Evening star., 1922-09-17
RUSSO-TURKS AGREEMENT
MENACES EAST EUROPE
Herculean Task Before Allies if Smaller
Nations Are Not to Become Involved
i'm Rush of Events.

have in some ways lessened the an
t7pathy of the Turks toward the
| French themselves, Ii in no wise has
undermined hatred against the Brit
| ish and other powers. Bolshevik In
! nuence yet may swing the whole or
| the Turkish nation with 1t in Gre
ating trouble for the allies, and the
Balkan nations particularly. Chances
of success would be exceedingly en-
| HANGED through resistance of general
| allied forces to Turkish occupation
of ConstantInople and the straits.
| British Against Concessions.
| Foreign offices in Paris and Rome
! are almost agreed that to prevent
grave troubles the allies will be
| forced to concede Thrace and Adrian
! ople to the Turks. but through Brit
ish influence all may be forced to
stand together in regard to the inter
naturalization of the Dardanelles
and the institution of some sort OF
! az finite international control over
| Constantinople These things ever
have been watchword with the
British, they realizing the hindrances
toward the development of Asiatic
countries as long as the Turks hold
! these water passages and dictate TO
other powers in regard to commercial
| lanes.
! The hour for the definite assertion
| of influence over the Turkish nation
alists is at hand in SO far as the
Russian bolsheviks are concerned:
| More can be accomplished in regard
! to restoration of Russian territory
within the next few months than
should conditions again be permitted
| to become normal The general state
, of disaffection and doubt. in regard
| to the near east tends toward the
realization of the Russian an-Turkish
compact. but whether this compact
is in binding form and whether or
, not it will be utilized at the moment
II il does exist must. of course. be
decided by the general trend OF
events.
.'Sed Plans for Bulgaria.
The Sussian communists are known
to have laid plans toward strife i'll
Bulgar r.a. II they control Mustapna
Kemal or are in position to impress
his followers, the Turks and Bull
earians, at Moscow solicitation might
strive to join hands and enforce
Tul kish desires in regard to con-
stantinople. the straits and Thrace.
At the same time the Bulgarians
would be promised compensation
the Dobrudja and control OF the
mouth of the Danube. With the
Turks and the BulSarians creating d
rumpus in the extreme southeast ana
with the Rumanians forced TO so 10
the aid of the armies of her neigh
bors, through little entente agree
ments then the Russians would nave
little difficulty in their plans to re-
store Bessarabia to Russian terri
tory. Any moves of this character
would involve Poland, eventually II
not Immediately, and then France her
self would be forced to act, If indeed
France does not become involved pre-
yiously in sustaining the other mem
bers OF the little entente.
The allied position grows more ana
more untenable as time passes anu
as I indicated two weeks ago. the
larger powers will be placed i'll posi-
ton of treating with the Turks as
victors and the Turks VIII have SUI
fered little territorial loss as the re-
suit of the world war.
England Faces Dangers.
Though the allies are particularly
concerned as to the trend of events
in southeastern Europe and the posi-
b;lity of the Turks obtaining Rus
sian assistance, England particular?
is gravely alarmed as to the erect .
of the Turkish victories in Palestine
and Mesopotamia. two OF the man ,
dated regions. The French are not
IN much concerned as to Syria be-
cause OF agreements with the kemal-
ists but the Turk is known to De
sly and wary and If the Mohamme-
dan peoples should unite and succeed
in routing the British from Mesopo- .
tamia and Palestine. what assurance
would there be. with all purposes
gained they would not then turn OF ,
the French and eradicate such French
influence as has been implanted since |
the treaty OF peace was signed and
eyentualities face the British. who
control the greatest portion of Mo.
hammedan territories, including, OF
course, India.
Could not present Turkish victories.
all of which tend to undermine
easily into holy warfare which wouio
sweep practically the whole Of south
ern Asia?
Allies Task HercuIean.
With the treaty Of Sevres written
off by the march of events inspired
by Turkish resistance, the question
before the allies in all negotiation
designed to settle the status Of the
near east is how to prevent the
consummation of Turko-bolshevist
agreements At the same time they
must retain the Dardanelles and Con-
stantinople for the worlds future
progress. But in SO doing French
and British jealousies must be allay-
ed or they will permeate> every nego-
tiation.
The allies task is herculean in
character: but there Is one thing
most definite-the quibbling and po-
litical chickering's which have hin
dered near east settlements and
permitted the thing that is happen
ing today soon must end or the
statesmen Of Europe must admit de-
feat In the majority Of premises set
up at Versailles for the worlds safety
and progress.