Evening star., 1925-02-28
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

Peace, peace, when there is no
peace" Thus exclaimed jeremiah de-
scribing conditions in the Near East
and the same words would fit todays
description.
Asia Minor is the center of new wars
How widely will the hostilities spread?
What nations will be involved? Turkey
is already engaged in battle with
Kurdistan. and is threatened by Russia,
through the Union of Soviet Republics.
including Georgia. Armenia and Aver
baijan. Turkey is also on the verge
Of war with Greece concerning her
eviction from Constantinople of the
Greek patriarch of the Orthodox Church.
Just as Germany found herself beset in
1914 by enemies on every side, so Tur-
key today-sovereign over less than one
fifth the territory she claimed prior to
the World Warts surrounded by foes,
backed perhaps by the great powers
England. Italy and France. Germany
would be an ally of the Turk, but what
can Germany do?
x x < =
Kurdistan is now fighting for indie
pendence which had been promised by
the treaty of Sevres, signed by the
by the government at Angora. 1t in
cludes all that part of Turkey east of
the Euphrates River and south of Ar
menia Its zigzag boundary on it's
south, separating it from Mezopotamia,
now called the Kingdom of Iraq, is in
dispute, and that dispute lies between
Turkey and Great Britain, for the
British hold a mandate over Iraq. Great
Britain is a member of the League of
Nations, that organization guarantee
ing world peace.
At the request of Great Britain. the
League of Nations has appointed a
commission of three-a Swede. a Bel
gian and a Hungarian-to define the
legal boundary between Kurdistan and
Iraq The commission is on the ground
meandering the line, and the kurds
are becoming excited and defiant. The
Turks say the Kurds' revolt is insti-
gated by the British to weaken Turkish
hold on the disputed territory and that
It is the British seekers after oil and
manganese ore who are stirring up all
the trouble.
But the Kurds care little about oil
or ore they want independence from
the hated Turks. Though they, too.
are Moslems, they have no sympathy
with the people of Turkey, and only
hatred for the Young Turk who now
rules and denies that Allah is su-
preme. Great is Allah. and Ma
homet is his prophet" There can be
no more holy wars, since the Caliph
has been driven from Constantinople
and the rulers are despisers of the
faith. So what if the Kurds do lis
ten to the English and revolt against
the tyrannous Turks?
X x x X
Now comes France. which captured
the Russian men-ofwar by which
Gen. Wrangel made his escape from
the Crimea France has made peace
with Soviet Russia. by the terms or
which she returns those dismantled
men-of-war The Soviets propose to
sail the ships through the Bosporus
into the Black Sea, and probably
there recommission the vessels, with
which to harass every Turkish port
on the sea, including Constantinople
and the Straits.
Turkey declares that such pas
sage cannot be permitted, in spite OF
that unratified Sevres treaty which
would have established a neutral zone
all around the Sea of Marmora and
made the Straits international. The
Straits are claimed by the powers TO
be international, so that neither Tur
that any vessel shall be prohibited
entrance into the Black Sea But
Turkey does say just that. What will
the League of Nations in the interest
Of universal peace do under such cir