Near East

Oil, Lausanne, Turks, America, Britain, France The Grand National Assembly at Angora ratified by an overwhelming majority the Chester Concessions for the development of Turkey. The issues at Lausanne are thus further complicated and a crisis of considerable diplomatic importance has been created. Admiral Colby M. Chester acting on behalf of his organization, the American-Turkish Development Company, has had to wait a long time for this concession. It is therefore quite certain that having a right to what he has won, he will not be disposed to listen to the wails of anguish emitted by France and Britain. It is just this point that bodes well to embroil the United States in the cauldron of the Near East. It is an unfortunate fact that the concessions--outlined in TIME last week--conflict with the assumed obligation of Britain and the alleged rights of the French. Richard Washburn Child, American Ambassador to Rome, was reappointed as America's official observer at the next session of the Lausanne Conference which meets at Lausanne on April 23. His duty was and will be to protect American interests in Turkey. The Chester Concessions are now, from the Admiral's point of view, a fait accompli. In a prior argument from the American standpoint is that an agreement involving large American interests was made with a fully competent Power and the agreement was ratified by the Parliament of the aforesaid Power; therefore, as far as Anatolia is concerned, the signatories to the agreement are the only people concerned. It is not quite so simple. Both France and Britain have a good deal to say. Mr. Child's duty is plain. He will have to protect the Chester Concession unless a way is found to keep the question clear of the Lausanne Conference. This, however, seems most improbable, for the simple reason that the concessions affect vitally the French attitude to Turkey, and with the Mosul oil fields brought into the dispute, Great Britain will find it impossible to settle questions which are accessory, without a clear-cut understanding on this point. America will, therefore, be led willy-nilly into taking an active interest in the affairs of the Near East. From Great Britain's point of view the concessions in Anatolia are as welcome as the flowers in spring. It is not their affair if Turkey wants an American concern to develop her internal resources. In fact Britain has everything to gain by an improved system of transportation, which is one of the principal items in Admiral Chester's agreement with the Turkish Government. The rub comes in the fact that the Turks granted permission for the construction of a railway line through the Kingdom of Iraq, and that they have conceded rights in the Mosul oil fields. It is incontrovertible that the Turks had no right whatsoever to make concessions outside their own territory. Pleading extenuating circumstances, it is manifestly illegal for the Turks to grant concessions in a country under foreign rule, even if they challenge the status quo. Moreover it is a nice point of international law as to whether pre-war agreements made in Mesopotamia by Turkey are still valid, considering that the country is now ruled by King Feisal and is under a mandate granted by the other Allies through the League of Nations to Great Britain. France sent a note to the Angora Government stating that the grant to Chester was an "unfriendly act"; fairly strong language for a diplomatic note. The Quai d'Orsay-- French Foreign Office--officially denies the report that France will now refuse to go to Lausanne, but affirms her intention of not acquiescing in the cancellation of concessions granted before the War. Le Midi, Paris journal, says: " It is a pity the Turks did not ask the Americans to rebuild the Tower of Babel, because the Americans are so good at skyscrapers." Pertinax in the Echo de Paris remarks that "the Chester program is only a means of getting rid of the concessions granted to the French and British." It seems that the Turks, adepts at procrastination, have been playing for time until the psychological moment arrived to ratify the Chester Concessions. It arrived; and the Turks will go back to Lausanne stronger than ever. The Turkish move has, however, revealed Lord Curzon and his role of injured innocence in a most unfavorable light; for, more than once, he emphatically denied that Great Britain was in Iraq for oil: now it appears that Britain is not wholly disinterested.