OVERTURES TO TURKEY

Evening Star, Issue 23380, 25 September 1939, Page 5

OVERTURES TO TURKEY

NAZI ACTIVITY IN BALKANS DIPLOMATIC BARGAINING AT ANKARA RUMANIA A VITAL FACTOR NEW YORK September 23. The Moscow correspondent of tbe ‘ New York Times : states that the most probable theory of Germany’s gift of territory to Russia concerned RussianGerman policy toward Turkey. Even without war Russia had many reasons to seek to deny British and 1 French passage through the Bosphorus. It is understood that Germany recently inquired of Ankara whether, in exchange for a guarantee of non-invasion of Rumania and any of the Balkan States, she would close the straits to all belligerents. Most probably one reason for the surrender of territory to Russia is the German effort to convince Turkey of her good faith, pointing out that she has surrendered the key to Rumania. If Turkey accepted 1 it would not necessarily violate her engagements with Britain and France, which call for Turkish support only if war breaks out in tbe East Mediterranean. Turkey is obliged to fight only if Italy is allied! with Germany or Germany operates in the East Mediterranean. Theoretically, Turkey would still be able to fulfil her obligations in the event_ of Italian participation, while presenting neutrality of the straits by virtue of a possible Turkish-Soviet agreement. Such a guarantee of neutrality would be serious for Britain and France, enabling Germany to squeeze Rumania of oil and foodstuffs.

The retention of the Soviet reservists, recently mobilised, is probably a prelude to a graver announcement.

MODERN NERO HITLER’S STRANGE MENTALITY DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS "ARTIST" (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 23. (Received September 25, at 8 a.m.) The Government White Paper, giving a record of the diplomatic exchanges between Britain and Germany preceding the war, is proving a best-seller, and copies were being bought yesterday at the rate of 1,000 hourly. The demand continues heavy to-day. Although the documents collected in the volume are primarily for historians’ patient study, general public interest has been deeply stirred by the graphic presentation of the sequence of events in the tragic drama. The curious study in the character and tactics of the Nazi leaders which the documents reveal is another book upon which the newspapers comment. ‘The Times’ says: “The virtues of v the German people as we have learnt to know them in the years when they were permitted to be our friends, and to respect them even when they were our stubborn foes, are pre-eminently those of solidity and sobriety. That they should come to be officially represented by this clique of febrile and hysterical rhetoricians is a bewildering paradox which in less tragic times would be a cause for mirth. But when Hitler describes himself to Sir Nevilc Henderson as by nature an artist, not a politician, laughter is damped by the reflection that the same boast was made by Nero.” ' The ‘ Manchester Guardian * concentrates attention on the exchanges during the last few hours before war, which, it says, reveal that there was scarcely any pretence that the German Government had ever meant to negotiate. The whole world knows Hitler was determined to have a triumph or war. He wanted a gesture from Britain, but that gesture was the surrender of the Polish people at his will.

COFFEE FOR HITLER SEIZURE ORDERED BY CONTRABAND COMMITTEE FURRIER'S SUPPLY " FOR THE DURATION " (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 24. (Received September 25, at 8 a.m.) Some amusement has been aroused by a story obtained from an authoritative source that the Contraband Committee has ordered the seizure for judgment by the Prize Court of 20 bags of coffee, weighing more than two tons, consigned “ Aden to Hamburg, August 12,” and addressed “ His Excellency, .Herr Hitler, President of the Republic of Great Germany. Freight paid.” There is justification of the Leader’s foresight in ordering ample supplies of coffee “ for the duration,” as coffee lb a commodity which the mass of the German people now have to do without in the interests of the Nazi State. HUNGARIAN INTERVENTION TROOPS CROSS POLISH BORDER NEW YORK, September 24. The Rome correspondent of the ‘ New York Times ’ says that Hungarian troops crossed the Polish frontier on Thursday and occupied Sianki, a small town bordering Carpathian Ukraine. The ‘ Giornale d’ltalia ’ declares that episodes .of extreme violence necessitated Hungarian intervention. Soviet troops have arrived on the Russian-Hungariaii frontier.