PEACE IS ARDENTLY DESIRED by the Greeks in their war with the Turks, but not peace at any price, nor is it to be expected that Athens will oblige France and the Turkish Nationalists by consenting to the unconditional abandonment of the Greeks of Asia. This we learn from the Greek correspondent of the London Times, who points out moreover, that no Greek Government would fail to demand compensation, territorial or financial, or both, for the loss of the Ionian mandate. The Greek case, as presented by a Greek of no pronounced party sympathies was outlined to this correspondent as follows:

“The Entente Powers gave the Ionian mandate to the Greek nation by the Treaty of Sevres. If they gave it not to the nation, but to Mr. Venizelos, they had no right to do so, and they can not blame us for accepting the gift as tho it had been made to the nation. We may have made a huge mistake in the last elections, but are they justified in abandoning us because our unreflecting electorate made an instinctive movement against what it regarded as a Dictatorship? If we are to evacuate the area which our unbeaten army holds, we have the right to demand compensation as well as guaranties that our commercial interests in Ionia will be respected, and, above all, that our ‘unredeemed brethren’ shall not suffer for having made common cause with us when the Powers invited us first to occupy Ionia, and then to take the offensive against the Kemalists who were threatening Constantinople.”

It is admitted that there are some Greeks who will not hear of the evacuation of Ionia on any terms, but the Times correspondent doubts whether such Greeks are truly representative of the majority. On the other hand he tells us that there is no tendency to accept any compromise on the question of Eastern Thrace. Of Greek relations with the Powers, this informant tells us:

“The fears exprest in some quarters last winter that the return of the Royalist Party to power would result in a pro-German orientation of Greek policy and a growth of pro-German sentiment among the Greek people have till now proved baseless. We British remain extremely popular with all parties, save the handful of Communists. As regards Greek relations with Italy, the Greek Government, tho it regrets the continuance of the Italian occupation of the purely Greek Dodecanese islands, is anxious to be on good terms with a powerful Western neighbor, and the Greek Press is now much less given to anti-Italian diatribes than was the case a year ago.

“French policy in the Near East is severely and often intemperately criticized by both Royalist and Venizelist newspapers, more especially since the Angora Treaty. While the Royalist organs, forgetting the painful incidents of December 1, 1916, seem unnecessarily surprized at the disinclination of the Quai d’Orsay to discuss the recognition of King Constantine, the Venizelists seem to stand on firmer ground when they criticize the very anti-Greek attitude of part of the French Press to-day.”

Bulgaria remains the bugaboo of Greece in the Balkans, we are told, for while its Premier, Stambuliski, inspires “some, but not unlimited confidence,” the Greek students of Balkan affairs wonder whether his Agrarian party will be able to retain its. independence of the Macedonian groups. We read then:

” Roumania is popular; the Greek Press advocates a policy of mutual understanding and cooperation between Athens and Bucharest, and the recent marriages between the Royal Houses are regarded as a proof of the good relations between the two states. There is little confidence in the vitality of the Albanian State and considerable soreness over the decision of the Entente Powers to award a large part of ‘Northern Epirus,’ which the Powers regarded as Greek in 1914, to the Government of Tirana.

” Greek relations with the Triune Kingdom of Jugo-Slavia seem decidedly friendly, and Belgrade has a very capable and popular representative at Athens in the person of Mr. Baloukchich; still Salonika may become a bone of contention between Greeks and Southern Slays in the future, and one can not help feeling that it might be good policy for Greece to make Salonika a free port and thus deprive Belgrade of possible economic grievances and restore the much-impaired prosperity of that historic Macedonian seaport.”

Source: The Literary Digest for February 18, 1922