The Washington herald., 1921-07-10
By FRANK II. sIMoNDs,

ASIA minor has At least two distinct
phases. the immediate and local,
which in this case concerns the
Greeks and Turks, and the wider
and even more important, which di-
rsetiy Affects Britain. France, and
(aly and less closely Russia, Ru-
mania Bulgaria and, In fact, all of
the nations in Southeastern Europe.
The truth 10 that In the region out
Of which came the spark which
lighted the world conhagration,
namely the Near East, a new fire is
breaking out which has already dis
turoed the equanimity OF most of
the nations OF Europe.
Looked at from its local aspect,
the Greco-Turkish dispute grows out
OF certain decisions embodied In the
Treaty of Seyres, one of the COM
panion pieces to the Treaty OF Yer
sailles, in which the Paris confer
ence undertook to reorganize the
map of the world In conformity
with the decision reached upon the
battlefield and the desires of the
states who had procured that de-
ciston by defeating Germany and her
allies The Sevres document. even
more fragile, as events were to
prove, than the ware which bears
the same name, was a definite at
tempt to solve the whole Eastern
question.
Agreed on Ousting Turk.
When the document was drafted
all of the great powers were agreed
upon the principle of bag and bag
gage" the name which In the prev
ious century had been applied to the
demand that the Turk be forced to
quit Europe altogether. Thus the
Treaty of Sevres undertook to par
tition the sick mans estate, on the
assumption that this chronic invalid
of Europe had at last perished. And
in partitioning the Turks estate,
Greece. represented by a great man.
who had earned IN almost unrivalled
position In Paris, was recognized as
the chief heir.
Thanks to yenkelos the great
Hellenic dream through so many
centuries, the dream that was BY
zantine even more than Hellenic.
seemed on the point of realization.
To Greece was assigned all of the
Turkish territory in Europe right
down to the Chatalja lines, where
the Bulgarian advance OF the first
Balkan war had been halted, save
only the shore OF the Straits and
the Gallipoli Peninsula. which were
reserved 70! the international COM
mission which was to mount guard
at the Gold.n Horn.
In addition, by a treaty done at
Neuilly, Bulgaria was compelled to
cede to Gretre her window on the
Aegean, the remaining fragment of
n q - T-N
war. thus giving Greece continuity
of territory tsom Athens to the out
skirts OF Con.Santinople.
Greek Got Islands.
Greece was also to have all of the
Aegean Island.@ including the Dode-
canesus, taken. from the Turks by
the Italians in the Libyan war, save
only Rhodes, which was to remain
in italian hanso until a later plebis-
cite. Finally. Greece was to have
Smyrna and q wide hinterland on
the Asiastic mainland, in which,
after certain period OF Greek oc-
cupation. final possession was to be
determined by plebiscite. Such
was the decision OF Sevres so far as
il affected the Greeks. but there
was also renunciation by the Turks
of their Armenian, Syrian. Meso-
potamian and Palestine provinces.
In a word. the Turks surroundered
to the western powers Smyrna. with
it's hinterland. and all of their Ar
menian snd Arabic provinces. In
addition they recognized italian in
terests about the Gulf Of Adalia and
in a broad hintshand adjoining the
Greek sphere of smyrna
- -.
while Venizelos was in power In
Greece and well nigh the most con-
specuous singhL figure in the allied
councils. 1t laeant the doom Of the
Turk, who nCx only lost all of his
European POSSESSIONS, including his
capital, which became the seat Of
an interallied commission, but also
surrendered the larger part Of his
Asiatic empire. II was a death
sentence wsfch could only be car
rfed out by force. since the Turk
was bound to resist to the death.
No sooner had the Sevres treaty
been completed than venizelos fell
and Constantine returned to Athens.
(But Constantine was not only the
Prother-in-law OF the kaiser, he had
Peen also throughout the war an
obstinate opponent of the allies, who
lad thwarted them at every turn
and even conspired to procure the
r-urder Of French marines in
Athens. itself. He had been de-
throned by allied consent, his re-
turn meant instantly the collapse Of
the pro-asied sentiment in Greece.
ALLIES Fail Ont.
Instantly the unanimity Of the
three great allies, France. Britain
and italy. disappeared. France was
dead against Constantine, favored
resisting his return to the throne
and at once demanded the revision
Of the treaty of Sevres, still nm
signed, in such fashion "a to de-
prive Greece Of the larger sbar. Of
her gains at the expense Of the
TURK On the surface French
optnif<s and policy were influenced
by eiuuring distrust and dislike Of
Constantine.
But In reality this was only one
phase. France saw with uncon-
cealed 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 sup
port which in the last century they
had bestowed upon the Turk and
for the same reason. II Greece |
should become the most considerab BILE |
nation in the Near East, nothing
was clearer than that Britain would, |
In fact. be the force behind the
scenes In all Greek policy