RECENT LITERATURE.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 October 1922, Page 4

RECENT LITERATURE.

TURKEY AND GREECE. ■ln view of ’flie events which me even now in progress in tho Near Last •‘The Western Question in Greece and Turkey,” by Professor Arnold J. Toynbee, arrives at a most opportune moment. Professor Toynbee can speak, with peculiar authority on this subject. He .is a- '.historian who for king has specialised in the study of Near Eastern questions. Just before the Balkan wars he travelled extensively in Greece and the Aegean. During, the Great War ho edited a “Blue Book” j relative to the treatment of the Armenians by Turkey, and throughout the war worked on Turkish affairs in -various Government departments and bureaux. Last year he spent nine months in Greece and Asia Minor; his journey took him far into the interior and led him to places whose names have since been made fa-miliar to us l,y the cablegrams. lie, if anyone, is in a position to see all sides of the question, and his hook is air invaluable aid to a clear understanding of the issues involved, and of the things that have happened in the Near East. Professor Toynl.ee is net afiaiil of wounding national susceptibilities.' He dispenses blame ail round with an unsparing hand and if he is severe the | reader cannot but admit, that he is i absolutely impartial. He rebukes the Allies, the Greeks, and the Turks alike The Philheilenes, smarting under his indictment of Greece, can, at any rate, take some comfort from the fact that he deals no less faithfully with the i Turks. If British policy has been in- ! judicious, France is by no means guiltless. For neither Britain nor France nor Italy can sny that tile other’s policy was responsible for the crisis which hi ought Europe to the brink of another war. Their responsibility was joint; all were in it together. For all the trouble Lliat has subsequently arisen in the Near East can he traced to ail initial blunder of the Supreme , Council, which autlioriesd the Greek I landing at Smyrna in May, 1919. The I fate of the Ottoman Empire was still ] in suspense. More than a year was to pass before the terms of the Treaty of Sevres were published. The Turks, stunned by their catastrophic defeat were in a mood to take their gruel philosophically. It was generally understood that tile Smyrna, zone would i lie -assigned to Greete. hut the Greece feared or affected to fear that Italian | troops would anticipate her in tha l quarter. On the plea that order must j he maintained in Smyrna (although, according to Professor Toynbee, there was no disorder and no prospect of it). M. Venizelos induced the Supreme Council to consent to the occupation of Smyrna by the Greeks. Their arrival i was the signal for what may be eupli- : emistienllv described as a “domoni stration” by the Greek civil population. Unarmed Turks were mobbed and Turkish, property was looted. A feeling of resentment against the Greeks was aroused, and the incident. and its sequel played into the hands of flic Nationalists. The Turks ns a nation, and the nni mirity of Moslems as their ee-religinn- ! ists, regarded (he invasion of Anatolia : as ;i gross outrage, which stimulated a i. war weary people into making a ivsj sinuate and in the end a successful rei sistnnee. Kemal Pasha was quick to exploit the revival of the spirit of the , Turks. TTrul there been no landing at ' Smyrna, or had flic landing not I ron j accompanied by the license and dis- ! order in which tho Turks suffered, the | rerent history of Die Near Fast might i have been very different. Professor Toynlme does not for a moment condone tho atrocities and persecutions, which have occurred so frequently in the Near East, but ho insists that tho Turks are by no means the onlv ones who should lie held accountable. The Greeks cannot claim that where their nationals have been wronged they have always been inoffensive victims of Turkish malevolence. Atrocities by one side have provoked reprisals by the other, and these have been followed by counter-reprisals. Given tlie opportunity, tbe Greeks have been every bit as unrestrained as the Turks. Professor Toynbee sees in the Near East something more than tho setting of a war between two nations. It is the scene of a conflict between two civilisations-. Greece represents Near Eastern culture, while Dio civilisation of ’I iirkey is essentially that of the Middle East. The westernisation o

Turkey has been very superficial. Turkey “has borrowed more technique than ideas, more military technique than administrative, more adniinjstra- \ live than economical and education- | nl.” Turkey has mobilised armies up- . an a Western scale, and equipped them with western weapons, .hut the rirranginents for their sanitation am. still entirely ea,■stern. Upon the Turkish ethics the Occident lias made, little impression. There i.s always a danger in pouring new wine into old bottles, especially when the pouring is done in a precipitate and clumsy fashion. 11l any case Professor Toynbee i~ bv no means certain that thu westernisation of Turkey ?o far as it has gone has ,’ieen nil )idvantage. Western idrnls and principle?* are very olten inapplicable to the circumstances of the East. Thus, the principle of nationality asserted hv-'the West depends upon the prevalence of solid block? ol population speaking a common Inn- , gunge. This condition is unusual in j the countries generally known as the j Near East. These are perpetually drawing into their focus fresh rein- : Torccmeiits rj population from ail quarters. Community of language is. therefore, a very unsatisfactory basis of political demarcation. Moreover, j, where there is so little homogeneity j among the people the task of adminis- : rtntion must inevitably he an extreme- j ly delicate one, and it was here that j the Supreme,Council displayed a, do-j piornhle lack of judgment. The man- I data given to Greece to govern a ; mixed population in which one ole- i ment was her own nationality, '‘would ■ have been a difficult test, in parallel . circumstances, for the most exporien- • ceil Western Power. It was wanton rashness to make such an experiment j at Turkey’s expense, and after the ex- > periment had prove a failure, it show- 1 e<l blind prejudice and partiality on the part of A\estern Governments that they should continue to give Greece ( material and moral support in her on- , terprise as an apostle of their eivilisa- j tiun.”

ProftHsnr Toynbee thinks that the so-called “Pan-Lslantic menace” is

greatly exaggerated, hut nevertheless he is concerned at tine effect which a policy of sacrificing Turkey on the altor of Greek ambition might have upon the Aliddlu least. Ihe Aliddle Eastern world feels affection and esteem for the Turks, and is interested in their welfare “because the Ottoman Empire combines several features which Middle Eastern opinion values. Turkey is an independent Middle Eastern State, much stronger than Persia and much more civilised (in the W 05t-,..-ii ns well as in the Eastern sensei than Afghanistan. In fact, she is the only idillr Easttfrn State which, in a world dominated hv the West. and more and more organised on \\ estern lines, can still play the part of »■ great Power. It is not realised that Turkey has not been a great Power since, A.I). 1771. .. . After all. Turkey, dominated though she is by A\ estern Powers and loret'd in self-preservation to find a. modus viveudi with Western civlisation, is still independent in n very important, sense 1 . .Slit 1 can accept sonic Western elements and reject others; choose her own way of adapting what she borrows; and take her own time. . . • Ibis is just what is denied to the Middle Eastern populations under British. French, Dutch, or Italian administration. In dependencies ol' Western empires the process is guided by the ruling power. . . But there is :i strong feeling in the Aliddle East that at any rate in mu' leading Middle Eastern country the problem englit to he worked out independently by" the people themselves. Sunshine cannot he replaced by excellent aitiliri:il light. 11l the eyes of other Alosloms an independent Ottoman empire i?i a precious window (it iu od not lie a very large one) through which a few rays of natural sunshine still reach the Aliddle Eastern world. Many W cstern readers who are aware ol the misdoings, and only of the misdoings of (he Ottoman Turks will fee! all this fantastic. Nevertheless. Moslem «eiiiiMK'Ut about I urkev is not only genuine. hub reasonable. There is a pussibilitv here ol a v> rv serious misunderstanding between the \\ esfern and Aliddle Eastern worlds.