19 MAY 1939, Page 15

PEOPLE AND THINGS

By HAROLD NICOLSON

THE Turkish agreement has been welcomed as a fine diplomatic performance. It is more than that. It represents the integration of those natural interests, historic principles and available resources—the disintegration of which has caused a temporary 'shifting of the balance of power. Here is no artificial barricade hastily improvised in some inaccessible area in the hope of stemming for an hour or so the quick seepage of the Drang nach Osten. The Turkish agreement represents a concrete dam ; based, not only upon sound geographical principles, but upon future interests and past respect. Above all, the cement has had time to settle and to dry.