The New York herald., 1921-02-27

return to Europe is entirely improbable.
But In Asia, in Mesopotamia as we'll as
Syria, he may be able to reassert his claims
despite British and French mandates and
armies
This means perpetuating rather than
abolishing the Eastern question. 1t means
for the British bringing the old danger back
to the frontiers Of Egypt 1t means the ex-
tinction of the Zionist dream Of Palestine.
1t means the destruction of the centuries
old French hopes in Syria, which have come
down from the days of the Crusades. IT
carries with it the death sentence to British
hopes of repeating in the valley of the
Euphrates and the Tigris the miracles
achieved In that Of the Nile. 1t means, in
fact. returning the whole of the Near East
to that anarchy and chaos which inevitably
attend Turkish rule. And In this picture
must be included the collapse of the Greek
aspiration to restore the old Byzantine Em-
pire. the aspiration nearly realized under
venizelos and so rapidly disappearing under
Constantine.
But the solid truth is that the people of
Britain, France and Italy are in mood
for colonial adventures. Italy has from the
outset declined to send troops to take up
her sphere OF interest about the Gulf Of
Adalia France and Britain have together
employed more than 100000 troops in Syria
and Mesopotamia since the 'armistice, two
thirds of these being British, and day
passes that the British and French Parlia-
ments are not assailed by protests which
cannot permanently be silenced II the need
for troops remains
Union of Turk and Bolshevist
Is Europe's Gravest Danger
Meantime KemaI Pasha has gathered his
strength. No one knows how many troops
he has under his hands. He seems to have
been victorious in his recent engagements
with the Greeks and to have suffered a re-
verse after several victories in fighting with
the French in the vicinity of Aintab. His
relations with the Bolshevists remain undis-
closed, but despite all handicaps he seems to
have succeeded in reasserttng Turkish sover-
eighty from Armenia to the outskirts of
Smvrna and the Scutari Peninsula. facing
Constantinople. And on the basis of this
solid fact he now demands to be heard at
London as the real voice of Turkey. And
although the great Powers proclaim their
purpose to hear only the representative of
their prisoner the Constantinople Sultan,
Kemal's wishes will at least be listened to.
Unless all signs fail the failure of the
nations which conquered Germany and her
Turkish ally to make their will felt in Asia
and among the various Mohammedan peoples
in the vast region from India to the Hedjaz
and from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf
will have repercussions In the next few
years. Moreover the disturbances will be
accentuated by the fact that there has been
a similar failure in the case of Russia. The
two areas of chaos, the European and the
Asiatic, touch. The Turk and the Bolshevist
are in communication II not in actual ali-
ance, and the Russian has all the reasons
which animated the German in throwing the
Turk against the Western nations, and the
Turk has all the old desire to regain Egypt
and his lost lands of North Africa.
Save for their own exhaustion incident
to the war. France and Britain would now
be able to dispose of the Eastern question.
They might even make tolerably lasting
arrangement, II they could compose the r
own riva1ries But unable to agree, faced
with a situation which demands the use OF
large armies and the expenditure of vast
sums of money. they have been forced to
adopt one compromise after another, the
last OF which may we'll be the recognition
Of Kemal, the reduction of Greek acqu ST.
tiops and the agreement upon some fugi-
tive adjustment of their claims and those
of the Turk in Mesopotamia and in Syria
But II the Turk refuses all such adjust
ments, then Britain and France will pres
emily have to choose between considerable
war and a prompt evacuation, which may
have grave consequences for them, both i'm
Asia and In Africa. In a sense the new
Conference of London may be one of thes
historic landmarks In the relations between
the West and the East between Europe and
Asia And so far from being final step
In making peace, II may prove but the
initial circumstance in one more war which
will extend from the Pacific to the Baltic
and the Egean
Copyright, 1921, by the lcC7urc Netcs-
paper Syndicate.