THE NEAR EAST

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 16

THE NEAR EAST

A SERIOUS ALLEGATION. LONDON, July 16. The Daily Telegraph’s Lausanne correspondent states: " An International Commission which has been inquiring into the condition of Greek prisoners in Turkey reports that out of 30,000 of the rank and file which the Turks admitted were taken prisoner only 4000 are now alive. Out of 2000 officers only 750 can be traced. There are also scores of thousands of Greek civilians in Turkey whose numbers are daily diminishing. These horrors will continue till peace is secured.” BAND OF “FIREBUGS” ARRESTED. CONSTANTINOPLE, July 15. A band of incendiaries has been arrested for burning heavily insured buildings in collusion with the owners. The head of the “firebugs” is alleged to be an Armenian, who is also president of the newly-formed Turco-Armeniau Rapprochement Association. The other leaders include Armenians and about a dozen Greeks. It is believed that the band consists of 100 members. The Turkish newspapers are seeking to invest the band with political motives, but the facts appear to show that it was engaged purely in the fraudulent business of insurance incendiarism on a large scale. LAUSANNE CONFERENCE. \ LAUSANNE, July 17. The conference concluded early this morning, an agreement being reached on all points. The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent says that the Powers will each retain one cruiser and two destroyers in Turkish waters till the treaty is in operation or till December 31. Two points in the dispute were settled, and the third was omitted fi*om the treaty, the Allies reserving the right to deal with the matter subsequently. THE BRITISH OCCUPATION. LONDON, July 16. Mr Baldwin stated in the House of Commons that the total cost of the occupation of Constantinople was: Army, £22,500,000; Navy, £6,000,000; Air Force, £615,000. Under the terms of the Peace Treaty now being concluded at Lausanne such expenses will not be recoverable frora Turkey. The Government was unable to say whether Angora had yet approved of the draft terms. ATHENS OVERCROWDED. LONDON, July 17. The Daily Express's Athens correspondent states that the condition of the refugees in Greece is indescribably pitiable. Lack of food and contagious diseases are killing them off quickly. There are many cases of suicide, including the precentor of the Constantinople Church, who wfis reduced to fulfilling the office of eandle-

lighter in the Athens Cathedral. The privation so preyed on his mind that he hanged himself from a bar under the canopy of the pulpit. The body was only disclosed when the service was commenced and the curtains were withdrawn from the pulpit to allow the priest to read the lesson. The congregation was horror-stricken. OIL INTERESTS SAFEGUARDED. NEW YORK, July 18. The Washington correspondent of the New York Times states that officials of the Harding Administration have expressed satisfaction at the Lausanne settlement, especially regarding as an American diplomatic victory the non-inclusion of the Turkish Petroleum Company’s claims m the treaty. The United States is prepared to proceed separately in negotiations with Great Britain concerning the company's claims to a monopoly of the oilfields in Mesopotamia. It is understood that Mr Hughes feels gratified at the fact that the treaty will assure an open door in Mesopotamia. He is prepared to defeat any attempt to exclude Americans from participation in the development of these oilfields. STATEMENT BY MR BALDWIN. LONDON, July 19. Mr Baldwin, in the House of Commons, said that if the Turkish Treaty had been signed on the lines reported from Lausanne Turkish territory would be evacuated within six weeks of Angora's ratification. SIGNING DAY. CONSTANTINOPLE, July 20. Tuesday is the date for signing the Peace Treaty. It will be a red letter day in Turkey. It happens as a coincidence to be the Mohammedan religious holiday of Courban Bairam; also the feast of the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham and the anniversary of the proclamation of the Constitution of Turkey in 1908. The faithful wall proceed to the chief mosques, and recite verses from the Koran. Speeches by Kcmalist partisans will be delivered. A feature of the celebrations will be the sacrifice of sheep by rich Turks, and the giving of the meat to the poor, a practice which lias fallen off owing to the high cost of mutton. “I OUR GREAT FREEDOMS.” LONDON, July 20. A correspondent, in reviewing the work of the Lausanne Conference in the Daily Telegraph says: “Four great freedoms have been secured by this treaty —the freedom of a new Arabia and all that it means to Asia, the freedom of the Straits and all that it means to Europe, the freedom of Turkey herself from Russia through the League of Nations, and the freedom for the Allies to restart their several works afresh and frame unhampered their policies in the Near East.” “THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.” LONDON, July 20. The special correspondent of The Times at Lausanne says that when the treaty is signed the Turks will have the greatest cause for enthusiasm. All the evidence which is obtainable confirms the belief that the new Turks are but old writ large, and that the coming era of enlightenment and brotherly love in Turkey, which is the correct thing to officially hope for, will from the foreigner’s viewpoint. be at the best humiliating and at the worst bloody chaos.