17 MAY 1913, Page 2

Britain, France, and Russia are simultaneously engaged in discussing with

the Turkish Government their rights in Asiatic Turkey. Hakki Pasha is negotiating with the Foreign Office in London, and Djavid Bey is discussing railway affairs with the Foreign Office in Paris. Other French demands which are being put forward at Constanti- nople concern French schools and the position of French nationals. The Russian negotiations deal with the delimita- tion of the frontier between Turkey and Persia and with the railway in Eastern Anatolia. The British negotiations have chiefly to do with the Gulf section of the Baghdad Railway and Koweit. It is thought possible that the Koweit ques- tion may be settled by the recognition of the sovereignty of Turkey and of the " exceptional interests " of Great Britain. As regards the Baghdad Gulf Railway, it seems that the British Government have modified their original proposal, but maintain the policy of securing the supremacy of British influence on that section. Some of the German newspapers have taken alarm at these negotiations by the members of the Triple Entente. But the better-informed German papers apparently understand what is the fact, that nothing is aimed at but the settlement of long-standing questions. There is no idea of any sort or kind of challenging the German programme with regard to the Baghdad Railway.