“Do you congratulate us on having secured a Conservative Government?”
“It is early days, surely, to speak! If they will help us to friendly relations with England and the other Powers, that is all we ask. Your parties are not our business. We are, generally speaking, against all policies of expansion, because they lead nations into the abyss; and, in our judgment, such policies are impolitic.”
“What are your views on the Freedom of the Straits?”
“Like the delegates at Lausanne, we want real freedom, not freedom in the hands of one Power. We are ready to discuss the problem with all who have any interests in that quarter. There can be no freedom till Constantinople and the Sea of Marmora are secure.
“We must have national frontiers; that is, all territories peopled by Turks. We accept for boundaries or limit the enemy-lines as they were when the Armistice was signed. Is that an unreasonable claim in return for all we have given up from the old Ottoman Empire?
GENERAL ISMET PASHA.
Minister for Foreign Affairs.
First Turkish Delegate at the Lausanne Peace Conference.
p. 176
“Towards ‘minorities’ we stand by the National Pact, confirmed by the recent Treaty with France, signed at Angora. We are fully prepared, nay anxious, to recognise all such rights as have been given to minorities in the different treaties between the Powers—since the war. It must, however, be clearly understood that foreign control, inconsistent with the absolute independence we demand, is impossible.
“Nor can we grant any special privileges for Capitulations to the subjects of foreign nations who may choose to live in Turkey. They are welcome to precisely the same rights as our own subjects enjoy, but we will never recognise any such privileges to foreigners as are unknown, for instance, in France, England, or America. Those who would still challenge our claim to the complete independence that we are determined to secure will have to find means to exterminate all Turks now inspired by that ideal. But I am confident that such a slaughter would not be permitted by the civilised world. Civilisation, on the contrary, will soon learn that our Turkey has her place in the future. She will help, and not hinder, civilisation. Civilisation must, therefore, be interested in, and support, her independence.”
On December 22nd, the Morning Post printed the following leading article about this interview: