NOT A RELIGIOUS WAR

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7710, 20 April 1916, Page 4

NOT A RELIGIOUS WAR

TURKEY FOOLED BY GERMANY. THE MAHOMMEDAN WORLD DIVIDED. The Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Ramsay, K.C.1.E., C. 5.1., Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, held the annual provincial durbar at Sibi recently, when there was a large gathering of chiefs and elders. The following is the text of the more important part of Sir John Ramsay’s speech:— In this durbar the most interesting subject is the attitude of Germany towards the Mahommedan world. She has spared and is sparing no efforts to spread the idea among Maliommedans that this is a religious war, and the subject is therefore one worthy of careful study. In JulyAugust, 1914, a quarrel, which started with the death of the Heir-apparent of Austria, ended in war between Germany and Austria on the one side, and England, France, Russia, Belgium and Servia on the other. TURKEY’S INTERVENTION. It was not till three months later that Turkish ships attacked the Russian port of Odessa and so brought Turkey into the war. Since then Italy and Bulgaria have been drawn in. Thus on the census figures for Europe only, there are 271,000,000 Christians on the one side fighting with 121,000,000 Christians on the other, and on the side of the smaller party there arc the Turks. The population of Turkey is recorded at 20,000,000, but a very large number of these are Christians and Jews. The whole population of Turkey is only about one-third of the Mahommedan population of India (00,000,000), and I very much doubt whether, counting only men actually fighting in the armies, there are more Mahommedans on the side of Germany than there are on the side of England, Russia, and France, all of whom are being assisted by the loyal Mahommedan troops. The telegrams sent by the various Moslem communities of India urging the Turkish Goveminent to keep out of the war; the fact that no Mahommedan country has for a year and a-half followed the example of the Turks in joining Germany, while on the side of the Allies are fighting not only their own MosIcm soldiers, but also men of independent position like Essad Pasha of Albania, and the Sheikhs of Koweit and Mahommerah; the valuable and willing assistance given by the great Mahommedan Chiefs of India, the general subscriptions to relief funds and the resolutions of Anjumans, these are all eloquent witnesses that this war is being waged on both sidos for objects and ideals that have nothing to do with religion. WHAT TURKEY HAS LOST. It must never be forgotten that Enver Pasha and his friends were not obliged to choose between one side or the other in this battle of the giants, for the Allies guaranteed the integrity of the Turkish Dominions’ and the safeguarding of her interests if she remained neutral. Turkish hostilitv forced us to send troops to Basra to protect the oil-fields in Persian Irak, in which the British Government has invested three crores of rupees. The future is known to God alone; but it is interesting to take note of what Germany and Turkey have up to the present gained respeclively from their alliance. Germany shouts loudly that she is winning because she has seized territory bclonging to Belgium, France, Russia, and Servia, but while she has been gaining territory her ally has been losing it. Turkey has lost Egypt and Cyprus, a large portion of Irak, the strong fortress of Erzeroum, and some of Armenia; she must also have lost great numbers of killed, wounded and sick, while her people must have suffered much from the exactions of war preparations. I cannot sec that she has gained anything in return for all this, or is likely to do so. GERMANY’S GREAT GAIN. Germany has, however, profited largely from Turkey’s losses, for the Turkish army, while sustaining heavy casualties has occupied large forces of the Allies which would have been employed in fighting Germans if the Turks had stood aside. Germany has gained in other ways also: as long as Turkey is fighting on her side the Dardanelles are closed to traffic, which means three distinct gains to Germany: we cannot send ammunition to Southern Russia, and we cannot get out the large number of British and allied merchant ships that were in the Black Sea at the outbreak of war. The friendship of Turkey was also a valuable asset from the point of view of Balkan politics, and there was always the possibility that German cleverness in intrigue would be able to make use of the name of Turkey for the purpose of creating sympathy in the Mahommedan countries. Thus it Is plain enough what Germany has gained and what she hoped to gain by the alliance; but it is also plain that Turkey has hitherto gained nothing and lost much. And it is also clear that she can really gain nothing in the future, for on the one side she has estranged England, the Power which has more than once saved her from destruction; and on the other hand, even in the very unlikely event of Germany coming out of the war successful it is obvious that Turkey thenceforward could only exist as the vassal of the Germans, with only such possessions and such power as the Germans chose to leave her. THE SITUATION IN PERSIA. In Persia there was no Enver Pasha, and the very weakness of the Central Persian Government made it necessary for the Germans to adopt other methods. They spread themselves over Persia in small parties and by means of lavish bribery persuaded the gendarmerie to mutiny against the Shah and collected a certain number of followers. Strict neutrality was rendered impossible by the action of the Germans, so the Shah and the Government decided to avail themselves of Russian troops to disperse the Germans and their following. The result has been reported in the telegrams telling of the complete discomfiture of the German parties west and south of Teheran. Some Indian troops have also been sent to support the representatives of the Persian Government in Eastern Persia. Having failed in Persia the Germans have sent a few mischief-makers into Afghanistan, no doubt in the hope of causing some annoyance to

England or Russia. They are not likely to influence His Majesty the Amir, who has long ago publicly announced his intention to remain neutral, and whose frontier governors, at any rate so far as Baluchistan is concerned, have shown a consistently friendly spirit.