Evening star., 1922-04-02
NEAR-EAST DECREE
HELD HUM|L|AT|NG
Allies Settlement of Problem
Believed Most UnsatiS-
factory in London.
TOO EASY ON TURKEY
Greeks Seen Unfairly Imposed
Upon and Armenia
Unprotected.
BY GEORGE y. BARNES,
British Parliament Leader.

BY Radio TO The Star.
| LONDON, April 1.-Humiliating in
the extreme is the agreed-upon set
| tiement in the near east There is
| little doubt that it will be accepted.
The allied powers shave authority 10
impose their will upon the Greeks.
| The Turks, having the better of the
arrangement. will Of course, accept
| The return to London of Lord Cur
zon from the Paris conference of the
! allied foreign ministers has not been
| greeted with enthusiasm. The
| agreed-upon document, which is to
| be put forward as the basis of re-
storStion Of peace in the near east is
| far from satisfactory. The confer
ence, however, was faced with com
plications directly arising out of the
| failure Of the military operations OF
the Greeks in Asia Minor This forced
compromise settlement. Assent or
| the allied governments to the plan of
their ministers Will follow as mat
| ter of course, as all are committed.
; In addition, decentralization would
| lead only to further dubious diplo-
| matte exchanges.
The best thing that now can hap
pen is for the conclusions to be
adopted as soon as possible by the
allies and the belligercnts alike
They are an anti-ciimax to the great
| hopes that had been entertained for
| a near east settlement Of quite diff
ferent kind.
No Force i'm League.
|, The complete text of the agreement
now is fully known in America. 1t
| leaves the Armenians TO their fate,
! subject TO the proviso, which is
| mere preiense, that they are to b.
nations. The Turks know, and the
Paris delegates know, that the
| league of nations has no forces
wherewith to protect anybody.
This unsatisfactory agreement is
proof of the outcome of mishandling
| of the near east problems by the
allied and associated governments.
Through the division of opinions OF
| the governments that are opposed to
/ him the Turk again has escaped the
! just wrath of mankind. lie again
! has flouted, successfully, the allies
and all of their works.
To us in Great Britain the proposals
| are especially disappointing because
tens Of thousands of the very best
of our men were sacrificed in wrest-
had blighted by his misrule.
The settlement with the Turk was
| left in abeYance by the peace con
| ference delegates at Paris in 1919,
not only because they were occupied
/ i'll settling urgent matters nearer
! home, but because such a settlement
did not appear to be urgent The
! fruits of victory did not appear TO
! be in jeopardy.
| France Joins Enemy.
| We belived that the United States
| could be relied upon in due course
/ to lend q hand in dealing with the
| Turk according to his deserts. We
/ had in our minds these words OF
| President Wilson that Christian
| minoritieS never again would be left
| to the tender mercieS of the Turk"
| We had hoped that the President
i spoke the mind of his fellow country
| men. Then came the treaty of Sevres.
| with its evasion by the Turkish gov
ernment. After that followed the
| Greek reverses in Asia Minor. These.
/ Of course, have skillfully been ex-
plotted by Turkish diplomacy. But
| last. and worst, has come the atti-
tude of France. That country has
made common cause with the COM
| mon enemy. Contrary TO its written
| obligation, it has made a separate
! agreement with the Turks at Angora.
| leaving the ArmeniauS in Cilicia to
; shift for themselves as best they
/ can, ard the Frenchmen now have
| Unanswered the Turk gain into power
! over the non-Turk population.
| 1t is a sorry tale and it makes one
| almost despair of international CO
| operation. The best that can be said
| for this new Paris conference is that
| it does promise to bring the near
! eastern war to an end at last.
| (Conyricht l9o.l