Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-12-22

Cilicia. one of the most import
ant regions Of Asia Minor, from
which French troops are being vita
drawn as q result of the much dis
cGssed agreement between France
and Mustapha Renal Pasha. DIG
tator of Asiatic Turkey. is the sub
ject of the following bulletin from
the Washington. ID. c., headquarters
of the National Geographic So
ciety:
IF an artist, an engineer, a far
mel and a mining prospector were
seEt out to find the most desirable
re gion in Asia Minor they probably
would come rearer TO agreeing on
C.!icia than on any other section"
says the bulletin. I'm hardly any
portion of Europe or America has
nature been so generous as to this
relatively small area at the extreme
northeastern corner of the Med:-
terranean; ami though mar has
net made the most of his opportuE-
tiles ON the material side by turn
ing potential into actual riches, it
is only a question of time-and
perhaps of world politics-until he
viii.
n Coastal Oasis
along most of the southern
coast OF Asia Minor the lowlands
form a yer marrow strip. Near the
extreme northeastern corner Of the
Mediterranean, however, at the
southern base of the Asia Minor
peninsula, the sea plain broadens
cut. forming a fairly level region
more than IS miles long and from
20 to 60 miles broad. At the seas
corner the highlands close in again
ana the coast through Syria and
Palestine for 500 miles to Egypt is
rugged except for occasional narrow
strips. Cilicia, therefore, is a sort
Of coastal oasis.
Back of the Cilician plains rises
the semicircle of the Taurus noun
tains from whose heavily wooded
Slopes timber has been taken for
ages to meet tho needs of treelesS
Egypt and relatively treeless Syria.
From the Taurus flow numerous
streams the year round watering the
fertile plain and making posslble
extensive irrigation, whenever the
necessary dams and canals shall be
furnished. Even under the blight
ing rule of the Turk and with the
handicap 81 u semi-nomadic, semi
agricultural p%opulace, which has lei
much Of the country become
sNampy, Cilicia has produced good
crops of rice, maize, sugar-cane
fruits, tobacco and cotton. Its eli
mate and soil are especially good
10" the production of the latter crop
Some of the streanls flowing
fronl the high Taurus offer excellent
opportunities for power develop
ment, and in the mountains is much
untapped mineral wealth. The Tau
rus n famous for their scenic
beauty and they have been a prac-
teal boon through the centuries to
the city folk who have dwelt IN
the Cicilian plains since the be-
ginning of recorded history. Willis
were constructed among the foot
hills and in the pleasant valleys
that extend upward to the noun
tains in both the Greek and Roman
eras. In this favored region the
Germans planned to create a great
base for the realization of their
cream of expansion into the East.
Nameless De Lesscps of h Past
The Taurus have formed in their
time n of the most important mill
itary frontiers in the Old World.
They were practically impossible ex
cept through a deep gorge known
as the Cicillan Gates. For a long
time the road, capable of s only
NY beasts of burden. ran N a narrow
stream bed. But more than 400
years before Christ some nameless
De Lesseps constructed q roadway
threagh the defle for wheeled vehi-
c: 8. a work which probably chang
ed the whole course of history in
that part Of the world. Cilicia be-
came the halfway house for COM