PASSAGE OF ARMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 120, 23 May 1941, Page 7

PASSAGE OF ARMS

SYRIA TO IRAK

BY RAILWAY VIA TURKEY

ATTENTION DRAWN BY BRITAIN

LONDON, May 21

"Britain has directed Turkey's attention to the passage of arms and munitions from Syria to Irak by the Aleppo-Mosul railway across Turkey," says the diplomatic correspondent of "The Times."

"The Turkish Government, which is apparently more fearful than some of its military advisers, believes that its intervention would result in the Iraki rebels preventing the dispatch of arms to Turkey by the Basra-Mosul route. It does not seem to realise that while the rebellion persists there is no likelihood of the rebels allowing the traffic; moreover, it is most improbable that Germany and Italy would sanction such a concession. The isolation of Turkey is an important part of the Axis plan for conquest of the Near and Middle East, and the less wellarmed Turkey is, the easier it will be to isolate hex*.

"The conversations between Russia and Germany are believed to include the question of an agreement at the expense of Turkey or Iran (Persia), or both."

TURKISH CONFIDENCE IN BRITAIN,

The Ankara correspondent of "The Times" says the Turks would like to see more action in Irak, but they are fairly confident that the British will be able to prevent a German conquest either of Irak or Syria, provided that there is no unexpected intervention by a third party. This refers to Russia, and the possibility is mentioned of Russia giving German troops a