New-York tribune., 1920-06-29
The turkish Mess
By Frank II. Sin1onds

The quarrel which has now broken
over the Turkish arrangement has been
brewing for many months 1t is not in
any sense a difference comparable with
the discussion over the size of the Ger
man indemnity or the treatment of the
conquered enemy; it is purely and sim
ply the consequence of rivalry which
is exactly the sort of rivalry which in
the eighteenth century divided France
and Britain in America and in India; i.
is a quarrel growing out of conflicting
colonial aspirations.
But in a sense the quarrel is not
limited to France and Britain; the whole
world is concerned, and the United
States is measurably responsible,
through President Wilson, for the
acuteness of the present crisis. 1t is
the refusal of the Armenian mandate,
which the President advocated at Paris,
which has in turn produced the whole
collapse of the Turkish solution.
Secret Treaties
To go back to the origin of the present
dispute one must travel all the tortuous
bypaths of secret treaties from the mo-
ment when the World War broke. Early
in the struggle France and Great Britain
agreed that Russia should have not only
Constantinople but also a broad strip
of territory extending from Russian
Armenia. Russia would thus not only
command the Straits, which ara the
issue of the Black Sea, but would have
immediate access to the Mediterranean
BY similar bargains France was as
sured possession of Syria, with hinter-
land stretching back to the Euphrates
and the Tigris and including both Mosul
and Diarbekr, with the valuable oil and
mineral lands adjacent. Britain was to
have Mesopotamia, protectorate over
Palestine, and Russia and Britain had
already divided Persia into spheres of
interest. Italy when she entered the
war was promised the Adalian coast
west of the Gulf of Alexandretta, a ID
Greece was from time to time promised
Smyrna and it's hinterland
But the collapse of Russia changed the
situation So also did the rise of an
Arabian state, backed by the British
which proved valuable aid to British
operations against the Turk, culminat-
ing in the great victory of Samaria and
the destruction of two Turkish armies
about the Plain of Armageddon.
At Paris the inevitable collision oc-
Cured. France insisted upon her treaty
rights, the Arabs upon theirs The
United States inclined to support the
Arabs, on the principle of self determi-
nation. But the main factor was still
the Turkish. Who was to undertake
the task of dealing with the great mass
of Anatolan Turks inha biting and
holding most of the peninsula of Asia
Minor? 1t was no little task, because
the Turks were capable of putting
armies in the field and making a de-
termined resistance in a country wholly
suitable for warfare of the sort all
colonial nations most fear.
The U. S. Sphere
The Paris solution was simple. The
United States was to take the greatest
burden, which was Armenia; the French
were to take part of Syria, the Brit
ish Mesopotamia and Palestine, the
Italians Adalia and the Greeks Smyrna.
The combined nations were to supply
the troops necessary to conquer and
subdue the Turks, each defending it's
own mandate region. Thus it will be
seen the United States inherited the
Russian sphere. AS to Constantnople,
it was to be placed under international
control, while the remainder of Turkey
in Europe was to be assigned to Greece.
| Unfortunately for the plan, the