CONSTANTINOPLE

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1920, Page 3

CONSTANTINOPLE

SHALL THE TURKS STAY?

By Lovat Fraser

•A tremendous controversy has suddenly arisen in Great Britain upon the

question of the future of Turkish sover. , eignty in Europe.. Are,the Turkish Government to continue in control of Constantinople, or are they to be banished by Asia? The deepest feeling lias been aroused, and yet the dispute is almost entirely devoid of political partisanship. It cuts right athwart party divisions, and low have sought to make party capital out of it. The issue is said to have at first divided the Cabinet. It is being argued throughout the land upon historical, moral, and practical grounds. Even the experts quarrel furiously among themselves, according to their wont. I should say, though it is rather a guess, that on the whole public feeling in this country favours the extinction of Turkish rule on JEufopeau soil. Ever , since Mr Asquith’s Liberal Government wore demented enough to pro- , mise Constantinople to the old Czardon), (while handling hundreds of mil-

lions to the importunate M. Lark mid the Russian Treasury) our people have accustomed themselves to the thought' that when the horrors of peace overtook us the Turks were to be told to go and keep goats on the windy uplands of Anatolia, in Asia Minor. “The Turk must go” was a phrase which became a kind of watchword, 1 should be sorry to have to count up how often I have written the words myself in the last five years. Mr Lioyd George was all for expulsion, save for

one brief interlude when lie tried (quite justifiably) to dangle the retention of their capital before the Turks as a bait to induce them to surrender. Only last. December he declared that they were unfit to remain the keepers of the "arrow gate which leads to the Black Sea,

Now we are told that the Supreme Council have decided that the Turks are to keep Constantinople, a policy which both France and Italy have always favoured. It is quite evident that a majority of the British Cabinet must, after a good deal of wavering, have given their previous assent to this decision, i Tiie arguments of those who hold that Turkish rule should bo extinguished in Europe are primarily derived from his- 1

tory. They urge that Turkish rule is a Wight and that it is inimical to civilisation. They point out that the Turks have been a curse to the Balkan peoples, that they have lived by rapine and oppression, and that they have been the cause . cj half tjlie wars of Europe. If Europe owes its religion, to, Asia, the present backward condition nf Eastern Europe, is due tc\ (he nntuenaorini conflict between the two continents. Invasions from Asia checked the rise of civilisation ip Russia and stifled (he Balkan nations f«r hundred*, of years. The broad historical tendency of Europe has been to yxpel the Turks, The advocates qf expulsion further point out, with justice, that though, in the nineteenth century Great Britain shielded the Turks, national sentiment regarding them has long been, mn dergoing a change. Thy horrible, nttemtps to, c,x ter in ina te tile. Armenian people, which are qov being renewed, alienated British sympathies. The Turkish revolution was hailed with satis-

faction, but. Enver Pasha and bin associates soon proved to be move erne), more corrupt, and rnp.ro treacherous than Abdul - the Damned, When they hound Turkey band and foot to the German wa’i'-eliariot, and dragged her into the arena ali Britain said that Turk-

ish dominion in Europe must cease. | There are other powerful considerations which seem to suggest that expulsion is imperative. While the Turkish flag flies over Constantinople, the, city (it is said) will always, be at pney a cesspool of intrigue and an object of. cqvy.tou.s desiry. Enver and Talaat apd the rest of fhe infamous gang which sold fho Turkish nation will try to regain control. The rebel general, Mustnpha Kemal Pasha,' who has raised strong forces in.'Asia Minor, will endeavour to make his way to the capital. Greece and Bulgaria and even Bolshevist Russia can hardly help striving to obtain possession of so incomparably a strategic position, And how- can the Allies “internationalise’ 1 the passage to the Black Sea unless the capital is placed under international control? Von Treitschke (we all pretend to have read him nowadays) said quite truly that “the Bosphorus is the High street of Constantinople.” Without possession of the capital you might as well try to “internationalise” the Thames from Richmond to the More.. I sympathise with these views and with many other forcible, contentions of a .similar kind; and yet at long last I ■o'most reluctantly changed my mind and come to fhe conclusion that the Turks had better bo allowed to remain ill their capital. My principal reason

