The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-09-26

officer for Turkish headquarters
That night about four months ago
at Angora. the capital of Mustapha
Renal Pasha's provisional. war-born
government, tho atmosphere was sur
charged with a dramatic, slightly ner-
vous undercurrent.
For things were not going wei.
with Turkey. 1t had fought and lost
q great war. 1t lay mutilated and
bleeding The world at large was
beginning to forgive and forget Ger
many's and Austria's sins, but there
was no forgiving nor forgetting for
Turkey. The world at large had
ceased to talk about Belgian atroci-
ties, but was still talking about Ar
menian atrocities. Kismet, Fate,
seemed against the Mcslem. Where
ever you looked, from western China
to the hills OF Morocco, the Crescent
was humbled In the dust before the
Cross. There was France in Syria,
Great Britain In Mesopotamia, Italy
in Tripoli. There were soldiers of all
the allied nations sporting their mot
ley tunics in the ancient, quiet streets
of Constantinople. There was no
money, no food. no credit, no hope,
no future.
Greek I'm Asia Minor
And now the hereditary foe, the
Greek, with a pro-German king. had
fer some mysterious reason of Euro
pean diplomacy been appointed Eu-
| ropes delegate In Asia Minor The
| Greek was In control of Smyrna,
where, to believe the stories told by
Mustapha Renal Pasha's spies, to
believe Furthermore MN. Mierre Lott
Il 10, 70 other
Impartial French observers, he was
enslaving and massacreing the Mos
lem and Jewish public opinion; the
| Greek was being furnished an album
| dance of cash and cannon by the
| British; the Greek was advancing Into
| the interior of Asia Minor and mar
shaling his troops to conquer first
| Angora and then Constantinople; the
! Greek had at his beck and call the
| propagandistos. sincere as we'll as
mercenary, and therefore all the SYM
pathies of the Occident. The Greeks
seemed sure to win. The Greek said
so himself loudly and frequently.
Thus ran the gossip, the shivery
| rumors and babblings in Angora S
bazars and market places, and yet
the dinner party that same night at
| Mustapha Kemal Pasha's residence
was very gay and very cosmopolitan.
There was the Pasha himself, tall
still young, good looking, narrow
| hipped, wide-shouldered, with gray
| rather sad eyes that spoke eloquently
| of his panish-Jewish ancestry--for
| Renal like Enver Pasha. though en-
| orthodox Moslem, is descended from
| those noble Spanish Jewish families
that, given by Christianity the toler-
| ant choice between death, conversion
and exile, found asylum and happi-
ness in the Sultan's domains--and
with strong, high-veined hands
| broad and flat across the wrist-the
hands of an artist a dreamer, yet,
too, those of doer, a man who
| knows how to clout his dreams into
facts, clearly. constructively, at times
ruthlessly.
Townsend Present
| At Mustapha Renal Pasha's right
sat very great British general who
had fought the Turks in the World
war, had been beaten and captured
by them. and had wound up by be-
| coming their stout champion--Gen-
| eral Townsend, the hero. although
vanquished, of Kuet-el-Amara. There
were, side by side with Turkish Of
ficers of many races, Osmanlis and
Kurds and Albanians and Druses and
| Jews and a sprinkling of Syrian
| Christians, in their somber, black
uniforms; NJ. Franklin Bouillon of the
French commission, who has forgot
ten more about the Near East than
most people will ever learn; Herr Won
| Berg and his colleagues of the Ger
I man mission; a brace of unclassified
| tweed clad Americans, and a number
| of soviet officers and officials, all
suave, we'll dressed and remarkable
| linguists. led by NJ. Karakhan. There
was finally an Indian Moslem, a gen.
| tleman of ancient and noble lineage
| who had given up high rank in the
British-Indian army and high honors
conferred upon him by the King
! Emperor. George v, because he
| thought that Islam was in danger
! that Christianity had decided to de-
stroy the Moslem utterly, that 1t was
| time for jehad, holy war.
| At that dinner party the food was
| simple; it was frugal, for 1t was
| Turkish. There was no wine, Mus
| tapha Kemal Pasha being an ortho-
! dox Moslem, who, in obedience to the
| Koran, does not touch fermented
spirits. But the music was excellent
| 1t was classic European music, played
| by rather nostalgia Viennesesst y
| chestra, living reminders Of the
| World wars stupendous ODYSSEY
since Mustapha Renal Pasha brought
! back from his years in Berlin, where
| he studied at the Imperial war
| school after his graduation from the
| Turkish War college, the Lycee I'M
perial Ottoman, a thorough admira-
ton and appreciation of European
music. 1t is perhaps significant that
Wagner is his favorite composer and
after Wagner, Debussy.
The conversation amongst that
COSMOPOLITAN crowd was mostly OF
war, past, future and present, and or
the ceilings and recoilings of interna-
rional politics. 1t was good hu-
mored. even humorous. except for an
occasional remark, sardonic, pointed.
eall-bitter, that dropped from the In
dian Moslem's thin, ascetic lips.
Indian Starts Convention
1t was the latter who, when asked
by one of the unclassified Americans
why Islam mistrusted the Occident
and why the Moslems would not sub
scribe to the treaties of Versailles
and Sevres and rely on Europe's fair
mind and fair will. replied very
brusouely in his native Behart Ian
guage:
"Gidar rakhe mans Ike that
would you keep meat or trust with
a jackal"
Silence followed the remark; en-
barrassment; an epidemic of uncom-
Portable coughing; h shuffling. OF
uneasy feet.
Then Mustapha Renal Pasha rose
and walked over to the Indian.
what Is the matter, Syved?" he
demanded. What has happened which
canot be remedied-with patience and
faith?"
"The Greek