The Press. Thursday, March 14, 1918. The Eastern Menace.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16160, 14 March 1918, Page 6

The Press. Thursday, March 14, 1918. The Eastern Menace.

Careful students of the war have Jong realised that Germany's ambitions for the future lie largely in the East. The Galhpoli campaign, the Salonica expedition, th<? operations in Palestine and Mesopotamia, are all evidences of the fact that Great Britain and the Allies fully understand the Eastern aims of Germany and the importance, of checkmating her plans in this direction. To 5 England this aspect of the war is of especial importance because of the danger threatening Egypt and India . should the German designs succeed. What js not so well understood by the general public is the fact that Turkey, seeing her hold on Europe lessening, has also been* planning to extend her influence in the East, and that this movement is to a large extent inspired and directed by Germany, who intends that it shall ultimately he used to her own advantage. Now and then we get a glimpse of the German designs in this direction. A cable in yesterday's "Press," for instance, stated during the visit of Persian Parliamentarians to Berlin they were told that after breaking down the Russian barrier above Persia, the Germans hoped to breach the British wall to the south and contribute to Persia's prosperity. We have no doubt also that in Afghanistan German propagandists are actively at work. So far as Turkey's part in the'plot is concerned, our readers will rind the subject very fully dealt with in "The Times" at the beginning of this year in a series of articles entitled Y "The Turk Militant," and in a very illuminating paper in the "Round "Table" for December, headed "Tur"key, Russia, and Islam." It is there shown that the oligarchs of Turi£?y, vnder Prussian tutelage, mean to reverse the historic roles. Russia is now to bo the "Sick Man," and whilo Germany fosters anarchist and separatist movements in European Russia, Turkey aspires at linking up and ultimately absorbing the Turkisli-speaking and Mohammedan peoples in Asiatic Russia. Two instruments aro being used with this end ( in view. One is what is known as the Pan-Turanian movement. The writer in "The Times" reminds us that no less than 70 per cent, of the Turkish-speaking population of the world is to be found outside the Ottoman frontier. The Turkish Nationalists, seeking to link all these together, borrowed j the word Turanian from philologists who use it to denote the " agglutinative" group of . languages :: in Nortll -Eastern Europe, Hungary, r ' , and Asia. The Committee of Union and Progress sot on foot a movement to strengthen, tho Turkish nationality |- within tho Ottoman Empire, and to ■ link up the Ottoman Turks with tho Turks in the world. In this coaaezion it will probably astound, and

at tho same time disquietcn many

people, to learn that there are as many Mosloms in Russia as there are inhabitants in Turkey, and twice as many Turks in Russia as there are Turks in Turkey. The Ottoman Government have two weapons to use Pan-Turnnianism and Pan-Islamism, and it is evident they intend to employ them both. But they are far from resting content with such results as may bo obtained by persuasion and propaganda of a peaceful character. Part of their method has been to exterminate the non-Turkish nationalities scattered through tho country hrst the Armenians, and latterly tho Greeks —and to give their lands and houses to "Muhajirs" (Mohammedan refugees from the provinces lost in tho Halkan war, partly Turks, but partly •Slavs from the Balkan peninsula, and Greek-speaking Mohammedans from Crete). One powerful motive loading to the. Armenian massacres was tho fact that the Armenians are an alien block separating tho Oitoman Turks of Anatolia from the Azerbaijanis of Northern Persia and Russian TransCaucasia. The inhabitants of Persia and Afghanistan aro almost wholly Mohammedan, and in the northern districts of both there i.s a considerable Turkish-speaking population. Here tho Turkish Committee of Union and Progross have tried to poso as :< tho liberators of Mohammedan States caught "in the toils of British or Russian " 'Imperialism.' '' Their want of success up to the prosent is duo to tho fact that hitherto Turkey lias suffered military defeat. "If tho Ottoman " armies had marched victoriously into "TiHis, Cairo, and Teheran, or if tho (i Allies had never threatened Con- " stantinople and captured Pan-Islamism might have produced " far-reaching military and political " results." Tho question of the Mohammedans and Turks in Russia is so complex and important as to require a separate article to deal with it, evon in outline. Enough has boon writton, however, to 6how how important it is that while concentrating our main efforts on the Western front, wo should not overlook tho importance of tho operations in the East, or undervaluo the immense importance of tho success at present attending tho Allies' arms in Mesopotamia and Palestine.