Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-18
PENDING PEACE In The BALKANS

Or King Nicholas at Vienna 10 not nat
tering. And there is ample reason.
mated Austria in her deeply laid scheme
10 make Albania an Austrian dependence.
which Is now improbable OF achievement
Let US turn our gaze for brief
note the current of recent events IN
that country. During the first ar
misttce Gen. Sspof. the Bulgarian gem
strengthened the APP
side. and when the Turks attempted a
landing at Charkue. and other points
they were completely surprised and
overwhelmed. and were repuised with
great loss. There is reason to believe
that Gen. Savof has been quite as
vigilant during the last interval pre-
pairing for any emergency. and any ef-
fort on the part of the Turks 10 re-
cover territory from which they have
been driven by an uninterrupted series
may be remarked. refers only to
Tchatalja. to which place the heavy
siege guns or Adrianople have been
removed. ready, IL need be- TO open
the road to Ccnstantinople.
But IL is not alone disbursement
which confronts the Turk at Tchataija:
there is another dread fear that pursueS
him. the fear OF revolution and disaster
I'm Anatolia- Already there are signs ~
an the vilayets of Hadjin
Bitlis- and birmingham tArmenisl. Tur-
khan Pasha, ambassador at ST. Peters
burg. was instructed TO cause measures
to be taken by the Russian authorities
against the contraband traffic I'm arms
Many notable Armenians of oriental Ar
menia have represented 20 the author
titles the deep agitation that reigns among
Turks and kurds. who threaten the Ar
menians with massacre. Such an event
would inevitably precipitate the interven-
ton OF Russia. Thus Turkey. with char
acteristic procrastnation. may be con-
fronted at any moment with a question
of Anatolia when the question OF Turkey
is still TO be balanced.
This question OF Anatolia is a vital one
for Turkey, since il is there, having lost
the greater part OF her
Question of territory an Europe she
A.a+o,;o must endeayor TO re-estab-
lish her power. There are
signs that the Arabs Of Syria are disaf-
fected. as shown in the recent incidents
OF revolt at Beirut and the adjacent
viiayets. The Arabs have conceived the
idea of a federation which bodies no good
to the Turkish administration. which has
been VIGOROUSLY corrupt and inefficient.
Mahmoud Chevkat Pasha, grand vizer. is
aware OF the danger that threatens and
to avert it has caused an imperial decree
to be issued recoghz.ng the Arab de-
mands. among which is the admission
OF the Arab language in the schools and
tribunals. from which il has been hereto
fore excluded.
The grand vizier has followed the de-
cree by the establishment of a mission
to execute the proposed reforms. and
Hairi Bey. ex-mlnister of Evkaf. has been
designated as the chief. He is likewise
charged with the settlement Of certain
agrarian questions. which means the
restitution of lands taken forcibly from
the Armenians by the kurds. The COM
mission. II should be added. although
but must wait. upon some incident to
stir to action the ever-procrastinating ad-
ministration bureaus When the incident
occurs Hairi Bey's mission may be an
ticipated by Russian occupation-Rus-
sian troops having been already with
drawn from Persia with the object of re-
pressing outbreaks which are already
threatened along the Caucasian frontier.
1t will be recalled that Kiamil Pasha
as far back as the 18th OF January last
favored the termina-
klamll PaSha tion of the war, Q
r.~,or.I p. manifestly hopeless
Favored feace. struggle, by the ces-
sion of Adrianopie. Turkey could then
have kept Thrace from the line OF the
Martha and the Erguene. Janina.
Adrianople and Scutari would thus have
escaped the taking by assault and the
needless loss OF life. the loss of a thou
sand cannon and an immense war ma
terial. which might have been saved by.
transaction. The resistance of these
strongholds had already attested the VAL
or of the Turkish soldier and the honor
of the military had been made sufficient
ly manifest.
Fifty thousand soldiers dead and wound.
ed or hopelessly manned by frozen limbs.
to say nothing of the millions in money,
constitute the forfeit The unionist cab
met assumed this grave responsibility
without the slightest hope. in the judg-
ment of Turkeys best and most expert
enced generals. of retrieving the lost ter
ritories. kiamil Pasha was overthrow
by the spectacular Enver Bey and Tur-
keys fate was sealed hopelessly.
Ii is announced from constantinople
that preparations are being made TO pro-
vide transportation for the Turkish army
from yuk-Tchekmedjeh to Asia Minor.
The Turkish war department in making
this arrangement had in mind the danger
of taking a defeated army anywhere near
Constantinople, the more so that il was
there that the union.sts assassinatcd their
beloved commander-in-chief Nazim
Pasha
In this interval of five years of revolt
and revolution. what. il may be asked.
has become OF the constitution. which
Abdul Hamid rightly foresaw was some
thing of an Internal machine in Turkish
hands? The Turkish journals the Terdu-
mani Hakikat and the Tasviri- Evkia ar ex-
and suggest the neces-
sity of a strong centralized power
=
The Tanine's confession contains lesson
which may serve some advanced people
in Europe who have been
Religion distinguished as persecu-
tors of religion. The
Suggesteo. famine has been the prin-
cipal unionists' organ: il reminds Turks
that they are before all else the essence
of Islamism and suggests that now they
should turn to religion.
The tone OF the Turkish press Is
pitiaole 1t manifests despair and
in the realization that
Islamism has failed TO grasp the ideal
Ii had placed so high.
But the Young Turks may pluck
victory from defeat" in the peace con-
ference to which they are now send
ing delegates There they may ma
that the peace which is being imposed
upon them by the strong arms or tne
Balkan allies Is for fact being adj