Evening star., 1926-04-20
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

The ratification of the Lausanne
treaty with Turkey, made in 1923. will
come before the Senate this week,
according to Senator Borah. chair
man of the committee on foreign re-
lations. The fact that a strong pro-
test from 109 bishops has been filed
gives the question of any treaty
with the Turks unusual importance.
The protesting churchmen point to
the horrors committed by the Turks
against the Armenians and other
Christians within their power, not
only during the World War but be-
fore and since the war. AS summed
up in an editorial quoted in the pro-
test originally published in the Living
Church-an Episcopal periodical-the
record is as follows:
Thirty thousand Christians killed
in Cilicia in 1909.
Nearly 1000 900 Armenians report
of Gen. Harbord) and 250.000 Greeks
report Of Mr.. Morgenthau) killed dur
ing the World War.
Thirty thousand Armenians butch
cred at Alexandropol in 1920. CRe-
port of a Bolshevist commission.)
Twenty til ou a n d Armenians
butchered in Cilicia in 1921. Gre
port of American relief workers.)
Butchered and burned, 100000
Greeks and Armenians in Smyrna in
1922. Consul General Horton.)
Expelled from their homes and
robbed in 1923. 1900 900 Greeks and
Armenians.
They now hold in their harems as
slaves 100000 Christian women and
children-some estimates put the
number at 100000.
The supporters of the treaty re-
ply that these alleged facts do not
make a case proving that, without
any treaty relations, this country
would be in a better position to de-
fend the Christian survivors who re-
main in the power of "the unspeak-
able Turk" than we would under a
treaty of peace and amity. The
whole matter. therefore, becomes a
question of expediency or policy.
X X 4 \
From the bishops protest is quot
ed the following:
I'VE should be as solicitous for
the performance of our moral duty
as for the protection of our material
rights.
1--WE are asked to resume friendly
relations with an avowedly unrepent-
ant and anti Christian government
which destroyed a million inoffensive
men, women and children; expelled
from their ancestral homes over a
million and a half. and is now hold
ing in slavery in Turkish harems
tens of thousands of Christian wom-
en- and children.
1--WE cannot forget that over a mill
lion Armenian refugees and exiles
are now a people without a country
afY
serted under Turkish domination;
that thousands of Armenians fell
| in the field of battle in defense of
our common cause, and that Presi-
dent Wilson and President Harding
made solemn pledges to Armenia.
1--WE feel that failure on our part
| to fulfill our moral obligations to
Armenia, to the extent of our op-
portunity, would be equivalent to a
conformation of the Turkish crimes,
and to a ratification of methods and
facts which are abhorrent to all who
love righteousness and judgment"
The protest is headed by Rev.
William T. Manning, Bishop of New
York, and signed by 1OS other
| bishops, including Bishop James E.
Freeman of Washington.
y X y v
| Senator 6OEdn has answered the
| bishops in a letter, in part, as fol-
| lows:
There are good and wholly Suff1-
| cient reasons, as 1t seems to me, why
ratification should be had. But II
were seeking the views of others
as a guide, l should feel compelled
| to give great consideration to the
| views of Americans living and hav-
| ing interests in Turkey.
"They are, so far as l know, all in
favor of ratification, and urge
speedy action. Our religious. educa-
| tional and business interests COM
bine in asking that the treaty be
ratified. They feel that it Is neces-
sary for their protection, and their
arguments in support of their con-
tention seem to me to be conclusive
- 1t will be remembered also
| that the leading powers have all con-
/ cluded treaties with Turkey. The
pending treaty with the United
States protects our interests, re-
ligious, educational and business. as
| fully as the interests of other ma
tions are protected. j" 1t would
be nothing less than folly to stand
out and refuse to make treaty be-
| cause we cannot get better treaty
than other powers are willing to &C
cept. BY such a course, we would
| imperil our interests throughout
Turkey.
"If 1t be said that we should have