preference to facing the perils of the long trek to the seaboard with almost a certainty of starvation on arrival.” CONSTANTINOPLE REFUGEES. ATHENS, November 14. Five thousand refugees have arrived from Constantinople. LAUSANNE CONFERENCE. LONDON, November 14. Official circles state that the difficulties regarding the preliminary Allied conference prior to Lausanne have been practically adjusted. Lord Curzou has promised to confer with M. Poincare at I aris on Saturday, while on route to Lausanne, provided that there is reasonable ground for believing that an Anglo French agreement is attainable before meeting the Kemalists. The latest Paris despatches show that At. Poincare has accepted in the main the British ideas, and a united front will be offered to the Turks. The Foreign Office has kept Signor Mussolini fully informed of the Anglo-French negotiations. Signor Mussolini has deputed the Marquis of Taretta to confer with I void Curzon in London before Lord Ourzon’s departure on Saturday. The Marquis of Taretta is expected tomorrow.

No untoward reports have been received from Constantinople. THE KEMALISTS’ THREAT. r GENEVA, November 14. The Angora delegates to Lausanne state that if they are to be confronted with Allied decisions made at a preliminary conference at Paris, they will leave the conference. They declare that they do not intend to capitulate to a sort (if ultimatum from Paris. Britain, France, and Italy agreed to confer at Lausanne along with representatives of Belgium, Sweden, and Denmark whenever economic interests arose. EXTRAVAGANT DEMANDS. CAIRO, November 14. The extreme Nationalists have sent a delegation to Lausanne to demand the absolute independence of the Nile Valley, the evacuation of all the British troops’ and the constitution of the Suez Canal as a neutral zone under the guardianship of Egypt. The delegation declares that the Sultan’s election is illegal, as the throne belongs to Abbas Hilmy. A Zaghuhst delegation has also gone to Lausanne with less extreme requests. KEMALIST CONTROL. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 14. The Allies have handed over Rodosto to the Kemalists. Adrianople will he handed over on November 19. MR LLOYD GEORGES WARNING. LONDON. November 14. Mr Lloyd George, streaking at Oldham, said that he did not intend to say u word to embarrass the Government, wh’cli was engaged in a difficult operation for the peace of Europe, but recent events had more than justified the late Government’s attitude in the Near East. He said he hoped that the Government would take stern and resolute action, otherwise the result would be disastrous to our prestige in the East and Europe generally. FEELING IN EGYPT. LONDON, November 14. The Morning Post’s Cairo correspondent reports that Ivgyptian opinion is developing as unsympathetically against the Turks as is Arab opinion in Syria and Palestine. The non-Turkish Mohammedans are aghast at the blasphemous interference with the Caliphate, which they consider to be above party. This lias broken the ties of sympathy which united the Kemalists and most of the Near Eastern peoples. The Arabs formerly hoped for the extension of the Turkish power as an important factor in securing Palestine for them. They now confess that this dream has passed, because the inspiration of the Turkish movement is pure nationalism rather than the inauguration of a movement for the emancipation of the Near least. Native Christians in Svria, Palestine, and Egypt condemn the Turkish expulsion of Christians from Asia Minor. FRENCH BUSINESS MEN PROTEST. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 14. Leading French business men met at the Embassy, and drew up a strong memorial against the present Turkish economic policy. The Turkish authorities have decided to collect the full imnort duty on all goods in warehouse awaiting transhipment. The I’reneh Consuls at Mcrsina and Adana, who were appointed under the Eranco-Kemalist pact, to ensure the protection of the Christian minorities, have arrived here, having been expelled. This follows the expulsion of the French Consul from Brusa. DESPATCH OF BRITISH WARSHIPS. MALTA, November 14. The light cruiser Concord returned from Clianak on Sunday. She was hurriedly taken out of dock, where she was refitted, and will leave immediately for the Near l ast. Two destroyers have already sailed thither, and the light cruiser Ceres and a destroyer will sail on November 13. THE GREEK DEBACLE.

TRIAL OF GREEK EX-MINISTERS. ATHENS, November 14. The judges sitting in the Chamber of Deputies have commenced the trial of exMinisters. They rejected a plea for the defence that the tribunal is incompetent. The court will hear witnesses on Tuesday. INTER-MARRIAGE RAN REMOVED. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 15. The Angora Government announces the conclusion of a Treaty of Fraternity between Persia and Turkey. One of its provisions removes the Turkish prohibition on marriages between Turks and Persians. GENERAL HARINGTON TO ATTEND. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 15. General Harington will attend the Lausanne Conference. BRITAIN’S NOTE TO FRANCE. PARIS. .November 15. The British Ambassador handed to the Quai d’Orsay laird Curzon’s Note setting forth the points he wishes to come to an agreement cm with France before the Allies go to Lausanne. The Note has not been published, but it defies with Mosul, Mesopotamia, Syria, plebiscites in the Arab territories, Western Thrace, and other matters. M. Poincare is now mastering tire Note. It is stated unofficially that lie is in general agreement with I-ord Curzon’s standpoint. Lord Curzon’s N,,te stipulates questions which are not- allowed to he discussed at the conference, including the Mosul oilfields. The Note insists on a preliminary Allied agreement to occupy tho Straits with military forces for a number of years until the peace treaty terms are fulfilled; also, an agreement regarding the capitulation of the Ottoman debts and Turkish Customs.

TURKEY'S AM Bill OX. PARIS, November 15. Is nut Pasha announces ihat the lurkisfi fovc^iimerit aims at reconstructing an ab(ilutely independent State, especially lithout capitulations.