can he stated in three words, T want j peace. When I said during the war that “the Turks must go,” I assumed that at least they would be given reasonable breathing space in Asia Minor. Yet consider what their banishment as now proposed would mean. Thy, Alfies would have to take, possession of both sides of the Bosphorus and the Dnrda- • .lies apd of the Asiatic coast of the Rea of Marmora. The Greeks are in Smyrna—in my view most unwisely, even in tlieir own interest. Their, presence there will involve them in constant conflict, and I think they ought to have Adr/niiople instead. Then there- will be the Italians in Dal in, another provocative arrangement. To the south-east the coast of Syria is to be held by France wwhile the British are to control Palestine. Some of these proposals are irrevocable; others are not. I can see an endless prospect of local warfare in such a disposition of Turkish territory, but not a gleam of permanent peace. The Turks are a race of warriors, and they will perish fighting io the last rather than submit to be hemmed in and politically stifled on the Anatolian plateau. They will probably unite with tho Russian Bolshevists, and what will then become of the proposed new State of Armenia, which all desire to create but none are willing to help? No, that Is not the pathway to peace.

It would lie far better to leave the Turks in possession of their capital and of that corner of the Balkan Beninsula which, lies behind a line drawn from 'Enos’ to Midia ; to make the passage to the Black Sea free to the ships of all nations; to destroy the fortifications of the -Straits, and to forbid the Turks to keep troops or artillery or aircraft in Europe; to let them retain most of Asia Minor, while handing over the provinces of Erzeruin, Bitlis, and Van to the Armenians; and to ask the French to protect the Armenians in Oilicia. At Constantinople the Turkish Government can lie kept in order by the Allied Fleets, should occasion arise, but our warships c annot sail over the AntiTaurns mountains. I fear these views will liot be acceptable to many, but though I cannot here expound them fully, I believe some such solution would allay the excitement which is now convulsing the Maliommedan world.

1 do not advocate this policy from any delerence to the views of the Mahommednns of India, though they cannot be. ignored in this matter. I urge it he-! cause I am convinced that to thrust the Turkish Government out of,Constantinople and to expect them to sit down in the middle of Asia Minor while European Bowers are seizing all their coasts is to ask for trouble. We shall probably be involved in much trouble in any case, but that is the quiche way to find it.

A,s for the Indian MaJiommedans, as one who helped'to found the Indian Moslem League 1 may claim to know something about them. Their interest in the Sultan and in Turkey is in some respects not very real. When the late Sultan Abdul Hamid appealed for subscriptions for the Hedjaz Railway it

took him nine years to get £IB,OOO out of. Mussumlan, India, and one-third of that sum came from Rangoon. I should have said, and am still inclined to believe, that if Turkish rule was suppressed in the last corner of Europe there would be a wild outcry, in-.the Indian mosques,- which would gradually sulk side; but I have not visited India, since the war, and others now on the spot take a more serious view.

In any case, it is of no avail to say that the Indian Mahommedans have no right to attempt to dictate policy in other countries., just as it is beside Uve mark to advance scholarly arguments to prove that the Sulfap is i\ot the true Khalifa, that rft aV*.Y ease this is a pure-: lv temporal and. not religious issue, that] Constantinople is not a Holy {jityy and, that the Indian subjects el the 1 KingEmperor cannot divide their temporal | allegiance- between two monarchs. We : have to deal with the situation as wo j find it. a\\d the essence of it is that to j leave the Turks in Constantinople under severe restrictions, while throwing! open the Straits, is the shortest way to: peace in the-Near and Middle East, j Whatever is done, do not try and bo I logical about it. The. East is not logi- j cal. That is why, like war, it is always ; so hilt of surprises, I