Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-02-17

) HERALD, MONDAY b
Meet Greeks
.- a: =.
army In the Balkan wars won bril-
liant victories, first against the Turks,
then against the Bulgarians. Thester-
ritory taken from Turkey-but ins
habtted very largely by Greeks, Serbs
and Bulgars-was divided by the
Treaty OF Bucharest. Naturally, any
attempt to make a frontier conform.
to racial boundaries in the Balkans
Is impossible. for there are practical
ly no racial boundaries. Any line win.
include some n people within the
territory Of another. Venizelos push
ed the plan Of exchanging these pop
ulations-of inducing Bulgarians to
migrate from Greek territory to Bull
garia and Greeks to come back from
Bulgaria to Greece: and despite the
bitter hatreds left by the war there
seemed 9 fair chance Of measurably
settling the racial question when the
European war broke out.
The story Of Greece's part in that
struggle between yenizelos and the
pro-A1ly INTERNATIONALLY in the
majority and strongest in the islands
and the newly annexed territories
and the colonies abroad. where the
relation Of the great wal in Greek
liberation was best understood-and
King Constantine. the kaiser's BROTH
er-in-law and satrap. backed by the
military clique, which admired the
German money, and by reactionary
sentiment among some Of the least
progressive elements to continental
Greece, It was "a fight Of the old
and the new; and no nation which
neutral at the outset-not even
America and Italy-was 30 much
racked by internal strife over taking
sides in the war. Once. and once
only, the nation had a chance to. vote
peace. and by a huge majority it voted
for Venizelos and war. But Con-
stantine twice defied theN constitution
and drove Venizelos out Of office.
Greece has been much criticised for
her long neutrality. but it ia pretty
generally admitted now that nothing
but the blunders of the Allies en-
abled Constantine so long to override
the will Of his people. At last, after
Venizelos had formed a revolutionary
government to which all Of Mace
donia and the islands. and mary
elements OF old Greece had attached
themselves, and after the Russian
revolution, the Allies finally got up
the courage to throw Constantine out.
Naturally, the pro-German forces
had had time to grow immensely in
these two. years Of German intrigue
and Allied hesitation. but venizelos
the nation. BY the end Of last sum-
1ner he had q quarter of a million
soldiers on the Salonica front; and 1t
was largely due to the active cooper
alton Of this army that the Allied
forces were able to do what they had
failed to do w years before, to shat
ter h Bulgarian army, put Bulgaria
out Of the war, and start the col
lapse Of the Central powers. which
weeks later. Greece has rendered
the Allies a very considerable service
in the war; and it must not be for.
gotten that her service would have
been greater still II the mistakes of
Allied diplomacy had, not kept our
enemies in power and our friends In
disgrace for two costly years. The
victory of the Allies. the victory of
Venizelos, e the victory of all
that is modern and best in Greece.
Now that the Turkish empire, the
secular enemy of Christianity and
civilization in the Near East, is
broken and ready to be disposed OF
as the Allies may desire. the Greeks,
who have suffered as much az any
other people except the Armenians
from Turkish misrule. contend that
SO far as possible the Greek race
which Is nominally a Kingdom, but
in which the royal power rs never
again likely to be more than nomi-
nal. OF course. the Greeks do not ask
the impossible. The immigrants to
America and Egypt n Russia, the
colonies previously resident in Egypt
and Syria and Rumania and old Bull
garia and northern Albania will to-
tai perhaps a million people who are
some three millions Of unredeemed
Greeks who fall into five general
groups-Northern Epirus. Thrace,
Constantinople, and the regions
around the Straits. Asia Minor, and
the islands. -
The memorandum presented by Mr..
Venizelos to the peace conference and
his arguments upon it show a sharp
distinction between what ought to be
and what is possible. In regions
where the bulk of the population IL
Greek the Greek interest is the chief
one, but there are other interests to
which he would give due weight. That
these other interests should be as.
sesseds at their worth, but at no more,
is one Of the oncern Of the peace
conference.
Northern Epirus is the district ly-
ing Immediately between northwest
ern Greece and southern Albania. II
contains, according to Greek figures.
100, 900 Mobammedan Albanians.
Many of the Christians are Albanian
by blood and language. but it 10 justly
observed BY Greek representatives
that a mans nationality depends not
on his language and his ancestry but
on what he thinks he is. Even in
Attica there are great numbers OF
people Of Albanian blood, many. OF
them speaking both languages, who
are intensely patriotic Greeks. This
is the ase with the great majority
Northern Epirup, who would rather
join Greece than take their chances
in a state dominated by the less civ.
ilized Albanians of the north. Here
the Greek claim conflicts with Italy
which has for some time had North
ern Epirus under military occupation
"a very necessary step at the time
But the Italian interest ia mainly
strategic; Mr.. Venizelos has accepted
Valona for military reasons. and the
Greek government holds that with
this strategic point in Italian posses.
| sion Italy should be satisfied, There