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TURKEY : THE BLIGHT OF ASIA

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FRANCE AND THE KHEMALISTS

    FRANCE’S participation in the Near Eastern tragedy is well known. Her motives are not far to seek: A frank, bitter and undiluted hatred of King Constantine and everything connected with him, and suspicion of England’s expansion in a region to which France herself has been devoting great attention for many years. French capitalists and the French Government have been investing heavily in Turkey and Gallic propaganda has been pushed by a vast network of Catholic schools officially supported, whose object, in so far as the government’s interest is concerned, has been to catch the natives young and make Frenchmen of them. British or other expansion and predominating influence in Turkey has meant the imperiling of the great sums invested and the annulment of years of patient labor.

    This invasion of the Ottoman Empire is admirably set forth in a lecture delivered in 1922 by Monsieur Passereau, Director of the French Commercial Bureau of Constantinople, and published in ext enso in the Echo de France of Sniyrna. Extracts are herewith given:

    "To-day one unconsciously associates such places as Constantinople, Jerusalem, Beirut, Syria and the Lebanon with French influence, and here are in fact presented almost innumerable proofs of the many ways in which the French now exert and have for a long time exercised a vast and beneficial influence from one end of the Orient to the other."

    "Our schools, our welfare institutions, hospitals, asylums for the aged, homes for the foundlings and orphanages are established in every port in the Levant. In every city of the interior, in all of the important villages, along the entire length of the railways completed or under construction, there are French instructors, people who teach the children our name, our language and our history."

    "Let us now make a survey of French financial interests in the Ottoman Empire and see to what extent French influence has made itself felt in this connection. Some of these interests are herewith listed and enlarged upon:

    "Ottoman Public Debt: France’s share of the Public Debt, external and internal, is 250,000,000,000 francs, or 60.81% of the capital of the entire debt. The remainder of the debt is principally divided between England and Germany, the former holding 14.19% and the latter 21.81%."

    "Turkish Loans: The history of governmental loans in Turkey dates back to the Crimean War. Since that time, France has without cessation, upon every occasion where the public debt was threatened by internal difficulty, intervened either in the form of assistance in reorganization or financial subscription;"

    "French Private Enterprises in Turkey: France has approximately 1,100,000,000 francs invested in private concerns in the Ottoman Empire. Her participation in the industrial activities of the Empire aggregates 53.5% of the total, as opposed to 13.68% enjoyed by Great Britain and 32.77% by Germany. These organizations embracing activities in the form of banks, railways, ports, electric power plants, telephones, tramways, etc., extend over the entire domain of Turkey and surround the economic life of the Orient with a network of French interests. (Among interests of this sort mentioned by the lecturer are the Imperial Ottoman and other banks, the tobacco monopoly, etc.)"

    "Railways: France has under construction and exploitation 2,077 kilometres, with an invested capital of 550,288,000 francs, as opposed to Germany’s 2,565 kilometres and England’s 610. France has 42,210,000 francs invested in mines in Turkey, besides about 80,000,000 in quays and ports."

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The Blight of Asia in Print