Treaty of Sèvres (1920); World War, 1914-1918 -- Territorial questions -- Turkey; World War, 1914-1918 -- Turkey
“As regards Thrace, it is not necessary to support the Turkish
claim for the retention of Thrace by any further argument than
that of the principle of self-determination. Its fair and honest
application will ensure the satisfaction of that claim.
“As regards Smyrna, the occupation of Smyrna by the Greeks, who
were not even at war with Turkey, under the auspices of the Allies,
has shaken to a great extent the confidence which Muslims reposed
in the pledges given to them, and the atrocities perpetrated in
that region have driven them almost to desperation. Muslims can
discover no justification for this action except the desire of
Greek capitalists to exploit the rich and renowned lands of Asia
Minor, which are admittedly the homelands of the Turks. If this
state of affairs is allowed to continue, not only will the Turk
be driven out, ‘bag and baggage,’ from Europe, but he will have
no ‘bag and baggage’ left to him, even in Asia. He would be
paralysed, commercially and industrially, in a land-locked small
Emirate in Asia Minor, the speedy bankruptcy of which is certain.
The application of the principle of self-determination would
entirely rule out the Greek claim in this fertile region, which
obviously tempts the greed of the capitalist and the exploiter.
“As regards Cilicia, reasons similar to those that have promoted
the action of Greeks in Smyrna seem clearly to prompt the outcry
of the Christian population in Cilicia, and obviously it is the
Gulf of Alexandretta which is attracting some people as the Gulf of
Smyrna is attracting others.”
Afterwards, coming to the question of the massacres, M. Mohammed Ali
declared:
“The Indian Khilafat delegation must put on record their utter
detestation of such conduct and their full sympathy for the
sufferers, whether they be Christian or Muslim. But, if the Turk
is to be punished as a criminal, and populations of other races
and creeds are to be released from their allegiance to the Ottoman
Sovereign on the assumption that the Turks have been tyrants in
the past and their rule is intolerable, then the delegation claim
that the whole question of these massacres must be impartially
investigated by an International Commission on which the All-India
Khilafat Conference should be adequately represented.”
Moreover, the delegation had already said something similar in a
telegram sent to Mr. Lloyd George:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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