Turkey's Non-Belligerence
In the Turkish newspaper Vatan Husein Jahit Yalchin has exposed the meaninglessness of German suggestions that Britain is pressing Turkey to abandon her neutrality. In fact the position of Turkey as between Germany and Britain is not that of a neutral. She is a non-belligerent, which is by no means the same thing; and an ally of Great Britain who has never repudiated the Treaty of Mutual Assistance signed on October 19th, 1939. It is true that under the terms of that treaty Turkey agreed, in the event of the extension of a war of aggression to the Mediterranean area, to lend all aid and assistance in her power. At the moment when Germany was invading Greece and Yugoslavia Turkey did in fact all that was within her power, or that we should have wished her to do, by declaring her intention to defend her integrity and remain faithful to her friendship with Britain and Greece, and to fight rather than sacrifice one inch of her territory. More than this was out of the auestion, because Britain was not in a position to send forces to fight by her side. In such circumstances it was clearly not within Turkey's power to give us direct armed assistance. .The position was fully appreciated in this country, and the sequel has abundantly justified the attitude Turkey adopted. Indeed she has probably rendered far more valuable aid indirectly to the Allied cause by standing out firmly for her independence, and affording a valuable buffer territory between German land power, when it was in the ascendant, and the territories the Allies control in the MEddle East, than if she had sent under-equipped forces to engage the Germans. Great Britain has reason to be abundantly satisfied with her firmness and consistency.
Previous page
