Evening star., 1923-07-09
KARAGATCH|SR RICH
PRIZE IN BALKANS

| "Karagatch, which the Lausanne
| conference has just turned over to
! Turkey. lies in the suburbs OF Adri-
anople, Is the railway station for
! that city of 10000 inhabitants, and
is so situated that 1t is the cynosure
of all neighboring eyes in the south
eastern corner of Europe" says a
bulletin from the headquarters of the
National Geographic Society.
Greece, which is shakily holding
onto part of Thrace, is consenting to
give Karagatch to Turkey to keep
both Turkey and Bulgaria from TAX
ing more of the Thracian province.
Turkey hesitated to accept the city in
lieu of the cash indemnities which
she wanted, and Bulgaria has agon-
j tZed over the settlement because,
with Turkey owning Karagatch and
| the Thalweg, or channel of the Ma
rita, and with Greece owning most
of the territory through which runs
| the gatchDedeagatch railroad.
the Bulgarian outlet to the Aegean
becomes seriously Handicapped.
| Tied to AdrianopIe I'm Past.
The relationship between kara
Catch and Adrianople. has always
been much like that of the old fash
! ioned husband and wife-where one
went the other went Iso-and Adri-
anople has for OF time been the
scene of dramatic inc. oks connected
| with the various Balkan wars. From
1912 to 1915 it was one of the centers
| of the great struggle between Bull
loo are olyiy or
It's surrender to them the sine qua
| non of peace, and the Turks fighting
| to the last ditch for a city which was
dear to their national and religious
sentiments.
'"The secret of that relationship has
| lain during modern times in the
| fact that the large railway station
of Adrianople is located In Kara Catch.
which lies on. the opposite side of the
Martha and Is connected with the
| city by causeway two miles long.
The approaches to the station of
! Karagatch are good, the sidings are
| extensive, and 1t Is we'll equipped
with two military loading platforms.
an engine house, freight shed, a
| water tank and coal depot.
/ Price for Bulgarian Entry.
| incidentally this same bit of rail-
road from the Adriatic through Kara
Catch to the Bulgarian border was
the price which Bulgaria exacted for
her entrance in the world war on the
side Of the central powers. When
| she received the whole line of the
railway traversing Turkish territory,
together with Karagatch. Demotika
and Kuleli Burgas, she was irrevoca-
bly, pledged to the central powers.
! Prior to the beginning of the
world war Bulgaria owned a long
stretch of sea front on the Aegean
along the Gulf of Enos and the Bay
Of Lagos, but this now belongs to
Greece. 1t has been the country's
consistent aim for decades to get and
hold this door to the south, which
would eliminate the necessity Of max
ing all shipments through the Bos-
porus and Dardanelles or over allen
| railways.
The Martha, one of the largest
rivers touching Bulgaria, flows be-
| tween Adrianople and Karagatch, and
sometimes when. the waters are high
| the road leading from the station to
the larger city Is flooded In it's
course Of 900 miles from it's source
in the Balkans it drains a basin of
20,790 square miles in area. At this
particular point, just below where II
Is Joined by its two main tributaries.
the Trundja and the Arda, 1t is OBJ
| structed by rocks and sandbars, but
below Adrianople it is navigable for
small boats