Evening star., 1939-10-20
urkey Joins the Allies

iu'NSy SOiuS NuS HiuSS
Great Britain and France, in sign
ing a flfteen-year mutual assistance
pact with Turkey, retrieve to highly
important degree the diplomatic re-
verse they suffered at Moscow two
months ago, when Hitler and Stain,
behind the allies backs, sealed the
pact which led to the joint partition
of Poland
Under the terms of the Ankara
agreement, the western powers pledge
themselves to come to the aid OF Tur-
key if she is the victim of attack by
European power or in the event of
her involvement in a Mediterranean
war due to aggression by European
power. The Turks agree to help
Britain and France if they find
themselves at war in the Mediter-
ranean area under like circum-
stances, or if they are engaged in
hostilities by virtue of their guaran-
tees to Greece and Rumania. An i'm
portant stipulation is that Turkey is
freed of any obligation to fight for
the British and French should they
be at war with Soviet Russia.
The implications of the tripartite
pact are of immeasurable signifi-
canoe from the allies standpoint.
Perhaps most vital of all is the right
they will now enjoy to use the Darda-
nelles, which they tried in vain to
penetrate during the World War at
terrific cost in life, treasure and pres
tige, and enter the Black Sea if they
are called upon in Hitlers war to
back up their guarantees to Rumania.
The agreement is an undeniable
black eye alike to German and Rus
sian statecraft. Hitler's arch Near
Eastern intriguer, Won Papen, has
been working night and day at An
kara, to which he is the accredited
Nazi Ambassador, to prevent the
Turks from ratifying the tentative
undertaking into which they entered
last spring, while Chamberlain and
Daladier were forming their nom
aggression bloc to thWart Germany.
The Ankara accord is an immediate
rebuke to Moscow, which kept Turk
ish Foreign Minister Saracoglu at
the Kremlin for three weeks in an
attempt to wheedle him into ac-
cepting demands which would have
made Stain master of the Balkans.
Those demands proved the straw that
broke the camel's back. Saracoglu
declined to sign on the dotted line on
three counts-Turkish recognition of
the partition of Poland; agreement
to the virtual partition Of Rumania
by return of Bessarabia to Russia
and of Dobruja to Bulgaria, and un-
conditional closure of the Darda-
nelles. Within tWenty-four hours the
Turko-Anglo-French treaty took its
place in the history of this tortuous
year-a milestone of inestimable
magnitude for the western powers.
1t comes at a psychological moment.
Their fortunes on land, at sea, in the
air or around the diplomatic board
cannot be said to have been marked
by any outstanding successes since
the Nazis plunged Europe into war
on September l.
Second only to the Germans and
the Russians, Italy stands to lose
most through the new triple entente.
The pact speaks merely of "a Euro
pean power" whose act of aggression
in the Mediterranean area would
automatically call for it's enforce
ment. Neither the Reich nor the So
Wet Union is likely to commit such
an act, because of the geographical
factors involved. Italy could do so,
and the Fascists cherish notorious
designs in the Near East. Mussolini
has soft pedaled them since Italy pro-
claimed her neutrality in the present
war-a decision which can only have
been fortified by Germany's acquisi-
ton of Communist Russia, II Duce's
pet aversion, as partner on a scale
that convinces the Italians that the
Berlin-Rome axis has now been sup
planted by the Berlin-Moscow axis.
With Italian aspirations checked
in the direction of Greece and in the
Aegean Sea, to say nothing of Musso-
lini's ambitions to become the grand
protector of Islam" in the Near East,
it will be worth watching to see what
the Fascists do about the bargain
which the western powers have
struck with Turkey. Were II Duce
to move now. to help Hitler, a mere
glance at the map suff1ces to indicate
what would happen to the boot that
bangles from the continent between