Evening star., 1925-09-15

Great Britain holds a mandate from
the League of Nations over the King
dom of Irak, which mandate will eX-
pire in 1928 anless renewed. Within
Irak. according TO the version OF the
British, lies the vilayet Of Mosul. in
which extensive and very valuable oil
fields exist. Turkey disputes the right
of Irak to include Mosul and its oil,
therefore she demands of Great Brit
ain a full surrender. or at least a
plebiscite OF the people to decide
whether they will unite with Turkey
or continue the suZerainty of the Brit
ish. Furthermore, Turkey has massed
an army of 20, 900 upon the borders as
means Of emphasizing her demand.
France is accused by the British of
being interested in helping the Turks
in defeating British plans to renew
the mandate for a term Of % years.
With millions of dollars worth Of oil
at stake, the situation appears to need
only a match TO start serious trouble
between France and England, and
actual hostilities with Turkey.
X X
King Feisal of Irak is the princely
son of Husein, with whom Great
Britain bargained in the early
part of the World War. agreeing to
help him set up an Arab kingdom, in
consideration of the help of the Arabs
in fighting the Turks. Hedjaz was
the product, and the Arabs expected
il to include Palestine, Syria and
Mesopotamia. The French disputed
title to Syria. and after a clash with
British interests the dispute was set
tied in May, 1916, by an agreement
giving France free hand in Syria and
Great Britain in Mesopotamia.
Then arose a dispute as to the bound
ary between Mesopotamia and Syria,
which led to a conference and treaty
of St. Jean de Maurienne in December,
1916, which defined the boundaries of
all the Near East and gave Smyrna TO
Italy. In 1919 the allies authorized
Greece to occupy Smyrna, which re-
suited In the Turkish massacre of
Greeks and a general unrest through
out the Near East. Now France Is at
war with a savage tribe-the Jebel
DruSeS-in Syria.
King Feisal, driven out of He'd JAZZ,
rode north and established himself at
Damascus, assuming that he and his
Arab supporters were to rule MeSopo-
tamia, according to the British agree
ment. He soon learned that France
claimed his kingdom there. and FrencA
forces under Gen. Gauraud threatened
Damascus. King Feisal retreated to
Irak. which had been assigned under a
I1ldIlQdI6 pTOl0ClOIdtS ny the LcdS uS VI
Nations to Great Britain. Great Brit
ain recognizes and supports King Fei-
sal as ruler over Irak so long as the
King recognizes the superior right OF
Great Britain's mandate and her con-
troll over the oil lands.
King Feisal has gone to London, os-
tensiby to consult medical advisers as
to his physical condition, but France
asserts that he is there to confer with
British statesmen as to the strength
Of his Irak throne.
Two years ago, while France and
Great Britain were at odds over
Frances occupation of the Ruhr, fore
| ing Germany to keep her obligations,
Turkey took advantage of the situar
ton to set up her claim to Mosul. Brit
ain declares that Mosul belongs to
Irak, under King Feisal. She bases
that claim on clinical and archeo-
logical grounds, holding that the villa
yet is populated chiefly by Chaldo-As-
syrianS and KurdS, the ancient Medes.
Therein lie the tomb of Jonah and, ac-
cording to tradition, the fiery furnace
of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
though what that tradition. has to do
in confirming Irak's title to Mosul is
not apparent.
Turkey is evidently willing to COM
plicate the situation by involving the
United States interests, though our
State Department counts the effort
as ridiculous" About three years
ago Turkey gave to the American
Rear Admiral Colby n. Chester, re-
tired, concession authorizing him
to build a railroad from Kharput. in
Anatolia. to Sullemanieh, on the
rcl KIP
ton giving him all right to the oil
on both sides of the railroad a dis
tance of 20 kilometers-a strip about
20 miles wide This concession
crosses most of the territory in dis
mite between Turkev and England.
other TOPICS innumerable play leap