Turkey's Courageous Diplomacy
M. Sarajoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, has left Moscow without concluding an agreement with the Soviet Government. Though the exact course of the discussions is a matter of conjecture, it is evident that Turkey, though pressed by Russia and anxious to maintain friendly relations with her, has refused to promise anything inconsistent with her Treaty obligations or with the agreements with Britain and France that she is about to sign. M. Sarajoglu, advised from Angora, appears to have insisted on three governing conditions—the Montreux Convention, under which Turkey as a neutral admits passage through the Straits to foreign warships going to the assistance of a Black Sea Power suffer- ing from aggression; the Balkan Entente, which binds her to help Rumania, Greece and Jugoslavia if any of these are threatened ; and the agreement with England and France in regard to the Eastern Mediterranean. In his firm adherence to these three engagements he appears to have refused to accept the Russian request to close the Dardanelles to British or French ships on legitimate errands, or to bring pressure to bear on Rumania to cede Bessarabia or the southern Dobrudja, though Turkey would welcome Russian support of the Balkan peace bloc and the maintenance of the status quo in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hopes of a modified agreement consistent with her present treaties still remain. It is clear that in these negotiations Turkey, in spite of her difficult position, has set a courageous example to the world of honourable diplomacy and good faith.
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