Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 267, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1920 — SECRET TREATY CUTS UP TURKEY [ARTICLE]

SECRET TREATY CUTS UP TURKEY

France, Britain and Italy Agree to Support Mutual Claims. PAPERS SIGNED AT SEVRES .. V I — .. Three Government* Sign Tripartite Agreement in Which They Agree to Support Each Other in “Spheres - of Influence.’’

Paris, Nov. 8. —France, Great Britain and Italy have signed a tripartite Agreement in which they agree to Support each other in maintaining their ■“spheres of'influence” in Turkey. The limits ti e areas in which the respective special interests 'of France and Italy are recognized are defined by the same document This agreement was signed at Sevres August 10, the day the pilblic ceremonial ,of the signing of the peace treaty with Turkey took place. Although the agreement it is ex-plained.-is not considered a secret one, it nevertheless has never been made public until now, after a lapse of nearly three months since the signing Undpr its own terms the document was to come into force and be published at the time the Turkish peace treaty should go into effect. This date is still an uncertainty. British Spheres Undefined. In connection with examination of the text now available attention is being called here to the fact that while the treaty defines the spheres of influence of France and Italy —recognizing the special interests of France in Cilicia and the western part of Kurdistan bordering on Syria and of Italy in southern Anatolia —the British spheres of influence are not only undefined but are not mentioned. This has raised the question if the agreement is susceptible of the interpretation that the British Interests may be held to extend to any or all the remaining parts of the Turkish empire. It Is noted also, that while the agreement does not take the form of an alliance, it pledges the contracting powers to “render diplomatic support to each other In maintaining their respective positions in the areas in which their special interests are recognized.” Coal Mines to Italy. One section of the document provides for the exploitation of the Bagdad railway by a company in which British, French and Italian capital is equally Interested. It gives the exploitation of the Heraclea coal mines to Italy. Article X of the agreement provides that nothing contained In it shall prejudice the rights of nationals of nonsignatory states to free access to the various areas for commercial and economic purposes.