Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-17
BALKAN PROBLEM IN THE LIGHT s
OF PRESIDENT WILSON'S RECENT 9
FOURTEEN PEACE CONDITIONS.


self in his condition, cited above. He
demands for Serbia direct access to.
the sea. This means, if IL means any %
thing. that he asks that Serbia shalb~s
nave what 1t was agreed by all thesr
Balkan states that she should have in
the agreement made before the fast
Balkan war. Serbia would thus have
some fifty miles of seacoast between
the mouth of the Drin and that of the
Skumbi. with Durazzo as her main sea-
port -
Such an arrangement would enable
the Serbs to make concessions to the -
Bulgarians. They would doubtless beaa
willing to cede all of the Macedonian
territory east of the Nardar-the Istib
district But Greece would not consent
to more extensive cession, because to
give Bulgaria Monastir would be to
thrust a Bulgarian wedge between
Serbia and Greece and give the Bull >
garians the entire hinterland of Salo-
niki. Fortunately the allies hold Mon-5l
astir. for IL it were in Bulgar hands Ar
surrender would be wholly inconcetv-
able. But for fifty years the Bulga-.s-
rians have been carrying on an sgita- :
ton among the Slavs of all this Mace 81"
DOMAIN territory. They have succeeded -
in "Bulgarizing" them, and they lay /.
claim to all of Macedonia between Lake -
Ochrida and the Rhodopian mountainA 81
on the basis of nationality.
With the conflicting claims or nation. "
ality in this cockpit of the Balkans ~
shall not deal. In the disputed terri
tory there Turks. who have no -
rights: Ruma MAN Nlacks. who are :,
equally outside the preston; Greeks.
Serbs and Bulgars. together with not -
few Spanish Jews. East OF the Var :.
dar there is no doubt as TO the claim
of the Bulgars for open nationality; =.
west it is an open question.
If an arrangement is to be made on
the basis of the Presidents suggestion.
il seems to me that the Vardar river as
far north as Kufr'li will probably be
the dividing line. Thereafter the fron-..-
81 60 LOT doxv n
the ante-belIum agreement of Serbia "
and Bulgaria in 1912. As between 90.
Greece and Serbia there is no dispute,
both having accepted the frontier as
laid down at bucharest. a.
But between Greece and Italy there
is a very acute question. The Serbs and
Greeks divided Albania in half, Serbia. a.
taking the northern, Greece the south
ern half. But Italy forbade Greece to..-
take her share. as Austria prohibited !,
Serbia from holding hers. Moreover. 4,
in the present war italy has occupied
Nalona and expelled the Greeks from ,
that portion of Epirus tsouthern AL
bania) taken over by them at the open-s-
ing of the war. If Italy is to hold
Valona she viii have to hold all Of
southern Albania. Austria would never -.
consent to this save in the face of alb
solute defeat for, seated on both sides
of the Adriatic at the narrow Straits ofs.s
Otranto. Italy would, in fact, command ,
the outlet of Austria to the open sea ."
Trieste and Fiume would be at the-5i
mercy of Italian forts and fleets, which.
would blockade the Adriatic at it's
mouth. =
Accordingly. it seems to me that
when the settlement comes to be made, -
Greece and Serbia will be permitted to =
put into effect their agreement of 1912,
dividing Albania at the Skumbi river,
and that. as a consequence. Serbia will x
resign to Bulgaria all of Macedonia :
east OF the Eardar and south of Veles "a
to the Greek frontier-the Istib region---
8 win Al
bania, she Will probably be asked to =
surrender her claim to the KaVala dis -
trict. taken from Bulgaria in the sec.
ond Balkan war, bur surrendered to ;.
Bulgaria by King Constantine in 1915
by an act of treachery.
Where Best Tobacco Is Grown. !.
By acquiring undisputed title to Ka.,=,
Vala and the territories east of the
Struma, Bulgaria would gain real
seaport, the natural outlet of all vest
ern Bulgaria right up to Sofia There
are many more Greeks than Bulgarians--
in this kavala district: but there are~-
more Turks than Bulgars or Greeks, as.
lar as that is concerned. Actually this
is the richest corner of the whole Bal
kans. for it contains the districts in
which the best tobacco in the world is+.-
grown Turkish and Egyptian cigar
cite tobacco is really Kavala tobacco.
AS to the settlement between Bull
garia and Rumania, il seems to me =
likely that it Will take the line of tho
Old frontiers of the period before the -
second Balkan var 1t is unjust that
bulgaria should hold all Of the Ru--=
lnanian seacoast: it is unfair that the
Rumanians should retain that Silistrian
strip which they literally stole in 1913, We
when bulgaria was assailed on all
sides. Finally, there will probably be
great willingness on the part of all 10
allied nations that the Bulgarians
should reoccupy Adrianople and all of
Turkish Thrace. at least up to the old
Enos- Midia line. and perhaps to the =
bases of the chatalja and Gallipoli
peninsulaS. -
In sum then, it seems TO me thar
any settlement which is to be made in :
the Ia kaus on the basis of justice -
and with the idea of uermanence must
begin with the elimination of outside -"
interference: with the de.truction Of
the Austrian claim to right to deny
Serbia 4 sFacoaSt, and OF rhe Italian
claim to Nalona and northern Albania
The Balkans for the Balkans must be
the foundation principle. But if Serbia a.
and Greece are permitted TO realize
their Legitimate aspirations along the
AGriatic. both can be asked to make
concessions on the east-the Serbs in
the Eardar valley. the Greeks. about
kavla. Such concessions would go%
very far to giving Bulgaria what sher-
is Justly entitled TO. while the reStora-
tion of the Silist-ian strip and Adriano-,~
pie would put in her hands all she
could Justly hope TO acquire in any
Balkan settlement which did not seek
TO give her the heesmony of the Bal
kans and make her the overseer of the y
central powers on their road to Tur-- !
key and the near east.
The four states thus arranged-Ser-
bia BULGARIA., Greece and Rupania. for
Nontener~o would in any event be
closely associated with Serbia-would
thus be compact, relatively equal in
size and in population. and If this ar
rangement were guaranteed by all the
great powers. these states might accept
the arrangement As definite and pro-rs,
coed 70 their self-development, aided by .
the financ:erS OF the great powers. -
Then IN no distant time prosperity As
would come 10 some of the richest lands
in all the world.
Moreover. once the lines of the sev-, .,
eral frontiers had been fixed and ac-
copied, all rivalries would begin to die
out and il would he but step TO a.
rest orat and expansion Of that Ball
kan confederation which in its brief ex-'s ~
istence destroyed Turkish rule in Eu-
rope. and raised "A specter of Balkan
unity which afTriChted the central pow-~ty
ers, whose ambitions were for the Ber-
Into Bagded railway and for an Aus
trian Saloniki. 80