Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-23
Unrighteous Bargaining Alleged.

! Tho truth seems to have been that
/ Greece was allowed to go to asa
because the French and the brltlsh
! had made an uncomfortable ana an
j unriehteous bargain with the ltal-
! ians, granting to them the rlSnt ~
! take both Smyrna and Adalia, "hiie
! Italy on her part agreed 'hat frahes
and Britain should have syria anu
! Mesopotamia. respectively, without
| Italian protest. But there was no
| Italian population in either Smyrna
or Adalia Therefore, when the
Italians occupied AdalIa, somewhat
precipitately, few months ago, me
! Greeks were Spurred TO MAKE theh
| landing in Smyrna.
Now who is to aid the Greeks?
! Will the British and French consent
! to send troops to Asia Minor to fight
| the Turks? If they do not, the
to the coast, may even be forced on
the mainland altogether. And if they
are. the mandate of the league of
nations becomes mockery. To be
sure the Turk has been ordered to
| desist But will he? Constantinople
| is in allied hands, but the Turks
| have organized armies on the Asiatic
mainland beyond the reach of allied
! fleets.
| 1t is, of course, manifest that the
| Turk cannot successfully fight the
| United States, Britain and France,
but will all or any one of these states
| be ready to send large armies to
Asia Minor and incur the heavy ex-
| pense Of war, even minor war!
! Certainly France has a large contract
on her hands, if she is to take over
/ Syria. and Britain has an Egyptian
rebellion and a Mesopotamia problem.
AS for the United States, will public
| sentiment at home support an ex-
petition to Smyrna, an occupation of
| Turkish empire or of the Anatolian
F.! fraction?
| 1t is possible to create an interna-
| tiOnal state in Constantinople. Syria
! and Mesopotamia are sufficiently re-
mote from Anatolia to make it pos
sible for the French and British, using
native troops, to hold them. The in
habitants would probably prefer Eu-
ropean to Turkish rule, but the Smyr-
ma and Adala districts. all of Ana
tolia, and for that matter of Armenia.
i too, are within striking distance of
| the Turkish armies. the Turk has the
advantage of position.
| Meantime the Italians are watching
the Greek difficulties with unconcealed
satisfaction. Italy expected to take
Smyrna. as France planned to axe
Beirut and Britain, Bagdad. But
| while the French have Beirut and the
| British Bagdad, the Greeks are in
Smyrna. If Hellenic troops are driven
to the sea. then the Greek failure may
give Italy a new chance. Moreover,
even if events do not turn out favor
ably for Italy, the new disturbance
may prove of infinite annoyance to
her allies, who. from the Italian
point of view, went back on their bar
gain. Conceivably Turkish armies
might presently menace British and
French colonies on the eastern edge
of the Mediterranean.
Turkey Must Be Organized.
The fact about the Turkish empire
seems to be that it can only be dis
posed Of when it is divided among
nations strong enough to police their
portions, or placed under the control
of one nation, which could organize
the country as Britain has organized
Egypt and France is organizing Mo-
rocco. But neither France, Britain,
Italy nor Russia, if she comes to
herself, again, will consent that any
single European power shall take
over Turkey, even the OsmanH por-
ton, as contrasted with the Syrian
and Arabic portions, which have been
occupied by France and Britain. Con-
ceivably all would assent to an Ameri-
can mandate, but this would mean an
American Army permanently station
ed in Turkey and not impossible a
long drawn out war of subjugation.
To coop the Turk on the interior
plateau of Asia Minor; to make Con-
stantinople and the shores of the