Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-27
GREECE TO BEGIN
RECONSTRUCTION,
POL|T|S DECLARES
Foreign Minister Says War
Activities in Thrace Will
End This Week.
BY the Associated Press.

ATHENS, July 25.-Greece's military
position. her economic aspirations, her
attitude toward Balkan affairs and her
policy with regard to the new terri
tories to be eaken over by Greece were
explained to the Associated Press by
Nicholas Poltis, minister of foreign af
fairs and right-hand man of Premier
Venzelos. in the course of an interview
today
From purely military viewpoint,
we probably will be finished in Thrace
| this week" declared the minister, "and
| IN It few months We will begin de-
| mobilization of our army in Asia Minor.
ut is already the role of Greece to
begin work of reconstruction in, these
| new territories and it is our design to
! make them fit to live in. not only for
Greeks, but for Turks and other nation
alities 1t is not our intention to pursue
a policy of vengeance, but one of
economic prosperity for all.
1T is huge task" NJ. Polits con-
| tinued. These countries are fertile
agriculturally, and our main plan of de-
! velopment Will be along these lines. But
| the problems of housing, roads, ports
and forests are difficult ones. due to the
wars and Turkish devastations."
Turks Easy to Govern.
POLITICALLY" he said, the Turks
have long been exploited by the
pashas, but they are the easiest peo-
pie to govern SO long as their re-
lision is not touched. 1t is our inten-
ton to help maintain the mosques.
We are so careful in this respect that
we did all that was humanity possible
to take Adrianople without dana Mng
these master works there. We have
already founded a Mphammedan
1t,~
We will do the same in Athens, as
well as eXpend sums to keep up Turk
iSh schools.
Port development will be one of
our first cares. since we are a mari
time nation. We are surprised there
are no American tenders for the big
contracts We are letting for Piraeus
and Saloniki and later for the devel.
opment of the water power in Mace
donia. Reconstruction means large
preliminary expenditures, but we are
not especially seeking credits. what
we wish to do is to start work quick
~, so as to get quick returns"
speaking on the resources which
Greece had at her command, the for
eign minister pointed out that the
people of his country had 100000, 900
drachms in actual wealth, independ-
ent of the governments resources,
which were two billion drachms an
nually. one-half of which was used
for maintaining the present army.
No Cnrpetbnggins Methods.
I wish to emphasize that we will
not employ carpetbagging methods"
NJ PoHtlS asserted. though it is
difficult to harmonic the interests of
the Turks with the 100000 Greek
refugees we had on our hands for
several years whose homes were d.
stroyed by the Turks or were occu-
pied by them.
=. We do not aspire to possess Con-
stantlnople. though necessarily it
later Will become commercially Greek
and the Turks will abandon it. The
straits should always remain inter
national and should never be under
one power.
AT present Russia is anxious tn re-
sumo relations with Europe, but the
latter probably will attempt to re-
assert her old claims to CONSTANT
nope. she is far more dangerous than
N. Polltls said he believed it pos
slble that the next great war womb
De caused by an attempt at Slav dom
ination of Europe
But" he added, 1--WE trust to keen
Greece out of any new wars in the
Balkans. 1t is incorrect to saw thai
Greece has made any treaty with the
Jugoslavs or Rumanians to this end
though it appears the Rumanians'
Jugoslavs and Czechs are signing
as IceLutItS.
Fear More BuIgar Attacks,
There are those among us who ex-
pect new attacks from the Bulgars
but we trust this will not be the CASE
Had the Rulgars listened to reason
eight years ago and in 1915, instead
of listening to Berlin, they would have
been happier and the great war
would have been shortened. The trou-
BILE with the Buigars is that they
dream of domination. having outlets
on four nearby seas"
The foreign minister stated it was
incorrect to say the Greeks wished to
re-establish ancient Greece, because
it was unsuited to modern conditions.
what we WISH" he explained, lis
to protect Greek populations from
foreign domination
Referring to Greek internal conditions,
NJ Politis continued
1--WE consider Constantine's return inn
possible and We hope to remain a demo-
cratic monarchy; it is better suited for
our present needs than a republic. 1t
is untrue that Premier Venizelos is
dictator. He was away from the coun-
try most of the time in the last two
years. looking after foreign affairs. We
have new parliamentary elections in Oc-
tober."
The foreign minister declared there
were a few Greek bolshevki who wished
to re-enter into relations with Russia
since there was a population of half a
million Greeks on the Black sea and be-
important shipping and trade.
1--WE are anxious to turn our internal
problems into the welfare of our peo-
ple,'' said NJ. Politis in conclusion, land
to improve our friendly political and
trade relations with the United States"