(4) A Franco-Russian sphere which was originally allotted to Russia and which comprises all of the area north of the German zone described above. Russia’s inability to finance railway enterprise in this area, no less than political ties which bind this country to France, led to French participation. As a result of this dual arrangement construction on the French-owned Samsoun-to-Sivas line was begun in 1913.
(5) A second French sphere comprising all of Syria. It is considered by Frenchmen as their most important sphere of influence in Turkey. The French-owned Beirut-Aleppo, Tripoli-Homs and Jaffa-Jerusalem lines are operated in this area.
(6) An Italian sphere extending inland from the extreme southwestern coast of Asia Minor so as to include the hinterland of the Gulf of Adalia. Italy is a recent invader of this field. Its ambitions were revealed in the fall of 1913, after it became known that negotiations had been carried on between the representative of the Italian bondholders of the Ottoman Public Debt and the Turkish government for the concession of a railway line to connect the seaport of Adalia and the town of Burdur, the southeasterly terminus of the Aidin railway.
(7) With these six spheres a contested seventh should be mentioned, which is constituted by the exceedingly rich mineral district situated at the northern convergence of the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Russian, French and German interests claim respective rights of priority to its exploitation.
None of these divisions would be recognized officially as such in Turkey. But then ethnographic boundaries are likewise strictly ignored by the rulers of that country. Definite official recognition of these spheres is nevertheless implied in the terms of a number of commercial covenants signed by Turkey and various European powers according to which the right to operate railroads, and even mines sometimes, is granted by the Turkish government exclusively to a single company which in almost every instance is owned by capitalists of the same nationality. The Russo-Turkish convention of 1900, which reserved to Russians rights of preëmption on railroad building in the area called the Franco-Russian sphere, may be mentioned as an example. Similarly the Bagdad Railway Convention of 1902, formally signed by the German ambassador and the Turkish Minister of Public Works, recognized the exclusive rights of the Bagdad Railway Company—a German enterprise—to build the important trans-peninsular route which will link Europe to Asia and Africa.
One might infer that the existence of these six spheres should be attributed to Turco-European agreements. Closer scrutiny brings to light, however, the working of purely natural forces, explanation of which is to be found in the geography of Asia Minor. These international railroad conventions, and the areas determined by their text, represent in reality the outcome of the geographical conditions which are grouped here under the two major heads of world relation and regional features.
World relation is an attribute of geographical location. Situated as a junction area, a bridge as it were, between two continents, Asia Minor stands out as an excellent type of an intermediate region which has participated in the life of both. This two-fold influence has been particularly marked whenever general progress in either continent culminated in an overflow beyond continental boundaries. The feats of Greeks and Persians, and of Byzantines and Turks, may be considered as successive cycles in which the spirit of Europe or of Asia predominated in turn. At the end of each cycle life on the peninsula would revert to conditions determined largely by regional influences. The past sixty years have witnessed the beginning of a process of slow liberation from the effects of the last cycle of Asiatic invasion. The spirit of the west is ushered in once more for the simple reason that it has become necessary to maintain a clear road over which the products of overworked European factories will be transported to populous markets in southern Asia. The primary cause of European influence must therefore be traced back to Asia Minor’s location, by virtue of which the peninsula has always been the site of an important world route. Aryans of the present century are merely preparing themselves to travel by rail the highway over which their far-removed ancestors tramped on foot.
Besides offering the shortest overland route between the Baltic Sea and the Indian Ocean, Asia Minor’s favored location affords the same convenience with regard to land communication between Europe and Africa. Any line diverging southwards at a suitable point on the main trunk which traverses the peninsula diagonally may be prolonged through Syria to the Turco-Egyptian frontier and extended in Africa so as to connect with the Cape-to-Cairo railroad. While no definite steps have yet been taken to secure this desirable connection, the project has been under consideration for over a decade and it may be surmised that its execution will not be deferred much longer.
But world relation is also determined by a region’s natural resources. Notwithstanding its undeveloped state, Asia Minor is known to have been abundantly endowed with all the primary products required by modern man’s complex life. The valleys connecting its coast line with the inland ranges are exceedingly fertile. This is particularly true of its western and northern area. The high plateau of the interior needs only to be irrigated in order to become a vast granary. Its mineral wealth is so abundant and varied that it may be asserted that no other area of the same dimensions can be compared to it. Its flora is extremely diversified. Its forest belts are still considerable, despite a lack of legislation for insuring their conservation and rational exploitation. The slopes facing its three seas from the upper coniferous belts to the lower olive tree zone, support a great variety of economic species. We have here all the elements which satisfy man’s natural desire for space after he has reached a given stage of development. This desire is imposed by economic requirements which impel activity in fields that must be kept expanding. The zones must be hence regarded as spheres of economical rather than political influence. They indicate natural foresight on the part of powerful political agglomerations preparing the way for future industrial and commercial advantages. At bottom it is an expression of man’s growing ability to shape his destinies according to his requirements and free himself from the limitations imposed by frontiers. The economic phase of Asia Minor’s geography thus contributes its full share in the determination of these spheres of foreign interests.