THE TURKO-GERMAN SPLIT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1918, Page 2

THE TURKO-GERMAN SPLIT.

;tfR WI'LFORD ON POSSIBILITIES OP REPORTED BREACH. Wellington, August 1. At tha conclusion of his remarks at the conferenca of the Harbor Hoard's Association yesterday, the Bon. T. M. Wilford referred to itho cajbled report that Turkey had broken relations with Germany. Reuter's agency, lie said, had told us that Turkey had 'cut the painter' from Germany." The result of- this news, of true, is at present incalculable," said Mr WilfOTd ; ''the influence ou the German public attitude towards the war will be astonishing. Germany is largely a country of business men, Who are not carrying the strain and burden of tills war for national glory only. World power for them means larger markets.. Tiiia is their justification for the suffering and sacrifice they are making. Remove this object, and justification of this war to them ia gone. How does the German commercial mim look at the question? He iook s for an Ottoman Empiro within the German Vollverln. Turkey is bis goal, and'the excuse for (.Heir iosses. Asia Minor, including Anatolia, are tbe prizes he seeks. Turkey he thinks to-day his best German colony. It is the market he thought the Paris Conference could not affect. It is one immense reservoir of raw materials. Turkey, says Vladimar J.nbotinsky, is the ultima spes of the (jewiKin ibusiness man. In Naumann's 'Mittel Europe' Turkey is the alternative to oveiseas expansion, tfio vital link, the spring of the clockwork. If you strike it successfully the whole Eastern Ottoman Empire dream collapses, and Egyptian and African dominance crumbles into dust. Turkey is :iot onlv on ally whose collaipse would weaken Germany's strength; it is the mason for her acts and moves, for the Serbian ultimatum, and the declaration of war- The mobs in the streets of Gernisnv may be dazzled by the German troops camping in Belgium, France or Poland; the leading men of Germany know that Belgium must be .restored after the war. What encourages the Junker?, the ITohenzollerns, .and tib» ■financiers' > 3 Wle Berlin a«<l Bagdad route via Constantinople," and the rich districts of Anatolia. The invasion of Anatolia or the occupation of it under agreement, would mean the loss of all that makes the war worth while for Germany. In conclusion, do not forget that the route of this war plague is Asia Minor The 'Nineteenth Century" of IMS said that the present war was waged for the control of Asia Minor. Tbe Balkans are the ante chambers leading to Asia Minor and farther. Germany lias tried to swallow Turkey as a whole, but we hope if the news is true that Turkey last seen through the ruse. In conclusion let mo predict that Turkey will never euffcr for long the predominance of one foreign Power This, I think, the Allies realise."