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:
The interview which Mustapha Kemal Pasha has given our
Correspondent emphasises the one supreme result so far
reached at Lausanne, namely, that the new rulers of Turkey are
willing and indeed anxious to resume friendly relations with this
country. The compromise which is apparently on the point of
being reached at Lausanne concerning the Straits and the demilitarised
zones may not survive the touch of reality and the sharp
breath of war. But that is no reason why we should deplore or
despise such a settlement, for it is at least a sign of goodwill, an
offer on the part of Turkey to come to an agreement with the
Western Powers, who, by the strange irony of fate, are the real
friends of Turkey and yet were forced in the Great War to call
themselves her enemies. The Lausanne Conference has dealt
with and perhaps settled the Thracian boundaries, the protection
of minorities, and the guardianship of the Straits, and there remains
for it now to secure an agreement regarding the capitulations, the
Patriarchate, and the future of Mosul. But the real importance of
