The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03
EAGERLY WATCH
 BALKAN EVENTS Some Statesmen Are Look
 ing for Trouble IS CRISIS IN TURKEY Russia Working Toward Peace Be- tween Turkey and ftaly-Italy Is Demanding Annexation and
 Turkey Refuses
IS CRISIS IN TURKEY
By FREDERICK wERER

lv watch events in the always rest less Balkan peninsula, and their anxi- ety is rather greater than usual this year The coming of a crisis in that uneasy corner has long been foreseen by smart political observers. whose claim to be heard Is based on wide ex-
 perience and perfect disinterestedness.
 Whether, as many people imagine, King Nicholas of Montenegro's recent visit to the Czar will prove the pivot In
 the matter seems to me highly doubtful,
 but it is undisputed and indisuptable
 that. whenever the crash does come. the
 Black mountain over which King Nick olas holds sway will prove an important
 factor in the conflicts Of rights, inter
 ests, claims and ambitions of the Bal
 kan states.
 For this reason. the sayings and do
 ngs of the King and his confidentia
 advisers are worthy of attention. The
 language used by the c2ar at the din
 ner in the winter palace was cleal
 enough to any one and needed no eN'
 planation and now Montenegroe' prime
 minister has expressed himself in an in-
 terview in terms so gloomy that they
 ode nothing good for the future.
 Tn spite of the somewhat hopeful
 view taken in diploma.ss circles Min
 ister Gregovitch said. "l personally am
 pessimistic, being convinced that in the very near future storm will burst
 over the Balkan peninsula. The ltalo. Turkish war has created nerve trou- bling atmosphere which may. even with
 out deliberate intention on anybody part. lead to every conceivable kind oi surprises. Absolutely unsolSed and still acute is the Albanian difficulty for the Turkish government has done
 nothing to modify the condition of tho
 Albanians, who have been merely con demned to keep silence But the ques
 tion presses for an answer, Will the, continue inactive for long"
 'Especially deplorable is the state al things in the vilayets of HossoVo ant Skutari. where tho Turkish government has augmented the taxes and thereby increased and intensified the poverty According to our information new band, are continually springing up, and sid' by side with the political bands, gang of highwaymen have been organized the number of which Is computed a
 40oO. The condition of Albania there
 fore. shows no improvement, and vii
 undoubtedly be one cause of the com
 plications now imminent in the Balkan
 peninsula. Many well informed person
 ages, to whom l am accustomed to Ifs
 ten with confidence, hold that Turkey
 is on the eve of a military dictator ship. Possibly this phase may afford ar issue out of the embarrassing deadlock in which Turkey now finds herself The minister's most significant utter
 ance, however turned upon the hope
 ands needs of his own country.
 1 Growing rapidly as Montenegro nov 1 is" he remarked. I've feel ourselves
 greatly hampered and the necessity n
 removing our frontiers further apar
 confronts us at every hands turn. Wha are we to do? l am not disposed [, think that Turkey will increase ou1 territory without more ado. especiall, as the young Turks have declared pub licly that they would not surrender rod of land without war. Now this ques tion of frontiers Is the one crucia problem with which the tyranny of cir cumstances confronts us, and whiel calls for immediate settlement.
 Returning to the Albanian question which stirs us to the very depth,
 may say that the disorders there consti
 tute conhagration which we strove f, avert. We Montenegrins are no longo able 10 sustain the pre- .ure of Albanian immigration. which has already cost IL so dear. When the Albanian troubles first broke out we were promised com pensation by Italy. for example. for th' losses incurred But no,y that we hay, done everything possible to ward Of the peril, we cannot get q positive an swer to our demands. Yet the Albanian uprisings have cost Montenegro heaH, sacrifices. I have dilated at this lengtl
 about Ala banian matters because l. my 1 self. have travelled over the entire coun l try by order of my sovereign, and
 have witnessed with my own eyes th
 revolting scenes enacted thcre. l an
 convinced that we are passing througl
 a mere pause in the Albanian drama
 and the main question is how sool will it terminate?'
 1 In Turkey the electoral struggle be tween the party of union and progress
 and the liberal party has just entered
 upon phase of extreme acuteness an, | importance. The question now in dis pute is one of considerable gravity fo | the whole of the near east. IL Is th,
 maintenance of the supremacy of tb' Turkish nation in Turkey itself
 one of the leaders U, the opposition 1 Lutfi Pikri Bey, in a letter published in the columns of the opposition news paper Seshkilat, advises the Armenian, to leave the party of union and prog ress, which is naturally of a strongly netiOnal tendency, ana 10 1Oin instead the liberal party, which Fihri Bey hold, is the only party which is willing [, come to an agreement with those races which, since the establishment of tn,
 Turkish empire, have been treated a, conquered races.
 This article has given rise to mucl comment and has na tural1y led to vio lent replies being given m unionist pa pers like the Tanin and the Tshighir X writer in the latter journal accuses the leaders of the liberal party of aim ling at an ideal which would result ir fall the government offices, from those of ministers down to the lowest officials being divided among various national. | ities, their holders being appointed b, these different nationalities, while tn. sheik up isamate and the ministry o wakoufs, or pious foundations, woulo be turned into kind of Moslen lpatriarchate without any political or of. | ficial standing.
 As for the Alabanians, l learn from a good source that an agreement will bt reached between the Moslem chiefs ir the north and the Christian chiefs ir the south, both the Albanian Moslems and the Albanian Christians, contin-