Mosul

Last week the dispute between Turkey and Britain over the Mosul frontier (TIME, Sept. 28) drifted further and further from the immediate jurisdiction of the League of Nations.

League Factors. The League, having turned over to the Hague Court the question of whether the Council of the League has power to definitely settle how much of the Mosul district shall be Turkish and how much shall be a British protectorate, washed its hands of any immediate settlement. No decision can be expected from the Hague for at least three months. And opinion differed as to whether this action "prolonged a serious situation" or "postponed a crisis."

Urged by the British, who complained of "Christian deportations and kidnappings conducted by the Turks across the Mosul frontier," the League next announced that it would send a commission to investigate these deportation charges. Turkey then declared before the League that she would refuse to permit such a League committee to enter Turkish territory, branded the British charges as false, and made counter charges of British excursions over the disputed frontier.

Developments were ominous but of doubtful significance: 1) Tewfic Bey, Turkish Foreign Minister, and head of the Turkish League Delegation, left Geneva suddenly by the Orient Express for Angora, after declaring that dealings between his Government and Britain in the near future will be through the regular diplomatic channels. 2) From Angora, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, President-Dictator of Turkey, was quoted as follows: "Our army is ready and its morale is excellent. If we should have to fight--which I don't think likely--we shall certainly not shirk the issue. . . . Mosul is Turkish . . . nothing can change that . . . we will never abandon that view." 3) In London feeling ran high against Premier Baldwin "for not having read an English paper during his recent vacation at Aix-les-Bains." It was implied that he had let the British representatives who dealt with the Turks at Geneva get very much out of hand.