* STATEMENT BY FRENCH CONSUL. CON ST A NTTN OF BE, November 15. 'the French Consul I.M. Mcyrier) has ivturncd from Brusa. He denied that Haiti Pasha had handed to the High • Coiumissiotiers a Note announcing his

| willingness to discuss measures to ensure Ithe safety of the Allied troops, and stating that the Angora Coverument had assumed the duty of ensuring law and order, and therefore requested a cessation of

Allied interference in the internal administration. BOYCOTT OF WESTERN GOODS. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 15. l’.afet Pasha has published a list of so-

called luxuries, the importation of which will be forbidden into Turkey a month hence. The list includes alcoholic drinks, glass, furniture, trimmings, and readymade clothing. Manv of these articles are imported from France. PIUNCE ANDREW S RESPONSIBILITY. ATHENS, November 15. The Commission declared that Prince Andrew, commander of the Third Army Corps, was responsible for the defeats in Asia Minor, because he violated his orj dels and acted on his own initiative. | TREATIES OF AMITY WITH ALLIES AND TURKS. NEW YORK, November 15. The Washington correspondent of the New York Timeo learns from a high quarter that the American Government j expects to negotiate treaties of amity with the Allies and Turks, during the Lausanne Conference if possible, or later, for the purpose of protecting the legitimate American rights and interests in the Near East,, especially in the former Ottoman Empire. The United States, however, will net be a signatory to the Peace Treatv negotiated at Lausanne, though she already ha-s appointed, as unofficial observers, the American Minister in Switzerland, the Ambassador in Rome, and Admiral Bristol.

TURKISH COUP FEARED. LONDON, November 16. The Constantinople correspondent of The Times reports that, despite Isrnet s reassuring statement, the Turks are energetically preparing to secure complete control of the capital. Recruiting is proceeding. and the men in Stamboul are warned to he ready. Jhe local forces may suffice to establish early military control without calling the troops from Ismid. ' The Turks assert that the Angora Government will not await the conclusion of the Lausanne Conference. The Turkish .encroachment becomes more pronounced daily. Numerous arrests are being made, and there have been some executions which were simply murder. All who are connected with the British forces are specially liable to arrest and murder. The situation appears to be irretrievable. The correspondent continues: Ino Turks, realising that thev possess the initiative, only await an opportunity. The denouement is expected within a fortnight under the pretext that Angora was unable to restrain the nation from fulli.mg its legitimate aspirations.

PRELIMINARY ALLIED DISCUSSION. LONDON, November 16. The Daily Express's Paris correspondent declares on the authority of French official circles that Lord Curzon s Near East memorandum completely dissipated all Arc'lo-T rench misunderstandings. Ine discussion at Paris on Saturday will include the defence of the neutrality of the Straits bv a military and naval system similar to that operating on the Rhine and involving an Allied garrison of occupation in conjunction with Allied naval control until the Allies consider the situation regarding both Turkey and .Russia warrants their withdrawal. Il is understood that the British memorandum suggests a zone of disarmament bordering the Straits, together with a reduction 'in the Turkish army. Lord Curzon and M. Poincare will hold a preliminary meeting with Signor Mussolini on Sunday. A full Cabinet meeting considered the Near East position. Lord Curzon will go to Paris to morrow. SULTAN TO BE TRIED. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 17. The Angora Assembly decided to try the ex-Sultan and his Ministers. Mustapha Ivemal is expected to demand the surrender of the former by the Allies. Hussein Hilmid Bey, president of the Turkish Socialist Party, was assassinated. The crime is ascribed to a political motive. LONDON, November IT. The Sultan, fearing that his life is in danger, appealed to the BnUsh tor protection. He is now nroceedmg to .Malta aboard the cruiser Malaya. MR WARD PRICE'S NARRATIVE. LONDON, November 18. Mr Ward Price, telegraphing from Constantinople, describes the ex-Sultans flight He savs: “On a cold drizzling dav the last of a long line of the once powerful Sultans escaped from his own palace. Ihe escape was regarded as a menace to his own' Nationalist subjects. r l he Irish Guards, as usual, were on early parade at Yiidiz Barracks when several large motors drew up at the back gate in a 20-foot wall surrounding the palace. Ihe cate opened, and a dozen men in civilian costume emerged. The battalion ■which was drilling formed up as if accidentally in order to keep off any attempts to approach the ex-Sultan. The frail old man in a fez cap and overcoat climbed into i the car, taking with him only two suit ! cases. A launch subsequently carried him aboard tin; Malaya.*' The ex-Sultan, with the assistance of an interpreter, ticked with the British officers accompanying him Tie thanked General Hamilton tor enabling him to escape. lie said it was a o-reat relief to feel himself in safely under" British protection. The ex Sultan was received aboard the Malaya by Admiral Brock. He and a 10-year old son ami a suite of nine were accommodated in the admiral's quarters.”

THE SULTAN'S SUCCESSOR. CONSTANTINOPLE, November 18. ! On receipt of the news of the ex-Sul-tan's flight the Angela Government decided to summon a Special meeting of I the National Assembly and also tele- ! graphed to Rafet Pasha asking how the , flight was accomplished, professing inability to understand the reasons for it.

It is reported that the Assembly will immediately elect a successor. The heirpresumptive is mentioned as the most likely candidate. The newspapers indignantly comment on the flight. The Tallin publishes a report that the ex-Sultan carried off some stored relics of the Prophet and jewels belonging to tbe IT nasty times. ALLIKD AGREKMK\T ON ALL QUESTIONS. PARIS, November 18. Tt is officially announced that a pro lirninarv exchange of views between M Poincare. Lord Curzon, and the Italian representative, Baron Avessanr, revealed a complete agreement among the Allies on all questions to be discussed at the impending Lausanne Conference.