Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-02-17
Creeks May Yet Meet Greeks
{By Eln,er Davis.)

The territorial claims Of Greece
lately presented to the peace confer
ence by Mr.. Venizelos may be best
appreciated by the realization that
eight million people, intensely patri-
otto, inspired by q heroic past and
by a recent history which contains
much to be proud of, only four and q
half million Of whom are at present
included in the kingdom Of Greece.
Their claims can be summarized as
an argument for the inclusion Of as
half million unredeemed Greeks in.
the Greek state and the insuring for
those Of them who for geographic or
other reasons cannot be so included
o decent government
It is to be noted that in the Veni-
zelos program very little weight is giv-
en- to those historical arguments"
which so bedevil most national differ.
ences in eastern Europe. The Greeks
the glories Of the ancient world, nor
very much in the name of the East.
ern Roman empire. which held of
the Saracens and the Turks during
the centuries while western Europe
was r%elearning the ways of ciViliza-
ton. In each and every cas- the ter
ritory Greece asks for is territory
AA44AcSOASSN 0OAy w S4OOn0
than by m other civilized race
territories which have Greek majori-
ties, except for a few sections of the
old Turkish empire where the Turks
are in a slight xcess In these last
districts 1t is a question whether the
Turks. whose. capacity for misgovern-
ment and incapacity for any decent
strated in the last four centuries,
should be allowed to continue to OPP
press a very large Greek minority
who are far ahead of them in all the
ways of civilization. Or whether the
regions should be annexed to Greece,
under whose government some $780,
! 900 Turks are at present living In
general content and better of than
they have usually been under Turk
ish administration.
This is to say, the Greek claim is
based on self-determination. It has,
incidentally, a historic background.
for the territories claimed by Greece
are regions which have been inhab-
tied by Greeks for thousands of years
remnants Of the Near East, which
! was Hellenized in the days Of Alex
ander and stayed all Greek until the
Turkish conquest. OF course, Greece
does not claim the dominions of the
Byzantine Caesars; she claims only
such a part Of them as is still Greek
by nationality. But it must be re-
membered that these Greeks Of
Thrace and Asia Minor and the is
lands are descendants of Greek pop
ulations thousands Of years old. They
are the Oldest inhabitants, claiming
the right to reunion with their own
race.
Greece has been remade in the last
ten years. ASpushing. active com
mercial race, Greek economic influA
ence has long been powerful all
through the Levant. But the CONT
! mental fragment Of the race which
was freed from the Turks a hundred
years age remained In many ways be-
hind the current: Turkish traditions,
the parchialism which the geography
of Greece made so painfully promi-
nent in ancient times and which to
some extent continued into very re-
cent history, tended to delay economic
progress and to bring confusion and
futility to politics. The greater num-
Der of the progressive and far-seeing
Greeks were to be found only a few
years ago not in the Greek kingdom
itself but in the colonies abroad.
The rise of Venizelos changed all
this. A new force was brought into
Greek politics. and the men Of the
new day, the liberals and the men
who thought around the world, lined
up behind Venizelos. In two, or
three years he remade Greek politics
its new course. The Greek fleet and