The Washington herald., 1920-12-05
LEAGUE MUST
PLACATET TURK
Wilson Not to Appoint Rep
resentative Until Assured
Of Success.
KEMAL THORN IN SIDE
President Has Placed Com
bined Nations on Horns
Of Dilemma.
by FREDERICK WILLIAM VILE.

BY FREDERICK WILLIAM VILE.
President Wilson will not appoint
his representative for mediation in
Armenia until the league Of nations
has satisfied itself that mediation Is
4 practical possibility. As yet no
evidence on that score has reached
Washington. Mustapha Kemal, thel
redoubtable generalissimo Of the re-
bellious Young Turks. is the
stumbling block. The President of
the United States will send no ennis
sary into the faction-racked coun-
try until he is assured that both
sides are ready for the personal
mediation" which he has prof
fered."
Unwittingly Wilson has placed
the league of nations on the horns
of a tragi-comic dilema- In COM
municating to him the assemblys
resolution asking the council to en-
trust some power with the task OF
taking the necessary measures to
stop hostilities" in Armenia, NJ. Hy-
mans, president of the council, did
not specifically invite or request for
Wilson's personal mediation IL
is not considered certain in we'll
informed Washington quarters that
the league places any particular
faith in mediation. The council
semi-officially has been debating
the use of international military
forces as the most efhcacious way
of "placating" Mustapha Kemal ana
his defiance of the Republic OF Ar
menia which the allied and asso-
ciated powers set up.
But now along comes woodrow
Wilson, President of the United
States, a man of peace and pacinca-
tion. and offers his personal medi-
alton" On the heels of his "proffer
Spain and Brazil have rendered
their good offices in the same direc-
tion. The league suddenly is con-
fronted with the necessity of ind
ing out whether the Young Turk
leader whom they were thinking OF
fighting into submission is ready to
be ''mediated" into renouncing his
claims in Armenia.
Near Eastern experts in WASH
ington declare that the league OF
nations will experience its first dit-
ficulty when il comes to the point
Of defining Mustapha Kemafs sta
tus in mediation negotiations. II he
is approached as an outlaw, ban
dit or an unconstitutional rebel, il
Is thought exceedingly probable he
will send mediation scouts about
their business. II he insists on be-
ing treated with as a co-equal in
diplomacy and the acknowledged
head of the de-facto Armenian
government, what will he ask in the
way of concessions, and who can
grant them? Will he demand. as
condition precedent to mediation
poor parlers to know what sort OF
"delimited" boundaries the Presi-
dent of the United States has nxed
for Armenia?
Those are all ticklish questions.
They will have to be thrashed out,
it is felt, in Washington, before
Mustapha Kemal can be tackled
about mediation with any prospect
of a successful issue. The Young
Turk leader, who holds the fort in
vulner..HIy at his Armenian head
us.ters, Kars, is in declared revolt
against the treaty of Sevres under
which the Republic of Armenia is
set up. President Wilson's repre-
sentative will doubtless. IL desig-
mated, be empowered to deal broad
Iy with an Armenian settlement,
but when the President. replying to
the league on November 80, asked
for assurances of moral and dip
lomatic support OF the principal
powers" (Great Britain, France and
Italy) he had chiefly in mind the
thorny questions personified by
Mustapha Kemal- 1t Is understood
here that the representative Of the
United States President will be the
head of the American-Brazilian
Spanish Mediation Commission
when it functions.
optimists Only See Sunshine
Only international authorities
here who are incorrigible optimists
think Armenian mediation is going
to cast the sunshine of perpetual
peace over the Near East. Most
authorities see the seeds of early
turmoil and strife sprouting there.
They discern an early clash between
the Bulgars and the Greeks for the
possession of Thrace. They have
grave doubts whether the Young
Turks will allow long the treaty of
Seyres, "extorted." as the National
lists claim from an Imprisoned and
intimidated Sultan at Constanti-
nopIe." to stand. Some authorities
Ak the reaccession of Constantine
10 the throne of Greece as the time
for fresh smolderings of the Balkan
powder-barrel.
As far as can be ascertained, no
name is being seriously canvassed
for the Armenian mediatorship, on
behalf of President Wilson, except
that of Henry Morgenthau. The for
ner Ambassador to Turkey passed
through Washington on Friday with
Mrs. Morgenthau on their way to
virginia Hot Springs, but he de-
cIined to discuss in any form the
general supposition that the Pres
fdent has him in mind as peace
maker between the Armenian Ma
tIonalists and Kemal. Morgenthau.
who still is under Presidential ap-
uointment. though unconfirmed by
the Senate. as Ambassador to Mex
leo, would only say that the White
House and the State Department
know that he is at Hot Springs and
that he holds himself in readiness to
answer any official summons that
reaches him. 1t is not considered
within the range of the likely that
the Senate will confirm the Morgen-
thau Ambassadorship to Mexico. or,
indeed, any Wilson appointments.
1fLa fhose Of the new Shipping