Evening star., 1921-08-18
TURKS WILL FIGHT
+ TOTHELAST MAN
Woman Nationalist Leader
Says People Want No Out
! side Interference.
Bv the Associated Press.

BY no Associated PreSS.
ANGORA. Turkey. July 25.-Dressed
in a black riding suit and astride an
Arab mare, Halide Hanum, the Turk
ish woman novelist and NATIONALIST
leader. greeted the Associated Press
correspondent by the roadside outside
of Angora, waving her hand in rec
ognition as the automobile approach
ed, after crossing innumerable moun-
tains and rivers from Ineboli, the
contraband port on the Black sea.
Haiide invited the correspondent to
her home, an Anatolian farmhouse in
a nearby gorge. She said she had
ridden horseback frequently since
she escaped from Constantinople in
March, 1920. riding the entire dis
tance to Angora on her horse.
MY mind and soul are here but
my heart is in America with my boys,
Ali and Hassan, in college at Urbana.
Ill.," said the woman, who has made
herself famous, not only as a novelist.
but by espousing the cause headed
by Kemal Pasha, who is fighting the
Greeks.
She spoke of the war with the
Greeks and Of the difficulty of max
ing peace with the allies.
Time Best Ally.
'Time is our great and best ally"
she said. I'VE want peace, and we
are willing to fight forever for it.
1t is costly for US. but it is the only
way. We must have our independ-
ence; political, geographic and eco
nomic."
The correspondent reminded her
that these were vague terms used by
the nationalists since the Turkish
armistice.
1T may seem monotonous, but We
keep right on saying and thinking the
same things" she replied. when
we first said them, We were ridiculed
by some of our own people. while
the allies went on violating the
progress during the past two years.
and finally we will win. Haven't the
allies got enough out of US by taking
Mesopotamia and Syria? AS for the
Greeks. after they have spent all
their money and indebted their ma
tion to keep up large army, they
will be obliged to return home.
Want Capitulations Dropped.
"After We have disposed of the
Greeks. then the allies will have to
drop the capitulations. which orig
inally were privileges extended to
foreign subjects centuries ago by US,
SO We wouldn't need to interfere in
their affairs. Gradually, the foreign
nations have made of these capitu-
ereignty.
II understand the allies have about
abandoned their pretensions to zones
of infiuentie. Anyway, we won't
fringement on our political liberty.
In such zones the allies would ex-
ploit us, not bring US economic help.
The allies are ruined and need to
spend their money at home. 1t is
better business for us to have free
cans, the Swiss, or anybody, a fair
chance to trade with US.
Cannot Give Up Constantllople.
I'VE can't give up Constantinople.
That city is the elimination of our
civilization. 1t represents our art,
our beauty, our culture. tits at once
our Venice and our New York.
! There's a peasant fairy tx1e that
the peoples Of the earth at peace,
called a council of the under devils.
when it was decided to reform the
earth so as to make the straits (of
Dardenelles) and there pitch. in place
called Constantinople, and that ever
since nations have fought to pos
sess the straits and the city. Per-
haps, with all the new mischief there
is in the world. the nations may
leave US to make peace with the
devil.
British Desire Straits.
''The British want the control of
the straits and the city, but the worst
they can do is to blockade us, and
We can live on our own food. make
our own clothes until they are tired.
Why should the British have such
control? Surely no one wants the
Greeks or the French there either"
Regarding bolshevik relations. she
said. I'VE do not want any military
help nor bolsheviki among us, or any
strangers for political reasons.
'The sum total of our national
ism is to tell the truth. and accept
no middle measures. The truth is
the only thing that counts. We are
either right or wrong and If right
We will win, and Turkey will be
free and useful nation. We want to
live our own way, educate our peo-
pie. promote commerce and the arts,
build roads and railways. and culti-
vate our fields. Any nation whose
prosperity is based on agriculture
may survive. Will the world let US?
If not we will fight to the last man
and the last woman"