Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-10-21

turning 10 the opposite CaHlp, We
saw the radical, socialist, and liberal
groups being carried away by some
sort of mystic fervor for the new
nationalist Turkey, which appeared
to them to be SO different from the
old realm of Abdul Hamid, simply
because Angora disguised its real
aims under a cloak of tra-modern-
ism in politics and craftsmanship.
Thus Greek Imperialism. which was
! bad enough in itself, assumed mon
strous proportions when it came to
be satisfied at the expense of such
an enlightened. cultured and hui
| manitarian regime as that of Mus
| tapha Renal. The new Turkey had
| to be given a chance, after the AL
| great war. To let Greece have a
| so at her seemed something like
! crime. In this way the forces of
| liberalism arrayed themselves in
favor Of Turkey and against Greece.
In their minds, Greece had no bust
| ness to be imperialistic. no matter
how sound her racial and historical
|
: be. Greece had to be friendly with
Turkey. provided the friendship
rested on Turkeys terms. Between
these two groups of extreme and
| imperialistic conservatism, and of an
equally extreme and anti-imperial-
| istic liberalism came the masses,
whose attitude towards Greece. be-
ing still largely under the influence
of war propaganda, was that Greece
chiefly through the efforts and cum
ming of certain Nenizelos, had sue
ceeded during the war in securing
more than her share of the spells,
and that this being so, there was
no reason why the Greeks should
be permitted to keep all their hold
! ings. since they had elected to bring
back to the throne the German
Constantine. These three shades of
opinion did not include the strictly
nationalistic opposition of such
states as Italy and France-the for
mer suspicious and apprehensive of
a strong Greece in the eastern Medi-
terranean. the latter always hostile
to a further increase of British pre-
ponderance in the Near East. where
Greece was always considered as
nothing but a pawn in England's
game. Naturally enough neither
victorious Serbia nor defeated Bull
garia relished very much the pros
pect of Hellenic expansion on two
continents, the whole thing to be
crowned eventually by possession of
Constantinople. AS for Russia, Brit
ish control of the Straits was al
ways enough to make her an ally Of
any power opposing that aim.
It was against such overwhelming
odds that Greece for three years re-
manned in Asia Minor at the fearful
cost of something between two and
three hundred million dollars. with
out taking account of the heavy hui
man sacrifices endured in that cam
paign. TO abandon such an cXpen-
Sive. and at best, uncertain military
enterprise. would seem to anyone
but q Greek. the only sane and logi-
cal course. This view, however, no
matter how popular abroad, found
/ very few supporters in Greece in the
last three years, irrespective of par
ty divisions.
In the first place Mr.. Ncnzelos
was the man who had taken the
initiative of the Asia Minor eXpedi-
ton, and who could not so behind
| his own program. He was the man
who sent the first troops to Smyrna
at the bidding of the Allies in order
n stfnrncf 1l IL L,
attacks against the Christian popu-
| lation," as the official communipuc
said on May u. 1919. The story of
! the Smyrna occupation, although re-
pcatcdly told, is worth a short repe-
tition in view of what happened
| 1t was during the Paris Peace
| Conference. when Italy under the
| impression that she was wronged by
her Allies. was preparing to land
| troops at Smyrna in accordance with
| her secret treaties with Great Brit
ain and France. IT so came about.
that neither Mr.. Lloyd George nor
I NJ Clcmenceau. nor even President
! Wilson. had at that time any desire
/ to see Italy established in Asia Mi
nor. and because Great Britain did
not trust France. and because France
did not trust Great Britain. neither
could occupy that territory without
creating Il most serious Anglo
| French rift. It was under these cir
| sumstances that Greece came in
. handy and was entrusted to occupy
| Smyrna and the surrounding terri
| tory in the name of the Allies. It
is the irony of fate that the first
Greek troops to be used in this con-
nection were the remnants of the
Hellenic division loaned by Mr..
Nenizelos to France for the purpose
of assisting in the unsuccessful Denf
kin campaign in the Ukraine, when
that general was fighting Soviet
Russia early in 1919. Up to ApriI.
1920, the Greek army in Asia Mi
nor. Notwithstanding its pcnetra-
ton into the interior had no definite
aim. Then the San Keno confer
ence took place. the Turkish treaty
OF peace was framed nv the Allies.
and it was there that Mr.. Nenizelos
asked and obtained permission to
impose that peace on Turkey
through the Greek army. in ey- !
change for the benefits to accrue 70
Greece from the Treaty of Series.
Whether the Allies accented the
treaty of Series with the proposi