THE SITUATION IN ASIATIC TURKEY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 178, 6 January 1915, Page 3

THE SITUATION IN ASIATIC TURKEY.

The news that the Turks are massing' m army at Damascus may be accepted as probably true, hut the strength and ■ aggressive power of the force may be exaggerated, and its real objective may x> (liil'ercnt to t-'iat Stated (writes the Auckland Star.) The Druses and Maronites ttT the Lebanon ranges, who have always been a thorn in the side of the Turkish Authorities, are again giving tro«i>lo. The Druses are a mysterious people, whose religion is a strange mixj ture of Mohammedanism and Christian- i ity. They are said to have many of tie 'characteristics of the Scottish Highlanders, and all accounts agree in the striking friendship they have always shown to the British. The Maronites, their neighbors, are orthodox Catholic Christians. Between the Druses and the Maronites a feeling of enmity has long existed, wliicli more than once has ended in open warfare, but they are united in their opposition to the Turks, and liave always resisted the attempt to make them serve in the Ottoman army or to pay taxes. Probably it is their opposition to conscription in the present instance that has caused the trouble. The real objective of the army massing | at Damascus may be the fractious mountaineers of the Lebanon. So long as they prove hostile it is possible that a strong force of Turkish troops will be maintained at Damascus, which is the ,most convenient point for attacking the fastnesses of Lebanon. The attempt to approach the mountains from the west--em side would mean the landing of a j force at Bayrout, the principal seaport i of Syria, an operation which would j most likely end disastrously in view of the probable presence of the Allied i fleets within striking distance. The j .mountains of Lebanon also command the railway from Damascus to the sea, which crosses them, and as the passes might | easily be held by a handful of lilfrdy | mountaineers against a large army, it may perhaps be found necessary to oc- ! eupy the whole of the surrounding country, an operation which would require a considerable force. In any case, whether the army massing at Damas- | cus is destined, partly or wholly, 'for an advance on the Suez Canal or Hot, it certainly suits the Turkish Government to leave their enemieß in doiibt as to the point which is their real objective. By so doing, the British will be-compel-led to maintain a strong force in the neighborhood of the Canal, thus weakening their defence elsewhere. It is officially stated that the British troops in the vicinity of the Canal are sufficient to | defend it from any attack, anil we may take it for granted that this is the case, We know that large nunibers of Indian troops have been passing through the Canal since the outbreak of the war, and the Imperial authorities haye 110 doubt landed such drafts there as have been thought necessary. Many thousands of British Territorials are also in Egypt to-day. The present army in occupation of Egypt is a matter which interests us vitally, as part of the Canal defence force is composed of New Zealanders and Australians, and if any serious attack is made hi that quarter, it is here that they will receive their baptism of fire. The warfare against the Turks and Arabs now advancing southwards will be of a strenuous nature, but Ave need have 110 fear of the result as far as the Antipodean soldiers are concerned. In Asiatic Turkey -Great Britain has great interests at stake. The Smyrna railway, recently prolonged to Koiiia in the interior (where it joins tiie German lines) is a British concern. It has been sequestrated by the Turkish Government, which probably means that it is now being worked by the Germans and the same also is probably the case with the I'rench lines, one of winch also "as its terminus in Smyrna, while another, connecting with the .German Bairdatt railway at Aleppo, runs southwards through Syria, in the zone where the ur,;s are now reported to be massing lor an advance on the canal. On the Turkish coast of the Persian Gulf Brit- ! »'«> German interests have long been HI opposition, mainly owing to the conof the Bagdad railway, a German enterprise, financed and controlled by the 'Deutsche Bank." As British !>'onps have now occupied Basra the prolKiltlp Kontlicrn terminus of this line, t'fu tl)«' ilisi.net north of it ns far jis Ok■•."fluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, I I, likely that the further extension vy till the end of the iiii!. .1 it has not already ceased. The '"ti-.'i occupation of Basra, province. '■ , "' vt ' s I'l' SMire on the adja'v,nmi district of lYrsia, v/'uTr tlic Government has rceenl.lv acqnir- , II ' a. 1,1 .11.. concessions, ;; negotiation !

v | paper, previous <,> t) le . : ■ ■ ■ ' <l,,lar,t] I;i) ]>, as fnr- ..... £!lr . pm .. ' u K 'K'islruvs hr t"i; -r:i. .h a'lministn'tion. Tlio fiiiiir, of As-iaC- Tu?l;..y is „ nrol>!,m I'iciii-h. mill nun pani,.-, vail«;n> in Ili.. nmntrv, j»w.l dm Tlnlmxx nnve also olitai» t «l concessions for new l Ai Hip (trrumi linr. v ""'" n "" i nn ttrVrv thrimali iiie />< Asiil is'lJlo J,-,! I'"' (tiller ! ft■: l S SHl'vlv tu 'I ■"« IV,it. n?r in:-i----i ■■■■■■• I'm, lia-. t:i\ ,;| tl„. C.-ri'ntN » 'l'ftiiHifir.-r pwlilieai j,,' ' : " l if is iiinlilv jiruljulile tlrii 1 ri "r " r w«.r '.-/ ill see a 'Vai),, in (1,, ivklive s;|rcni'tli of for. oi»n political influences in Turkey in Asia.