Evening star., 1923-01-28
BY OLIVER OWEN KUHN.

Shall. Great Britain maintain its
Mohammedan peoples of the world, or
shall Turkey make such inroads as to
hazard the British Empire.
Fundamentally this is the question Of
the hour In any discussion of the
near east problem. It is the issue,
which, from all appearances, both
Britain and Turkey are anxious to have
settled for all time. Britain Is sure of
her power. The Turks flushed by
victory and apparent willingness of
European nations to temporize with
them as evidenced during the delibera-
tons OF the Lausanne conference, wish
TO remove Britain's influence and in the
perpetuation of nationalstic purpose,
form bloc Of peoples which shall domi-
nate forever the near east free of
foreign influence.
Advance Under British.
No matter how the British have
planned advancement Of the economic
and financial interests of the empire
through control of the Mohammedan
reaches, it nevertheless remains a fact
that in the face Of prejudicial antagon-
fsms peoples under British control have
advanced greater lengths than have
those who have been left to the ex-
ploitation Of unscrupulous Turkish
regimes.
Great Britain has made pledges to
peoples separated from the old Turkey
under the treaties OF peace the core
or these promises being that they
snail forever be free of the free boot
ing Turk, who has ground down piti-
lessly at the least provocation. Great
Britain has said they shall take their
places among advancing peoples
through continued maintenance Of
settled order and economic develop
ment, and Britain intends to see this
realized.
There are latent riches to be had
by the nation winning contentious In
regard to the 1rak and other man
domination. But these riches will not
be gained except through some de-
gree of order insuring proper de-
velopment.
The British. in SO far as Mosul is
concerned, have acceded to the policy
of the open door advanced by the
United States. The Turk. on the other
hand, would take the Mosul region,
with its fortune in 1t. and exploit it to
the sole interest Of Turk officialdom.
ignore private for so-called govern
mental rights. rights only limited by
the imaginations of grasping cliques
kneeling before official hearthstone. {.
May Determine Breakdown.
The question of Mosul, according to
all dispatches. is to be the chief rock
upon which the Lausanne conference
founders. True. other questions suf-
same deliberations, remain to be set
tied, but it would appear that the
future Of the wilayet Of Mosul is to
be the determining factor.
The question has been brought up
again and again in the Lausanne
conference only to be shunted aside
because OF its extremely vexattous
character, but the crisis has arrived
at last, and Lord Curzon, against the
wishes of the Turks. will have the
whole question of the Mosul region
laid before the league of nations with
the request that the league COUNCIL
take action.
The Turks. opposing this move,
state that they would seriously OBJ
tect to arbitration of the issue, and
that 1t should be left to pleDisclte,
The British oppose. not so much as
they are against a plebiscite II IL
Were conducted honestly. but because
tho british are disinclined to disturb
,nandated areas in which the larger
movers have gone to great lengths TO
Introduce order where chaos once
reipned and where economic ADVANCE
has been furthered.
A. any rate, the Turks will be given
onnortunity to be heard before the
league council IL they so desire, ana
II they consent to. arbitrator oy tne
League. the whole issue will be one
Lass upon which the rival powers Will
bsWe TO agree. The Turks insist,
however, that they will retain the
tight to reject arbitral awards In case
they are against the interests OF the
Turks If the Turks take this stand
little is to be gained. save by a decis-
ION favorable to the Turks, as the
oon+est between the British and the
Turks will continue. This, even
though the league sustain lts decree
by an economic boycott OF turkey.
Approaches Clear-Cut Test.
The situation is one which the
British, Turks and other powers long
have recognized-one rapidly ap-
preaching a clear-cut test OF strength
nolitica., and possibly military, as
between the British and the national
lists of Turkey.
The Mosul region. with It's poteh-
TALLY tremendous oil output. Is re-
parded one of the richest or the
near east. The Turks want the OIL
for exploitation purposes. Likewise
the British. 1t cannot be denied.