THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. TURKEY'S THREE TROUBLES.
Baron von der Goltz is one of many distinguished Germans including Moltke—who have served at the headquarters of the Turkish Army. He has written a valuable article in the "Deutsche Rundschau" dealing with the changes in Turkey, and he discusses the three difficulties which Turkey has to overcome. These are covered by the three word?, peace, finance and Arabia, and each deserves a word or two of explanation. If the constitutional system is to have
a fair chance there must be no war J to prevent progress. That is a mat- < ter beyond the power of the Turks '< themselves. It lies, we venture to think, in the hands of Austria-Hung- ,: ary, and to some extent, therefore, ' of Germany, which lias in' the policy of Vienna nearly as much influence as Baron Aehrenthal, who is ultraGerman. Turkish finances have long been in a doubtful condition because there wa3 no general management and no account keeping. Turkey is made upj of many rich lands, and with fair management will be not only solvent but prosperous. But there is, and may be for a year or two a lack of ready money. Given a few years of peace and a general management of finance and Turkey will be financially prosperous. The problem of Arabia is more difficult. Half of Arabia has for years been in revolt; tnerd is an Arab Nationalist movement which has cost Turkey ten thousand lives a year and many times that number of recruits. The Arabs are fanatical, and do not understand the changes in Turkey. Perhaps the right policy for the Turkish Government is to put off the Arabian question as long as possible and to get finance and administration into order. „The Committee of Union and Progress would probably do well not to dissolve itself at present, but to keep together until the Constitution has reached the stage of being in working order. The chief difficulty is not finance nor Arabia, but peace. The best policy for the Sultan is that formulated by Moltke more than half a century ago, before there was any Bulgaria or any independent Roumania. The great strategist's idea « was that the Sultan would never be secure till he was the head of a confederation which should include the small States formerly parts of Turkey, that is, in the terms of to-day, • till he had an alliance with Roumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Servia and Montenegro. That is probably the Sultan's policy.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3124, 26 February 1909, Page 4
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419THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. TURKEY'S THREE TROUBLES. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3124, 26 February 1909, Page 4
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