The Dominion. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1914. ON THE VERGE OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2177, 16 June 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1914. ON THE VERGE OF WAR

While it is still possthte that the maintenance of. pe4fto irt that unrestful corner of Europe may not ks beyond the resources, of international diplomacy, another war tn the. Balkans seems w©U fijgli inevitablft. Turkey and Greece arc almait afe c*cb other's, throats, andfitfe •Albanian problem,' Which has for §offlo tijftG been a source of miiEfe anxiety to the Great Powers, grows in seriousness. It has considerably eraWfetercd the relations between Austria ; and Italy, while Kussiii -anti _ Germany have been looking o.q, with their hands upon their sworcls. l v li:e harsh treatment which is boiiig nicted oat to Greeks living ip Tttrkis-h territory has thoroughly! exasperated Greece, and it is stated that war with Turkey caftnot he avciidscL There is no dcruiif; lhat the Twkisfe authorities have been .afiting in a high-handed a,nd pravoeative manner., Indeed,, over since thg- conetusion of the'wai ,: 'with th& Balkan Allies the Turks see-m tft have-sst. work systematkally with the object of regaining as ittmk .as passible of their lost territory. Taking adftintage. of the quarrels of the Allks, they returned to Adi'ianople and have remained there in fl-pite of threats and protests. They realise low utterly unprepared they Were fdr the last war, and hope that by a'renewal of the conflict they may regain a- Iftrg.e' part of the territory whieh ttiejr conquerors havu .taken, from then). They have already had the ■ satisfaction of seeing 'the Allies fighting over the spoil., and they have also witnessed the defeat and fettiailiation of the Bulgarians who had done more than any of t-hs others to weaken the foothold of' Turkey \& Europe.. On tlie pr&ViOus occasion the Turks had to face a powerful Alliance, but now at is not at afl sure that Greece would gst assistance from any 'of the neighbouring peoples. It looks as though the Porte was determined to. (lelilitfrately provoke '.a stniggtn with Urecmr Unless the (l.reaC Powers peremptorily intervene another blaxo may b:« started, and it is impossible to wjy how far it may spread. /At the begin' ning of the present liiontli the London Times declared that fresh dangers were gatliamig, and if the present rivalry among the Balkan States continued it must, almost certainly end in war, or hankrwptcy, or botli. Recent ownts point to an early fulfilment of this pvodiclion.

The Powers recently issued a -joint declaration that complete equality- in matters of religion nncl. language must be given tp.tho various s.crtimb of the population pf Albania, ami

similar protection of the rights of minorities in other parts of ilia Peninsula seems to be the only way of preventing another war. The Greeks are being ruthlessly persecuted in Thrace, in spite of the promises. of the Turkish authorities to establish a more jttsi administration. It was stated a few weeks ago that the Ecumenical Patriarch had appealed to the_ Emperor of Russia asking for protection for the Orthodox Christians. The policy of Turkey seems to be to force the Greeks to emigrate in order to removes them from (strategic points in the vicinity of Constantinople and the Dardanelles., and this form of persecution has now brought about the most serious crisis since the war. The Turks are not, the only offenders as regards the ill-treatment of minorities. Greece has been driving the Turks out of portions of her territory, and Servia has expelled Bulgarians from her slice of Macedonia. Very hitter _ racial and religious! animosities have thus been stirred up, and unless something is done to allay the growing fecliag'of'irritation, it is difficult to see how war can be averted. The Sofia correspondent of tho Times recently stated tlmfc "the present unsettled state o' the greater part of the Balkan Peninsula arid the deplorable conditio!.) of the. various subject races .rmtst beregarded., as the inevitable outcomo of- the Treaty of Btikarest; while the state of affairs' in Eastern Thrace is due in the first instance to the conduct of the Powers, wlio sold the Treaty of London for Turkish baksheesh. The action of the .Pow&rg on 'behalf of Greek, partisans of Epirus at least constitutes 'a. precedent for interferon*** an behalf of the much larger minorities elsewhere," If, remains to be sees wie» thter thc.ro is sufficient unanimity among the Powers to make concerted action possible at the present time.