Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-06-04
TURkS.A@ +,
GREEK CnURCd
MANY PEOPLE PUT TO
A BECAUSE OF
THEIR PRINCIPLES. ), .
Y >, 1T WIZ II
DEMONSTRATION
The Balkan War Still Causes a
Great Deal of Trouble
in Europe.
BRITISH DEMONSTRATION

uUNlJON, June lille tTOuDISH
of Mexico and Ulster have wholly
overshadowed public interest in the
near East during recent months. But
the formal. ending of the Balkan war
has brought no rest to that long suf-
fering region. Thrace, Macedonia
and Albania are boiling with racial
and religious strife. Stories of fight
ing, persecution and of massacres
come to the London papers from
many correspondents, and are printed
in small type with little comment.
Europe has come TO accept, these
conditions as a matter of course.
Albania Causes Change.
The changes of boundaries and Of
sovereignty which resulted from the
peace treaties, and the launching of
Albania as an autonomous state. are
responsible for the new era of the
struggle and butchery. Every power
concerned in the new allotments is
trying to impress not only its laws
but its own state religion upon those
who have become its subjects, if the
current historians are to be believed.
Forcible Conversion.
Forcible Conversions by whole
sale seem the order of the day. Be.
tween the Christian and the Mussul.
man dispensations. between Greeks,
Turfs,e %Bulgarials, Roumanians. Sery-
ianS and Albanians, there Is little
choica of standards of civilization.
Much OF the information comes from
Athens which presents events only
from the standpoint Of Greek inter-
ests; much is disseminated by the
newspapers of. Vienna, which is a.
fountain of canards.
Trying to Drive Out Greek. =,
The Turkish government is deter,
mined to drive the whole Greek POM
lation from Thrace, according, to az,
counts frcm Greek SOURCES 1T has.
organized a campaign of, oppression
which is making life impossible for
people of Greek affiliations in tha
country about. Kirk Kilisse, Lulu.
Burgas and all the land which Bgt
earia conquered in the first war, and
lost through the, final treaty. BY
Greeks is meant the adhereRts Of the,
Greek church, since nationality Is re.
cognized as following relision rather
than blood in those regions. ~:
Prosecutions Continue. i4a
The Greeks are pictured as having
as desperate times in Thrace under
the rod of the Young Turk, as the
Bulgarians had in Macedonia under
Abdul Hamid. The methods of ter.
rorism are the same.
Irregular troops, who get their liv-
ing by loot, and bands of so-called
bri2ands. all supposed to be acting
under inspiration from Constantine.
ople, are over running the country.
Burning villages light the sky, as dur
ing the days Of war; cattle and sheep
are driven away; pil.age, and ravish-
ing go on. Life is made so i1toller-
able that Greek Inhabitants are glad
to escape to the q coast with what
bundles they can carry on their
backs. Athens reports that rs 900
refugees have arrived at Salonika by
ships, and that $1,000 more are wait
ing on the coast to get away.
British Minister demonstrates.
J The head of the Greek church at
Consta1tinople persuaded the British
Ambassador to demonstrate with the
Sublime Porte, and orders were tele-
graphed to the local governors, to
repatriate all refugees. Truth" says
that these orders were meant only for
the Ambassadors benefit, and that
the governors were given the word
secretly to disregard them. That
was a familiar strategem of the old
Turkish diplomacy, when pressure
from the Powers became too acute to
be ignored. 4
The Greek government, on its part,
does not lack enterprise at oppres.
sion, II witness from non-Greek
sources be credited. Restrictive laws
against the Jews in Salonika have
been made so strong that 10000 are
leaving that once prosperous port.
The battalions of Greeks from Thrace
seeking asylum, and of departing
Jews, number between two and three
thousand persons daily, so that all
shipping is crowded and the normal
life and business are as much dis.
turbed as they were during the days
of the war. An important factor Of
the upheaval is that both the Greeks
of Thrace and the Jews Of SalOnika
were the most prosperous peopAes in
those communities. and their expul-
sion means disaster and rdfn'to both.
Troublesome Honeymoon. :.
Meanwhile the new ruler Of A.
bania, Princess. william of WED who
bears the title Mpret, Is having q
troublesome honeymoon with hts do
main. Civil war, which customarily
is the chief industry Of that more
than half barbarous principality is
proceeding as usual. The Greeks
claim 100000 adherents out Of tho
$50 900 inhabitants Of the southern
portion Of the new Albania. These
people Of Epirus known as Epirotes
refuse eallegiance to- the Mpret,
Fierce fighting has been going ON
abort Koritsa, and the rebellion Is
said to be led by officers from the
Greek, army, The Epirotess have the
ADVANTAGE OF an organized army nos.