The Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30. 1919. GREECE AND ITALY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12617, 30 April 1919, Page 4

The Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30. 1919. GREECE AND ITALY.

On several occasions tho cable messages have contained references to tho Dodecanese, the group of twelve islands, including tho famous islapd of Rhodes, off tho south-west coast of Asia Minor. The references wore made in connection with Italy's claims at tho Peace Conference, and briefly, the position is as follows:—When Turkey patched up a peace with Italy by the Treaty of Lausanne, in 1912, in order to leave herself free to deal with her new enemy, the Balkan Alliance, Italy was left in possession of the Dodecanese, and it was one of the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanno that Italy should remain in possession of those islands until Turkey had carried out nil tho terms of tho peace treaty. The terms of this treaty, according to Italy, were never fulfilled, and, as a consequence, Italy remained in possession of tho islands. The people of the Dodecanese are, however, Greek. In spite of all their vicissitudes through the centuries, they have maintained unaltered their Greek customs, characteristics and attachments. They were Inclined, in 1912, to hail the Italians at first as their deliverers, and did, indeed, welcome them with open arms. They did not, however, hesitate to make it clear that they regarded the Italian occupation as necessarily only one step toward the achievement of their great aspiration, namely, reunion with Greece- Accordingly, when the Italian troops landed at Rhodes, in May, 1012, tho people received them with joy, and this feeling deepened into something very like triumph when General Araeglio, the commander-in-chief of* the Italian army of occupation, assured them that, after the termination of the Italo-Turkish War, the islands, which wore “ under temporary occupation of Italy,” would receive an autonomous system of government, and that the Turks should never return. “I tell you this,” General Ameglio added, " both as a general and as a Christian, and you may consider my words as gospel truth.” The islanders accepted these assurances, but Italy failed to keep her pledges and the Dodecanese, by the Treaty of Lausanne, became a kind of Turkish hostage to Italy, and when, a year later, Greece found herself in possession of all the other islands <Jf the JEgean, as tho result of the Balkan League’s victorious war against Turkey, she also found herself barred out from the Dodecanese by tho Treaty of Lausanne. When Italy entered the Great War on the side of the Allies, under Article VIII. of the Treaty cf London, she was given “ full possession of all the islands of the Dodecanese at present occupied by her.” In placing the Greek case before the Peace Conference, M. Venizelos said the Greek Government was convinced that Italy would not wish to impose its sovereignty upon a population which was purely Greek, and therefore “create a constant source of annoyance between two peoples bound together by their past, a fact which along with their situation as near neighbours should impel them to closer collaboration in the future. The Dodecanese,” he concluded, “ have been Greek for thousands of years, and for this reason they ought to be returned to Greece. 5 ’ What ought to bo done and what will ho done are two totally different matters* Judging by Italy’s attitude over the Adriatic question, she shows a strong disinclination to part with any territory to which she can show any kind of claim. Whatever tho position of the Dodecanese may be from a diplomatic view, from a national point of view there can be but one answer. They should be'incorporated with Greece.