RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WESTERN WORLD
Concerning the manner in which the Turk has always profited from the
conflicting interests and jealousies of Christian powers, Lord Morley
made the following shrewd remark years ago:
“This peculiar strife between Ottoman and Christian gradually
became a struggle among the Christian Powers of Northern and
Western Europe to turn tormenting questions in the East to the
advantage of private ambitions of their own.”
This comment of the famous Englishman was voiced before the full dawn of
the Petroleum Age, and while as yet America’s chief interest in Turkey
was the protection of a few missionaries.
A brief review of the political situation which afforded the Turks
unbridled license to “raise the hand of violence,” is here necessary. It
will be evident that they have again profited by their well-known policy
of exploiting the dissensions and conflicting interest of Christian
powers. They have been as sensitive as a barometer to the least sign
of dissension among European governments or peoples, and have shown
extraordinary shrewdness in provoking or augmenting it.
The Turk was the ally of the Germans during the Great War, and perhaps
his most useful one. Practically all the gold disappeared from Turkey
and there is only one place to which it could have gone. The Turkish
Empire was ransacked for wheat and other food supplies. Long train-loads
of foodstuffs, marked “Berlin” were moved with great frequency toward
Constantinople from Smyrna and other distant points. He held the Straits
stoutly against the British and French, and one of his proudest and most
frequent boasts to-day is that he defeated them there. Germany, one of
the great civilized powers, was the ally of the Turks while they were
carrying on the extermination of the Armenians. After the defeat of
Germany, it was taken for granted that the bad days of the Christians of
the Ottoman Empire were over. Turkey was paralyzed.
Mustapha Khemal, who burned Smyrna and completed the destruction of
the Christians, is a creature of Europe. It can not be denied that the
original plan of the Allies included the partition of the Ottoman Empire
and that various projects were formed and promises made which could not
be realized on account of conflicting interests, and that the Turks were
aided by one or the other of the Powers either secretly or openly to
defeat the ambitions of rivals.
In the course of this sad history, Christians were armed against their
hereditary oppressors and then left to the vengeance of the latter. In
general, they were abandoned, as no Christian power desired to offend
the Turk, from whom great benefits were expected, to be in turn showered
on the subjects of the power that showed itself most Turkophile. The
United States did not abstain from this gruesome competition. In the
beginning, interest prompted the spread of what came to be a well-nigh
universal pro-Turk propaganda in Christian countries. When the fearful
death harvest of this sinister sowing began to be reaped, fear of popular
indignation and disapproval gave rise to a policy of suppression of the
truth and to anti-Christian propaganda.
During my days in Saloniki, 1910-14, both Italy and Austria were supposed
to be looking forward to an early occupation of that city and their
battle-ships made frequent visits there, vying with one another in the
lavishness of their hospitality to the inhabitants. The common subject of
conversation was, “Which will have Saloniki, Austria or Italy?”