, 1922-12-17

1
opie. Bagdad. Jerusalem and DAmas-
cua. An -four a, the time OF the arm.
istfce were in tho hands Of the enemy.
The Turkish army had been reduced
20 impotenoe- The whole empire lay
It h mercy OF the allies. At las;
h mos; enlightened nations OF Eu-
7ope had a free hand in solving tho
! turkish problem
The treaty signed a; Seve-es was
intended to accomplish this purpose.
1t created = republic Of Armenia Il
detEched from the Turkish empire
Mesopotamia, Palestine. Egypt. Syria,
and gave them TO Great Britain and
France. II set up a new Arab king
dom. and deprived the Sultan of that
sovereignty. It practically gave Gil
icia to France, and Adalia with its
hinterland 10 Italy. It awarded
Thraee and Smyrna With their adjoin-
ing territory to Greece The Sultan
YVES left with nominal authority over
Constantinople. but the real power
was IN the hands OF an allied commits
sion. An that remained Of the Otto
man empire. one OF thu Oldest and cor
tAinly the wlekedest OF I've ~dynasties
Of the world. was the region some
what indefinitely known a Anstolia.
with the cities Of Brusa, Kenia and
Ansora.
I'm thus circunlSertbins the Turk
there was no historic injustice.
Though the area left TO him contains
representatives OF other races, its
population in the main is Turkish. OF
the 5000. 900 Turks in the world. al
most 1000, 900 live there. The loss Of
their Mediterranean aco was not
serious. for they are not n s~eafar1nS
people. The Anatolian region could
well support the race, for olives. figs.
tobacco and other valuable products
flourish there. There Is not the
slightest doubt that the Turkish peas
ant would have been well content with
his lot, for he has no ambition and is
not chauvInistic unless his leaders In.
flame his religious fanaticism. L eft
to his own devices he can live on
terms of amiabfity with even his non
Moslem neighborA
''But certain malevolent forces be-
gan to manifest themselves both In
the Turkish and in European govern
menta. Not much is known In this
country about the rou OF politicians
which has really governed Turkey for
the last fifteen years. 1t can best be
described. I think, as the district lead
ers of n Turkish Tammany Hail. For.
merry It called itself the Union and
Progress party. Now 1t Is masque-
rading under the new name of the
Nationalist party, but It is the old
group. with the old sinister purposes;
and IT was the real power in Turkey
even when the Sultan was nominally
its overload. This was the committee
which. under the domination of Ia.
laat. Enver and Djemal. made n COM
ract with Germany. closed the Oar
danelles and forced Turkey into the
war on Gernany's side. This was the
committee which ordered the massa-
ere OF more than half a million Greeks
and moro than a million Armeninns.
1t did not, IN some suppose. coliapro
in 1913. or its leaders. Taiaat and
rJeinal have teen assassinntcd; and
the third, Enver. has been eEgaged in
miscellaneous military ana political
adventures beyond the Caucasus; but
hardly had these personalities van
ished from the scene when another OF
the group arise. This was Mustapha
Renal.
II caught an occasional glimpse OF
Kemai during my ambasSadorship in
constantinople. He was known then
as an energetic and able young SOL
der. So rapidly was he forging to the
front. indeed. that Enver was Jealous
of him and refused to sign his conf
mission as a general in the Turkish
army. But when Enver quit the scene
Kemal succeeded to the headship Of
the Union and Progress committee Ne
aus he possessed the same talents
which had puzzled Talaat and Enver
and Ptemal to the front. He was
audacious. clever and interruptions.
He vas a real Turk.
Under Kemai's inspiration the
Union and Progress committee now
underwrots a new enterprise. This
was to destroy the Treaty OF sevres
and restore Turkey to the position,
territorially n politically. of 1914.
Probably the Imagination OF Renal
and his associates reached far beyond
that vision. Turkey had lost IN a
century, By several stages. not only
her tIargest North African possessions,
but most Of the great European en-.