BRITAIN'S POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1922, Page 5

BRITAIN'S POLICY.

HER ACTIONS EXPLAINED. MENACE OF BIC WAR. STEPS TO CHECK SPREAD. STATEMENT BY PREMIER.’ By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Sept. 24, 5.5 p.m. London, Sept. 23. Mr. Lloyd George summoned newspaper men to No. 10, Downing Street, and made a statement. He thought it desirable, in view of misapprehension of the character of the difficulties in the Near East, to state the actual facts ot the position. He said any action the Government had taken was not concerned with the merits or demerits of the Graeco-Turkish : dispute, which was a matter for determination by a conference between the ; Allies and the belligerents. The presI ent action was dictated by two supreme i considerations. The first was our anxiety regarding the freedom of the seas between the Mediterranean and the ■ Black Sea. The closing of the Straits i by a Power which owed more to Britain , and France than any other two Powers i did was an act of perfidy which was directly responsible for the collapse of Roumania. our most powerful ally in | that quarter of the globe, and had the effect of prolonging the war at least two | years. 1 It was an essential condition of the I world’s peace that there should be an i effective guarantee of the freedom of these seas in future, and if peace were signed without the achievement of that object it would be equivalent to defeat. Britain was taking no separate action, but was simply carrying out what was agreed upon by the Allies in 1918. Her chief object then and now was to prevent an exceptionally horrible war spreading into Europe. If an army which could not be restained by its chiefs from perpetrating the outrage committed at Smyrna were permitted to cross into Europe and occupy Constantinople. where there were hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Greeks ana many tbousaands of European nationals, there was every reason to fear th pre would be a repetition of these terrible incidents. If. the war spread to Thrace, where national rivalries between the Turks and the Greeks existed, and where there were Serbs and Bulgarians, ; there might be a conflagration which would spread with a fire not easily extinguished. BRITAIN’S IMPARTIALITY. It must not be forgotten that the Great War began in the Balkans, and the war in Asia Minor must not spread to Europe. Britain had therefore strengthened her position at the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus in order to maintain the freedom of the Straits and prevent the spread of the fire which had devastated Asia Minor. They did not want the fire to cross the narrow seas and light the dry tinders in the Balkans. Emphasising British impar r tiality. the Premier pointed out that General Harington (Allied Commander-in-Chief at Constantinople), sent Kemal the same proclamation as he gave to the Greeks some time ago when the latter brought up a division in order ' to cross the Chatalja lines, held by the French. Although the Greek move would have been a formidable counter-stroke to the Turk menace at Smyrna, the Greeks would have had to cross the neutral zone. The British Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces therefore warned the Greeks in identically the same terms as he now warned Kemal, and British troops moved up to the Chatalja lines to support the French. It was suggested that Britain was provokmg a conflict by continuing to occupy Chanak. Military experts were of opinion that the continued occupation of Chanak was essential to maintain the freedom of the Straits. “We do not wish to hold Gallipoli or Chanak in the interests of the British Empire,” added the i Premier. “We do not claim that Britain • alone should have the responsibility of | controlling this area. We believe these important shores should be held under the League of Nations in the interests of all the nations alike.” The freedom of the was a matter of life and death to Roumania, and equally so to i Russia. MASSACRES BY TURKS. The Turks in Asia Minor were responsible in 1914 and in the early months of 1915 for a million and a half deaths of Christians. There was no provocation and no rising against Turkish rule; it was a wanton, cold-blooded massacre. The Allies felt obliged in 1918 to ensure that there should be no recurrence of these murders. and for that reason the mandates commission introduced the Greeks, who had a mandate for south-eastern Ana- ■ tolia, and exchanged M. Venizelos for I King Constantine. The sequel was very severe criticism of the choice. Britain I would do her best to obtain an immediate peace conference of all the Powers. To avert a repetition of Smyrna—a heap of ruins—being permitted to cross to Europe, peace must be established. An appeal was addressed to Australia and New Zealand because they had ft special interest in the defence of Gallipoli. They had sacrificed thousands of their most heroic sons in order to achieve the freedom of the Straits, and the Government felt that when this ■freedom was challenged Australia, and New Zealand had a right to associate themselves with any action taken to maintain what it had cost them so much to achieve. “Whatever happens at the peace conference. we shall not abandon the policy of securing the freedom of the Straits,” declared the Premier. “I do not mean securing it by a treaty depending on the caprice of any Government there may be at Constantinople. We had the promise of the freedom of the Straits before 1914, but German intrigues overcame not merely promises, but also real Turkish interests. Future security, therefore, must he reliable and effective.” — Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.