Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-22
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.

TILE ASOA nStIlk ICAdSANCAy 1Cco
M attention than the spectacu-
wv lar return of Carol to Ru-
mania, the signing of Greco
Turkish treaty Of friendship
! At precisely the same rrpment is an event
of far greater tmpor @nce alike in the
Balkans and In Europe. Actually it
ends amicably war which, with in
terruptions, has lasted for more than
a hundred years. In the IL decades
of struggle Greece has suffered many
reverses. but has never given up the
struggle.
Today the Hellenic state counts
within its frontiers nearly three-quar-
ters of the Greek people. In a CEN
fury the population has quintupled, the
area trebled, now more than six mil
lions of Greeks live on a territory of
10000 square miles. a state slightly
larger than Kew York. The larger
part of the kingdom of Philip of Mace
don, father of Alexander the Great,
has been merged with the classical
Greece.
True, there have been disappoint-
ments. The last war resulted In the
expulsion from the western coast Of
Asia Minor of nearly 1900, 900 Greeks,
Ehe descendants Of the inhabitants Of
the Greek cities which were Hellenic
o. far back as the Persian wars. But
In exchange Greece sent away the
Turk settlers in Macedonia and Eastern
Thrace, and the influx of the Asiatic
Greeks gave new expansion to Athens
and Saloniki.
Credit Goes to VenizeIOs.
This Greater Greece is largely the
work of one man, Venizelos, the Cretan
school teacher, who q generation ago,
following the disasters of the Greco
Turkish War of the COS undertook the
task which entities him to rank as the
Bismarck of Cavour of his own country.
The task falls into three parts. The
FIRST was the long period of prepare
ton which eliminated in the two Bal
kan wars Of 1928, one against
Turkey, the other against Bulgaria. In
the World War the genius of Venizelos
was fatally hampered by the pro-Ger-
man policy of Constantine. Neverthe-
less Venizelos brought his country to
the allied side in time to share In the
spoils OF victory, which included Adria-
nople and Eastern Thrace right down
20 the old Enos-Midia line.
Then came the next phase. Thrust
BY British and French statesmen into
Smyrna on the morrow Of the Paris
peace conference, Greece then began
the long war which came within a
hairsbreadth of ultimate success but
ended in the collapse Of the Greek
army, the retreat to Europe and the
eventual loss Of Eastern Thrace, to the
Martha, along with all the Smyrna
foothold in Asia. Henceforth the double
dream Of possession Of Constantfnople
and Of Smyrna seemed definitely abol-
1shed.
But within the somewhat shrunken
area of the Greece of the treaty Of
Lausanne, Venizelos began the third
phase Of his task. the organization OF
the new Greece, which was still sub
stantially twice as great IS the state
faced q graver job, for the new Greece
was literally hemmed In on land and
sea by. bitter foes.
Italy, which had taken Rhodes and
the Dodecanesus Islands with q COM
pletely Greek population, for moment
seized Corfu and permanently blocked
the legitimate aspiration Of the Greek;
TO recover Northern Epirus, where there
is a considerable Hellenic population
The greatly. increased Serb state looked
1ongingly at TIE port Of Saloniki, the
natural outlet of al Of Southern Jugo-
slavia. Bulgaria, for her part, still de-
clined to abandon hope of the recovery
of the frontiers which had been prom.
1sed by the treaty of San Stefano ant
included Macedonia. Eastern and West
ern Thrace.
Dffacuh Task Accomplished.
Step by step the difncult task Ia,
been performed. Wisely perceiving tina;
an tntranSigeant irredentish polio,
aimed at Italy could only end in dis.
aster and that it was beyond Greel
power to recover Rhodes or acquire
Northern Epirus by force, the Cretan
statesman skillfully exploited Serbo.
italian quarrels to bring about a rec
onciliation with Italy, without sacri.
1cing Serb friendship. Today Greec'
is assured Of Italian aid in case Of ar
attack by JugoSlavia. Long anC
tedious negotiations have resulted IL
approximate settlement of the single
issue between Belgrade and Athens
that concerning q commercial Quite
9or the Slays at Saloniki.
With Bulgaria the settlement has no
pet come, although conditions have
modified conditions much since the still
recent date when O collision between
Greek and Bulgar troops along thu
Struma for q moment menaced peace
and provoked q vigorous and successful
Intervention CT the League of Nations
Still pending is the question of Bull.
garian access to the Aegean over Greel
territory, presumably to Dedeagatch
But the return of the Greeks Of ASH
Minor and the departure of the Turk,
have permitted the settling Of largt
Hellenic population in Thrace anC