Evening star., 1941-04-12

anu Sllll WISH W dNOlu.
Three weeks ago the government
of Ankara was ready to cooperate
with British and Greeks for the
defense of Salonika described as
security zone of Turkey') pro-
vided the Yugoslavs would join in
Eden. British foreign secretary, met
ShukrL Saracoglu. the Turkish For
eign Minister, in Cyprus last month,
he obtained promise in that sense
and the Turkish Ambassador to
Belgrade was instructed according
ly. The arrangement probably
would have come through but for
the fact that, on March 20, the
Turkish representative heard of the
resolve of Prince Paul, then regent
Of YugoSlavia, to submit to Adolf
Hitler's proposals" and had his ap-
plication for an audience Cancelled.
-Four days later was published the
Russian Turkish declaration which
enables President Ismet Inonu or
Turkey and his ministers to rely
upon RuSsia's benevolent neutral
ity" If they are involved in a de-
fenSive war. Later on, Turkish
diplomacy semiofficially explained
that its government had decided
against waging war outside the ma
tional frontiers because of the heavy
odds implied in that course of ac-
tion
Turn Eyes to Russia.
1t means that, in the last resort,
President Inonu, Premier Refk
Sayoam, Saracoglu and Marshal
Cakmak, the four men who carry
the burden of public affairs at
Ankara, now are looking, to an in
creasing degree, for Russian as
sistance in order to weather the
impending storm.
The invasion of the Salonika
region by the German Army struck
at one of the principles upon which
Turkeys foreign policy has rested
consistently for nearly 10 years. In
no case. according to that principle,
was Bulgaria to be let free to drive
a wedge between Greek and Turkish
territories.
Now Hitler has done what, in the
past, King Boris was not allowed to
do. The danger which. yesterday.
Turkish statesmen were determined
to ward off at any cost. wanes into
insignificance compared with the
danger they must face today.
They comfort themselves with the
belief that Soviet Russia no longer
behaves as timid neutral. but
realizes that German onslaught on
Turkey would merely be a pre-
liminary move in a scheme of con-
quest including the Caucasus and
the Ukraine.
On April while the menace of
a declaration of war by Der Fuehrer
hung over Yugoslavia, Josef Stain
and his advisers gave that country
whatever encouragement could be
contained in treaty of friendship
and non-aggresSion. When Premier
Dusan Simovitch of Yugoslavia
heard the treaty had been signed
by Premier-Foreign Commissar
Vyacheslaf Molotoff, he is reported
to have said he had a gleam of hope
that Hitler might hesitate to strike.
See Turn Against Nazis.
Hitler hastened to strike because
he did not want the Russians to
think that, by implicit threats, they
had made him swerve. But that
treaty of friendship, which failed to
help Yugoslavia, deeply impressed
the Turks. In their judgment, it
has revealed Russias will eventually
to turn against the Nazi Empire.
At present they probably are trying
to change into a more drastic agree
ment the Russian-Turkish Treaty of
1926, which entails close diplomatic
solidarity between the two sigma
tories, but of late has lost its edge
an agreement providing for military