The Daily News. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1924. THE IRAQ TROUBLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1924, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1924. THE IRAQ TROUBLE.

The situation as to the dispute the Turks have caused relative to the Mosul villayet is certainly of a nature to cause grave anxiety and concern to the British Government as well as to the Empire. Whether or not the action of the British Government in creating an Arab State in Mesopotamia was wise has been a- matter of considerable controversy ever since the step in that direction was taken, especially in view of the fact that the land over which Arab sway was to be exercised was taken from the Turks in the Great War. At present Britain holds a mandate from the League of Nations in regard to the administration of affairs in the Mosul villayet, and that mandate has four years to run, the object being to give the Arabs time and opportunity to build up an independent State of Iraq, free from Turkish interference. The ideal was certainly excellent in conception, but one not acceptable to Turkey, the result being that when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed there were several questions left over in the hope of an amicable settlement with Turkey being arrived at. Unfortunately, the Arabs, in common with most Eastern peoples, are not quick to adapt themselves to new conditions, more particularly with regard to creating a new regime. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the first Cabinet formed in Iraq, after holding office for eight months, hardly made any decisions, important or unimportant, and simply died of inanition, coupled with unpopularity, owing to its failure to give the Assembly a lead. In pursuance of Britain’s policy of enabling the Arabs to form a kingdom of j their own, a treaty was drawn up i by Britain whereby British pro- ' lection would be given to the ‘ Iraq State during the term of the , mandate, and the necessary provision made for the establishment of a Government. Under the treaty certain clear and definite j pledges were made by Britain, and those pledges cannot be repudiated, therefore Britain is j bound to see the present trouble > through as the Power holding the i mandate from the League. In reality it is the business of the ■ League of Nations to settle the : dispute, as provided for by the Treaty of Lausanne, but Turkey, knowing that the League may find it difficult to adjust the outstanding differences, appears to be putting up a strong bluff, trusting to the well-known antiwar tenets of the present British Government. It is contended that if the State of Iraq felt that its ease for the inclusion of the city of Mosul and the reaches of the Tigris between Mosul and Baghdad was not going to be i given a fair chance, but that Tur- ; key was going to be enabled to • re-enter the lower Euphrates Valley, then it is “good bye” to any hopes of establishing a separate, independent, political and economic entity in Mesopotamia. The one fear in the minds of the population of Iraq has been lest, in the anxiety to liquidate the responsibilities which Britain undertook in the war to the people whom she liberated from Turkish rule, she would not see them through the difficult diplomatic negotiations which attached to the securing of the legitimate ethnic and economical frontiers of their country. Owing to the question 1 of boundaries being unsettled when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, Turkey, now. not only disputes the British view with regard to the fate of Mosul being in. the hands of Britain, but has deliberately violated the Lausanne Treaty and disregarded the status quo at the time the treaty was signed, raids being made by Turkish forces in Iraq. It is quite obvious this sort of ( thing must be promptly faced, i The Colonial Secretary (Mr. J. 11. Thomas) speaking in the House ’ at the end of last July, said the Government had been straight and honest with the people of Iraq, and that he hoped the frontier difficulties would be settled amicably with the Turks. /Apparently that hope was a slelnder one as the Turkish raids prove. There can. no renndiaVzon by the British Ccvcrnment of the

pledges entered into for protecting this new Arab State, so that if the League of Nations cannot solve the problem it will be left Ito Britain to bear the brunt of the task of bringing Turkey into line, and it is the dangers atI Inched to such a course that ’create the anxiety which the situation now causes. The question of oil concessions has been freely discussed as a factor in the present trouble, but it may be dismissed as having no actual bearing on the position.