Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1921-08-25
Chief OF TURK
FORCESEM man
OF REAL ACTION
Mustapha Ismet Pasha Was
Trained In Hard School
of Frontier Warfare
NV The Associated Press

HEADQUARTERS NATlONAL-
IST TURK ARMY, Aug.25--Musta-
pha Ismet pasha, the brilliant chief
Of the Turk forces on whose patience
and vile depends much Of the sue
cess or failure Of the Nationalists.
was trained in the lard school Of
frontier fighting with Arabs, Kurds,
Russians and British, during tho
great war, especially at the Dcrdan-
elles where he was chief Of staff.
He i given more TO action than to
words.
Rather deaf. hearing with difficult
" only in his left ear, he isn't given
70 making conversation. Throughout
he army. to the la1t soldier, his deaf
ness Is known and when he speaks
70 soldiers in the ranks. Is ne does
often, they shout out their answers.
However, with tie Greek often
sive in full swing. Ismct pasha invited
the correspondent TO stay and 70
about with him. II want to talk TO
you because we TURKS rarely pre-
sent our side of the case" he said.
"As an American. -ou ere at least
neutral if not friendly" 60 riding
in his automobile among the troops.
or lunching and dining with him. or
over his desk, the interview ran
over many hours, from ono day to
another.
I'VE arc lonely out l.ere In our
mountains, cut off from the world
, and we want TO know what the world
Is thinking about" he explained.
"All we know Is that we are
obliged 10 win the war. We are
fighting for all we have. Our cause
II just. We are in the position OF
the French during the greatvwar.
We didn't expect to renew the war
after the armistice. No one should
accept war except as an inevitable
necessity. Certainly the Greeks
were not in this necessity.
This war has been brought on by
white-collared diplomats. II il often
said that we soldiers are cruel, and
surely we are, bat wars ere made by
cynical-minded or stupid diplomats
far more cruel than we.
"Why should Greek peasants be
sent 20 our land to M .-sccrc and
murder and burn? Surely this pea
SAINT doesn't wish to do this. All he
knows is that he il fighting fer King
Conatantinc. The King flatters him.
self that he has military talent. But
he will lcse the war, and also his
throne when his people understand
how unjust iS the war.
"The King thought the war would
be promenade like the one he made
in Switzerland" exclaimed the
vivacious little general, his black
eyes sparkling. "But he won't. Mi
litary logic il against him."
"The Greeks are coming with lots
Of material. These will be ours In
time. Say the Greeks have now S0.-
600 effective combat men. We lave
as much and we have the men "a
keep on Increasing our army a. We
capture Greek material 10 outfit
them. Whereas the Greeks can
never bc stronger numerically They
have drawn their last troops, taking
boys cf eighteen.
"At the armisticc, we disbanded
an army Of 100000 men. We can
get them again. though now we are
taking only picked men,"
Asked If he had any Germans or
Russians in his forces, he said: "Of
course not. Have you seen any?
We don't need them,
Without f-ith, the best prepared
war may BE- lest. We have that.
we know our cause l. just. Our
soldiers may not te s?ick and span.
To European eyes they may look lily
equipped. but their hearts are right
and they know how To fight. They
viii fight until told tho war IL over
and won. II may take 10 years, but
we are preparing for tfat.
"At the end Of the great war. the
Allies thought 10 cruelty Us, using
the Greeks and ArmeniGns 20 drive
III the nails. We gave up our arms
regular army we have slowly res
tored the parts To our cannon, manu-
the brcech pieces. removed by the
British. We haze also captured
Greek material. likewise arms and
cannon sent BY the British 20 Arme-
ma, and we have secured British
supplies sent 10 Dennikine.
There's no military reason WHY
Ne shouldn't rctake Constantinople.
hut we must first get rid OK the
Greeks on this front"