The Washington times., 1922-10-01
SAYS:
RKSHAVE SET
/ | ISLAM AFLAME
Victory Over Greeks and Brit.
hin WIN Revive aith, His
torian Believes.
by GUGLIELMO FERRERO.
Famous Italian Historian.

Famous Italian Historian.
wrftten Expressly For Universal Service.
(Copyright. 1972. by Universal 'Service)
ROME, Sept. 30.-Who, in 1919,
would have predicted that Turkey
would be the first among the van
quibhed powers of the German coali-
tion to take her revenge. to teaE up
the peace treaty which proposed to
register in the archives of the history
her defeats?
And yet so 1t is. Germany, Aus
triA, Hungary, Bulgaria, willy nilly,
have had to accept the treaties OF
peace which the Conquerors imposed
upQn them. But the treaty OF SeVres
nolIlonger exists. The Turks have
retaken Smyrna.
How can this miracle be explained?
was not Turkey the weakest of the
four conquered powers? Why could
she do that which powers stronger
than she could not achieve? 'Thau-
maturgy of the Bosphorus! The
Asiatic catastrophe - because for
Europe it is a catastrophe-is the
Consequence of the formidable errors
committed by the entente in regard
oiConstantinople. Old Europe lost
clear sightedness that still remained
toll her at the close of the world war,
and the effects of the madness begin
a. last to make themselves manifest.
And alas! They are but the first.
n Errors Of Entente.
In what do these errors consist?
In hating forgotten at first in the
ardor of war. and then in the intoXi-
cation of victory. that Constanti-
nople is the holy city Of the Mussel-
man, and hence that Musselmen
would have resigned themselves
only to the loss of the city if Con
stantinople had been conquered by
. Strong power against which it was
vain to struggle. II Russia in the
world war had shown a yigor in
conformity to her size. if she had
conquered Austria, Germany, Tur-
key, and had entered Constantinople
with banners flying, as Germany in
1S71 entered Paris. the Musselman
world would have bowed its head
to the mystic will of Allah.
Although Turkey was the weakest
Of the coalition powers, CONSTANT.
noble, just because 1t was the holy
city OF a religion that numbers hum
dreds of millions of believers, was
the city the most difficult to con-
quer of all those which the COM
batants attacked. If it was easy to
occupy ByZantium temporarily, to
hold It forever other forces were re-
quired than such as would conquer
Stfnsburg or Trieste or Brussels or
Warsaw.
What did the entente do? In 1915,
when Russia began to feel var
weary. France and England promised
her Constantinople to raise ner
spirits. II Russia barely succeeded
I'M defending herself against Ger
many and Austria, much less could
shs conquer the holy city of the
Musselmen! But they thought thus
toneXcite afresh the spent force of
the MuscoVite giant!
IL Russia Out of War.
Russia fell, laid down her arms,
capitulated, without having seen
the minarets Of ConstantinOple even
alta distance. The forces that alone
colld have captured the glorious
city of Islam had disappeared.
Europe ought to have realized that
the hour to erect anew on Santa
Sophia the Christian cross had not
yet dawned. But England wished
toI,take advantage of the occa sion.
forgetting that Constantinople is
not Gibraltar and Suez and that
ont the borders of the straits lives
ths Caliph.
The regime planned in the treaty
ofltSevrea for Constantinople is one
ofIlthe most remarkable monuments
oflhuman lightheartedness and igno-
rance which history can show. 1t
presupposes that the Musselmen
wonld resign themselves to leave
their holy city under the proteC-
totate of three Christian powers, far
off and able only to dominate her
byl sea: three powers, moreover. at
ODDS among themselves, and with
nd foI $ at their disposal in Asia,
toIimpose the treaty terms. except
thS army Of a small power like
Gteece. Three giants under the 4
prStection of a dwarf!
What has happened now begins to
be! plain. Little by little, aided
opbnly by all the Musselmen of Asia
and Africa, and secretly by Euro
hegemony of the straits as an of.
fense and a damage. an intrepid and
tenacious soldier has succeeded in
Assembling and equipping an army
inElAsia Minor. reconquering Smyrna
abd has thrown the Greeks into
the sea.
Turks Want Capital.
But there Is yet another illusion
hugged by Europe today; and that
ispthat the Turks made this four
year effort to attain Smyrna.
Smyrna is but a stepping stone
The Turks aim at Constantinople
and Adrianople. They will not
make peace unless they are con-
quered or Europe gives them back
their sacred cities. We must there
fore walt to see what England in
tends to do, before we can judge
whether peace is near or far off.
But near or distant. one thing is
sure. The victory of the Turks in
AHA Minor does not only hit the
Cheeks. 1t hits England, it hits
Enrope, II hits the whole Christian
wprld full in the face.
This Is for the Crescent the first
Iray of joy, of hope, of triumph,
that has shone on II for more than
a century. For the first time since
al