Why Turkey Was Drawn into the War

Why Turkey was Drawn into the War BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER

Turkey has for a number of years diplomatically and finan- cially been tied up with Germany. In case the Allies win, it is not at all unlikely that one of the great assets of the war will be the so- called Bagdad railroad, under process of construction from Scu- tari, on the Bosphorus, to Bagdad, in the Mesopotamia. This rail- road and its tributaries will without doubt be a war indemnity. Furthermore, in case of the success of the Allies, Russia has at her command sufficient influence in the Balkan peninsula to in- volve Turkey again in war with the Balkans. Russia would natur- ally therefore, become a party to such a war and reach out after ,

more country in the eastern part of Asia Minor. All these prob- abilities had a powerful influence in Constantinople, with the war party, in persuading the Turks to fix the period for their entrance into the war that would be most advantageous to them. Such, at any rate, was the reason for the war party at Constantinople. Plausibility for such a process of reasoning was without doubt greatly helped by the distribution of German gold. Those who are at all familiar with conditions in the Balkan peninsula and Turkey know something of the extravagant manner in which the Russians and Austrians and the Germans distribute money for political favors. Turkish generals are not above political corrup- tion. They are perhaps the most susceptible of all peoples in Europe. Their love of display and, above all, the meagre financial opportunities which their country offers them, make temptations all the greater in a poverty-stricken country like Turkey. There was at Constantinople a powerful faction that was bit- terly opposed to the war. Its leaders could see some possibility of averting calamities to Turkey if it remained neutral, and it was, of course, possible that England and France would restrain Rus- sia in its efforts to aggrandize any part of the Ottoman empire. While these considerations were discussed pro and con, Enver Pasha, the leading spirit of the Turkish revolution and the war party at Constantinople, was without question under the domina- tion of German influence. German officers were there by the scores. They had money and they were just as extravagant in their assurances that Germany would finally win. Enver Pasha, with others, was no doubt made to believe that the entrance of Turkey into the war would not necessarily involve the Balkan states the islands of the sea and Tripoli belonging to Italy and ;

Greece would not be molested, at any rate until it became a matter of indifference to Germany and Austria whether Italy and Greece entered into the war as an aid to the Allies.