The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-11-21

A friendly mission which has come to this country in behalf of the unre' deemed Greeks in Turkey includes among It's members Christos Vassalik- aki, member of the Greek Parliament, and N. G, Kyriakides, a prominent shipowner and trader. Both of these men have led busy lives In the world | or commerce and politics. They have lately interested themselves in the liberation of the Greeks of Asia Minor because, as they say they could not remain indifferent obSerw- CTS of the sufferings and misery of their compatriots. Although MT. Vas galiIkaki Is a member of the Greek Parliament from the island of Lesbos, he has lived part of his life in Smyrna 4nd is we'll acquainted with the Greek people who live east of the Aegean.
 "In no district is the world strug- gle between autocracy and liberalism more clear-cut than between the Turks and the Greeks in Asia Minor" Mr. Vassalikaki recently declared, In an interview. The Turks are the most brilliant examples in history of abso- lutism, imperial rule, and the doc- Urine that might makes right. The
 
 champions of democracy. The con- flict in Asia Minor is little replica of the larger combat between the Rule of the people and the Rule of Kings which has turned all of Europe into a bloody battle-ground
 Greeks Withstand Oppression
 ''It is probably hard for Americans to realize the tragedy of the long sla- r. salikaki continued Since 1453 the Turks have made every effort to an- nihilate them. In spite or Turkish ferocity, the Greeks have actually in creased in numbers. Their vitality has been remarkable. There are more than 100000 of them living today in the peninsula of Asia Minor and the lands commerce and educa- ton are very largely in their hands,"
 According to the latest obtainable figures, the Greeks under the Turkish yoke in Thrace and Asia Minor have 9,276 schools and churches with 10,- O25 teachers and priests and 276,100 pupils They have also in their hands about s5 per cent of the export trade, 70 per cent of the import trade, 6U per cent of manufacturing and indus gy business. The most important hospi- tals, orphanages, libraries, clubs and newspapers are run anad supported by the Greeks. Before the war they were spending about s5,OOO,OOO each year on public projects and charities
 A Day of Reckoning
 The attitude of the Turks toward Greek enterprise has. of course, beer 11rJ al ton a rowing people with no great in. terest in business or government The divine law, as written down 1T the Koran, Is the one code they sub. init to, and their interpretation of the Koran has been considerably differ. ent from that of the more intelligent Arabs. There is, in particular, one sentence in the Koran which, in MT vassalikakrs opinion, has colored thu whole thought of the Turks in thei dealings with the Greeks. Unable t deny the vigor and vitality of tn Greeks, the prophet Iohamme gravely wrote down in the sacre Koran: we have defeated tn Greeks, but a time will come whei they will defeat us also" It is tni day of Greek triumph toward whic all plous Turks have looked with ap prehension. In February, 1915, whe they were told that Greek army wa ready to land in the Dardanelle: many Turks fled from Constantinople thinking that the promised day c reckoning had come.
 With the Greeks it has been jus the reverse. Even in the dark day! when they had been defeated and ut terly exhausted by the Turks, they di not lose their faith in the future re birth of their nation. Secretly the taught their children to sing: Al ter some years. this country will agad belong to us" In 1774, just one yea before our own Revolutionary Wa the Greeks attempted their first rt volt. It was put down and the Gree spirit of independence waited unt 1921 to try again. In 1921 bega the series of wars for freedom whic won for Greece the admiration ar assistance of the larger powers Europe. The laterary men as we'll the statesmen interested themselv
 fin behalf of the struggling Helene Among the more famous of them WI