Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-04-24


great result. It was somewhat un-
fortunate that the exactions OF the
European situation caused delay OF
| two years in drawing up the docu-
ment for the Turkish leaders as sub
| esquently appeared put the interval
to excellent use. But this settlement.
as finally promulgated apparently
ushered in a new world era. 1t Great
| ed a Republic of Armenia, leaving 1t
to the American president to deter
mine the boundaries. 1t detached
from the Turkish empire Mespotsmia,
Palestine. Egypt, Syria, and gave
them to Great Britain and France; 1t
deprived the Sultan of the sovereign
ty Of Arabia, making a new Arab
kingdom. 1t particularly gave Cilicia
with the city Of Alexandria, to
France and Adalia and the hinterland
to Italy. 1t awarded Thrace and
Smyrna with adjoining territory to
Greece. It left the Sultan the nomi-
nal authority over Constantinople
with the real power in the hands Of
an allied commission. All that re-
manned to Turkey was the region
somewhat indefinitely known as
Anatolia, with the three cities Of
Brusa, Konia and Angora. There was
no historic injustice in this circum-
scribing the Turk. Though this area
contains representations of other
races, in the main it's population is
Turkish, OF the five million Turks in
the world, four million live in Ana
tolia. But certain malevol-
ent forces now began to gain head
way. These forces were manifest both
10 the Turkish government itself.
and in the allies powers. Not much
l.. To- L.. l. t. 1
OF politicians which has really gov
erned Turkey in the last fifteen years.
1t Is an absolutely close corporation
which calls itself the Union and
Progress party. All this time,
though the Sultan had nominally ex-
ercised the ruling power, this COM
mittee. under the domination of Ia.
last, Enver and Djemal, which made
the alliance with Germany, and
which. at the critical moment, closed
the Dardanelles, and forced Turkey
into the war on Germany's side. 1t
was this same committee which engi-
neered the massacre of more than a
million Armenians and more than
half a million Greeks. Most people
imagine that the authority Of this
committee fell with the collapse of
I the Turkish power in 1918. Nothing
could be farther from the truth. Two
of it's leaders. Taalat and Djemal
have been assassnated; the third
one, Enver is reported killed while
engaged in miscellaneous military
and. political adventures beyond the
Caucasus, but hardly had these per-
sonalitios vanished from the scene
when another chieftain seized control.
This was the man whose name has
recently figured so conspcuously in
print, Mustapha kemal Pasha.
l caught few glimpSes Of Renal
during my sojourn in Constantinople.
He was known as an energetic and
able soldier: SO rapidly was he forg-
ing to the front. indeed. that Enver
was jealous of him and refused to
sign his commission as a general in
the Turkish army. Renal now sue
ceeded to the outward leadership of
the Union and Progress Committee,
because he possessed the same tall
ents that had pushed Taalat and
Enver to the front. He was brave,
audacious, clever, and INSCRIPTIONS
Under his inspiration the Union and
Progress Committee transformed into
the Nationalist Party, now undertook
a new task That was to destroy the
Treaty of Sevres and attempted to
restore Turkey to the position it had
! held in 1914. Probably. the imatina-
ton of Renal and his associates
reaches far beyond this. In a hum
dred years Turkey had lost by sew
eral stages the great European en-
! pire which the conquerors of the fif-
teenth and sixteenth centuries had
added to the crown of Osman. First,
| Greece. then Serbia, then Rumania,
| then Bulgaria had succeeded in re-
gaining their independence Kemal's
ultimate ambition was to reverse all
this inglorious history, to extend the
crescent again over the lost terri
! tories, to rejuvenate the old Turkish
empire.
BY themselves. these Turkish poll
| ticians could accomplish little. Be
fore united and determined Europe
the ragged and poverty stricken
! Turkish army could have made no
progress. But Renal. like all his
predecessors formed valuable allies
The fact is that practically all the
European powers. excepting Great
j Britain disliked the Treaty Of Sew
rcs almost as cordially as did the
Turkish nationalist themselves.
France and Italy had acquiesccd not
settlement, necessarily because they
favored this settlement, but because
they regarded it as essential to keep
VI Soou Terms WIN England. But
both nations We're hostile to the great
accessions of territory which this
treaty gave the Greeks. France and
Italy are Mediterranean powers; the
development of another Mediterran-
can powers; the development of an
other Mediterranean power which
might possibly rival them in this re-
gion. and a power which was es-
pecially experienced in maritime
matters was not at all favored. The
fact that Smyrna and such large
stretches of coast line were given to
Greece, especially ranked the Ital-
lans, and back Of this was the long
standing jealousy of Great Britain
In the favor With which Greece was
treated. Great Britain's allies could
see little except plan of British ag-
grandizemcnt. The province of
Thrace is especially important be-
cause in military sense it controls
Constantinople. Smyrna in addition
to its commercial! advantages is also
an important point in the naval sit
uation in the Mediterranean. But
France and Italy suspected that
Grea' Britain in backing Greek
claims was merely seeking to control
the Osman empire. using the Greeks
as catspaws for that purpose. Nor
should we lose sight of Russia. The