The Washington herald., 1922-08-10
Explains Greek Situation.
o the Editor. The Washington Herald:

1 rea0 your eQitOrlal OF august
; concerning "Greece's Treading
Dangerous Paths" Being q Greek
b. birth and making a special
study of the Near Eastern question
for many years. l believe i am in a
position to offer accurate informa-
ton to your readers.
The present Greek government
was elected in November. 1920. and
as soon as IL was installed in pow
er declared that 1t will strictly fol-
low the policy OF the previous ad-
ministration, namely the Nenizelos
regime. The expectations OF Eu-
rope and OF all Christian nations
from the present Greek govern
ment were to keep the Turk away
from the Dardanelles and Bosphor-
us. and to protect the Christians of
Asia Minor. That was the duty i'm
posed on the present Greek govern
ment, which II fulfilled better than
the world could expect. in spite OF
all the Russian. French and Italian
intrigues. So within the last two
years the Turkish hords were
driven to the Sangaria River and
their fighting power was so badly
and permanently impaired that
they now prove unable to take the
offensive. The Turks only hope
for coming back to Smyrna and to
the Sea OF Marmara rests upon
Russia, France and italy. These
so-called civilized and Christian
powers help the Turk simply be-
cause they hate to see Greece come
to her own. simply because they
hate justice.
You state that the Greek army
suffered some disastrous defeats.
but this is true only according to
the French press. The Greek army
won every battle it fought against
the foe. The Turks did not win a
single battel from the very start
OF this war until this day. which
is proved by the, fact that they lost
a territory five times larger than
that assigned to Greece by the
Sevres treaty. Every man can see
that on the map.
As to King Constantine I would
like to say that he is not a car
or kaiser. but constitutional
monarch and as such he has no
power to rule. The constitutional
kings reign. but rule not. The
King of Greece holds the same
position as the King of England.
In the actual government of the
affairs of the Greek nation the
kings influence is indeed very In
significant compared with the in
fuence of the President Of our re-,
public. Greece is as democratic as
Switzerland. France and the United
States, IL not more so in many re-
spects The king is only symbol
of national unity and inspiration.
For 500 years the Greeks believe
religiously in the reconquering OF
the seat OF their Byzentine Empire
by a king named Constantine. They
saw: "A Constantine built the city;
a constantine lost it: a Constantine
will win it back" 1t is naive
sentiment indeed. but mightier than
time and absolutely Irresistible.
The Greeks believe in their king.
they love and honor him. because
he serves the interests of Greece.
and for Greece only. He Is not
willing to become a pupet in the
hands of the allies. In the great
war he was not more pro-German
than he was pro-English. but he
certainly was Greek. He asked
the allies to pledge'to him at least
the integrity of his country. II they
wanted him to fight with them
against Germany. But the allies
refused to pledge to anything. They
had already promised I'm secret to
give Constantinople to Russia ana
smyrna to Italy. cities and territories
which were not their own to dispose
of as they pleased. but the sacred in
heritance OF Greece from time inn
memorial. of Greece to whom they
owe their civilization and Christianity
The truth Is that the allies did not
want Greece to take part In the
great war. because they were sure OF
victory and they wanted all its spoils
for themselves. The allies ignored
Greece and her rights. They were big
and strong They believed. as they
still believe. that might Is right. The
King Of Greece would be traitor to
his country IL he would enter the
war III 1914 SIMPLY to oblige noble"
France. We do not blame former
Wilson that he kept us out
of war in 1914. 1915. and 1915. in
fact the people Of our country were
so content with his neutral policy that
they rewarded HIM by the reelection
Of March 1917. with the tacit under
standing that he would continue to
keep US out of war. The consequent
events and the present international
situation prove that the world would
be far safer place for democracy
IL he had kept us out Of the war
to the very end.
We must not forget that every free