The New York herald., 1921-07-10

the Treaty of Sevres. still unsigned. in such
fashion as to deprive Greece of the larger
share of her gains at the expense of the
Turk on the surface. French opinion and
policy were influenced by enduring distrust
and dislike of Constantine.
But in reality this was only one phase.
France saw with unconcealed bitterness the
expansion of British influence in the Near
East recognized that the British had de-
cided TO make the Greek their soldier and
agent in the Near East, to give TO the
Greek the same support which in the last
century they had bestowed upon the, Turk
and for the same reason. If Greece should
become the most considerable nation in the
Near East nothing was clearer than that
Britain would in fact, be the force behind
the scenes in all Greek policy.
Beyond this France had several personal
reasons for preferring the Turk to the Greek
Under the Treaty of Sevres, France had
acquired not only Syria but the Anatolian
region of Cilicia about the Gulf of Alex
andretta. And no sooner had French troops
landed at Beirut and moved inland than the
Turks began a campaign to defend Cilicia,
and the French not only suffered several
defeats but were forced to multiply their
garrisons in Syria and in Cilicia. Thus,
since French public opinion was solidly
against a Turkish war. there was nothing
left for the French to do but make peace
with the Turk.
This moreover the French have done. Re
Gently they signed an agreement with Samy
Bey an agent of Kemal the Turkish Ma
tionalist leader by which France resigned
Cilicia and accepted frontier in the main
following the Bagdad Railway line from the
Mediterranean to the Euphrates, where
Turkish. British and French boundaries
meet. In addition to yielding goodly por-
ton of the territory acquired through the
Treaty of Sevres, the French pledged them
selves to support the Turks generally in all
their claims.
Thus for a whole variety of reasons the
French have chosen to back the Turk, to
work for his reinstatement at Constantinople
Smyrna and elsewhere. BY such a policy
they hope to avoid a war with the Turk
on thel frontiers of Syria; they expect. also,
to block British aspirations to dominate
Constantinople and the Near East generally,
through manipulation of the Greek agent
If the Turk wins, manifestly France who
is by the way the chief holder of Turkish
debts antedating the war, may look forward
to being first friend If the Greek wins, Brit
ish control is certain
italian Policy for Years Has Been
To Prevent Greek Control of Egean
The Italian point of view is slightly diff
in all the Near East For many years italian
policy has sought to prevent the Greek
from obtaining control of the HCgean, eX-
acty as it has aimed at blocking the ad-
vance of the Southern Slavs to the Adratic.
In a word, as the Southern Slavs are re-
garded by the Italians as possible rivals in
the Adriatic, the Greeks are held as present
adversaries In all of the eastern end of the
Mediterranean. This rivalry eliminates in
ha ba isla pf ha
Dodecanesus and over Smyrna. Both are
objects of Italian ambition
BY the Treaty of Sevres Italy acquired
certain interests about the Gulf of Adalia
but she lost Smyrna, which had been prom
ised to her more or less directly as one Of
the rewards for participation in the war on
the allied side She was also forced to cons
sent to the transfer of the Dodecanesus to
Greece and to the extension of Greek terri
tory into the southern portion of Albania
To be sure, Greek claims both in the Dode-
canesus and in Northern Epirus were
founded alike upon history and ethnic, con-
ditions, but Greece a rival would profit
and Italy lose Enthusiastically, If these ar
rangements were carried out.
Moreover to realize her aspirations even
about the Gulf of Adalia Italy found herself
confronted, like the French in Cilicia, with
the necessity to fight a Turkish war
and neither Italian finance nor Italian popu-
lar sentiment was favorable to a new ad-
venture which might in the end prove as
disastrous the Abyssinian venture of
the nineteenth century Accordingly Italy
washed her hands of the Sevres compact
She would contribute nothing to enforcing It,
rot a soldier or a ship On the contrary
she took her stand squarely with the French
in advocating a sweeping revision all in the
interests of the Turk and at the expense of