Evening star., 1941-03-04
Turkey Prepares


What the Turkish government in
tends to do in face of the great
German war machine now rolling
ponderously into Bulgaria is not yet
known. But Turkey is certainly get
ting ready for all eventualities. The
navy is mobilized and three more
classes of army reservists, aggregat-
ing 250, 900 men, have been ordered to
join the 100000 to 100000 already
with the colors. Since Turkish policy
Is yelled in clouds of rumor, 1t will
be more profitable to survey the
strategic possibilities.
Since the Balkan Wars of genera
tion ago, Turkey has been essentially
an Asiatic state. However, it retains
a sizable bridgehead in Europe, about
one hundred miles square. known as
Turkish Thrace. The broad Martha
River forms the common boundary
with Greek Thrace from the Aegean
Sea northward to the city of Adrian
ople. Thence the frontier with Bull
garia runs almost due eastward over
land to the Black Sea coast.
Turkish Thrace is a region of hills
and high, rolling downs. Long .forti-
fled, it has been turned into vast
entrenched camp, garrisoned by
forces estimated to number at least
100000. Though the Turkish Army
is short on equipment and air power.
the quality and morale Of the troops
is high, and material deficiencies
might soon be remedied by their
British allies. Turkish Thrace ought
thus to be hard nut to crack even
for the highly mechanical German
war machine.
Only after this deep fortified zone
has been pierced would 1t be possible
for the Germans to reach Turkeys
second line of defense, the water line
which runs from the Black to the
Aegean Seas. This is a salt water
river, beginning with the Bosporus
at the entrance to the Black Sea,
passing Constantinople, widening
into the Sea of Marmora, an irregu-
lar body of water about half the size
of Lake Erie, and again contracting
into the elongated channel of the
Dardanelles. Both straits are mar
row. At one point the BoSporus is
only half a mile wide, and the av-
erage width of the DardanelleS is less
than four miles. The banks are gen.
orally high and steep; the water is
very deep. With modern defensive
equipment, a passage of either strait
by the Germans would be difficult
undertaking.
The naval aspect of the straits Is
equally important. After the World
War, they were ilternationslized, but
by the Montreux Convention of 1885
Turkey recovered the right to re-
fortify the straits in full sovereignty.
subject to certain regulations for the
passage Of foreign shipping in both
peace and war. It is interesting to
note that, under this convention Tur-
key could allow British warships to
enter the Black Sea as part of
League of Nations mandate to resist
aggression. However, in these crucial
days, Turkeys action will probably
be determined, not by judicial nice
ties" but by her own interests, modi-
fled by the respective pressures Of
Britain, Germany-and Russia. Rus
sia would presumably not care to see
foreign fleets of any kind in the Black
Sea, which she considers her special
preserve. But, with German sub
marines repeatedly assembled at Ru-
manian ports, and the small yet
relatively important Rumanian and
Bulgarian navies under German con-
troll, Russia is already faced with the
presence Of alien sea power in Black
Sea waters.
In all this complex tangle Of poll
tics and strategy, one certain fact is
that Turkey Is confronted by the
necessity Of a vital decision. Very
soon she must make UP her mind
where she stands and what she in
tends to do.