THE NEAR EAST.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 March 1922, Page 5

THE NEAR EAST.

SETTLING WITH TURKEY. INDIA INTERVENES. CONCESSIONS URGED. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.— Copyright. Received March 10, 12.10 a.m. London, March 8. The papers comment at length on the Government of India’s despatch appealing for the revision of the Sevres treaty to provide for the evacuation of Constantinople, suzerainty of the Sultan over the holy places of Islam, and the restoration of Ottoman Thrace. The Daily Chronicle points out that though the Indian Government has been urging the necessity for a Near Eastern settlement for the last three years this is the first occasion on which a specific demand has been made. The demands exceed the Turkish expectations, and go further than the authors realise. The grant of Adrianople and Thrace to the Turks would give Turkey and Bulgaria a common frontier, and Jugo-Slavia, Greece and Roumania would at once become alarmed. The restoration of the Sultan’s suzerainty over the holy places—namely, Adrianople, Jerusalem, Medina and Kerbela—would mean the undoing of the whole of the Near Eastern settlement, and the abolition, of the Arab kingdoms of Irak and Hedjaz, and the abandonment of the British mandate over Palestine.

The sensational action of the Government of India in warning the Secretary of State of the essential importance of arranging a treaty with Turkey which will satisfy the Mahommedan religious feeling is featured in the Times. The paper points out that as soon as the Treaty o-f Sevres was sighed it was recognised that certain provisions must be altered. Attention is drawn to the striking accord between the Indian Government’s advice and Lord Northcliffe’s warnings published in the Times. The paper, in a leader, says the mere fact of publication goes far to commit the Government to support the Indian Government, whose views must be adequately considered at the forthcoming Paris conference. Besides religious susceptibilities there are other causes in India’s unrest, especially Gandhi’s agitation. “We trust, therefore, that the news of Gandhi’s arrest .will be shortly received, and the Government of India will adequately punish bis associates,” adds the Times.