THE CONNEXION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE KEMALIST TURKS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
believe the following items of information may interest your readers. I have not seen them mentioned in any of the London newspapers. They will prove once more the close connexion with, or rather dependency of, the Kemalist Turks on the Soviets of Moscow and consequently of Berlin. The Journal des Debats of March 21st publishes a wire of the Balkan Agency from Angora, in which it is stated that the President of the Angora Parliament is reported to have said in a virulent speech against the Entente, mainly that: "All the Powers may unite themselves against us. We do not mind. With or without the Entente we shall all the same be against the Entente." These words were acclaimed by the audience in the House with cries of : "War to the Entente! Long live Germany and Russia!" The Turkish Press Bureau in Paris has issued a denial "as not having received any news yet." Such a denial, as a French newspaper justly points out, is no denial. I dare say that on the contrary it only corroborates the fact.
Another statement that will not, I believe, be denied by the Turks is the bitter complaints made by the Bolshevist repre- sentative at Angora to the Kemalist Foreign Affairs Com- missariat concerning railway concessions to Americans. Djelal Bey, the Kemalist Commissaire, answered humbly that : "The American propositions were simply being studied and that anyhow no concession would be granted to the Amtricans with- gut the consent of the Soviets, who would, in any case, be
preferred to the Americans." I consider these statements of sufficient importance to justify their publication in your valuable paper.—I am, Sir, &c.,
G. MELAS, M.C.
(formerly Secretary to King Constantine) Devonshire Club, St. James's Square, S.W.
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