Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎251v] (502/544)

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Turkish capital, only 40 per cent, of the population are Turks themselves. Still they
have nearly one-half.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : And of course they are very much larger than any
other single element.
LORD OURZON : Yes; but they are only about equal to the Greeks and the
Armenians.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : That is right.
LORD CURZON : And be it remembered that out of the population of Constan
tinople a large number, supposing that the Government were moved, would drift over to
Asia with the Turks, because of the officials and their families who have collected there
and battened upon the place for years, but who have no necessary connection with
Constantinople itself.
1 do not think, however, that in anything that has been said here there have been
words which commit us irretrievably upon the matter, and even if they committed us
* they would not commit our Allies, and I imagine that Mr. Balfour would agree that at
the Allied Conference when it meets at Paris we have really a perfectly free hand with
our Allies to discuss the fate of Constantinople and to make such dispositions as the
Congress of Europe may decide upon.
MR. MONTAGU : There is another quotation from the Prime Minister’s speech.
Will you give us that ? It is quoted in Sir Eyre Crowe’s paper. “We are not fighting
to deprive Turkey of its capital.”
LORD CURZON : I think that it is the same speech that I was referring to.
There seems to be presented to us, accordingly, if the Powers decide to take it, one
of the great opportunities that have arisen in the history of the world. Assuming
what I have said about the pernicious influence which has been exercised by the Turkish
presence in Constantinople to be true, here at last is an occasion when it might be
possible—1 do not argue for the moment whether it is desirable—to cut out this
canker which has poisoned the life of Europe. I -expect that if we could look to the
opinion ot the civilised countries through the world they would be bitterly disappointed
if, for reasons of political expediency or otherwise, the opportunity was not taken at
any rate to consider most seriously the question of getting rid of this running sore
for ever.
What are the solutions which are possible, which are open to us to consider ?
Upon certain points, I gather from the papers and indeed from the discussions in the
press, everybody is agreed. Whether you keep the Turk there or whether you turn
him out, there must be some kind of international guarantee for the future system that
is to be set up at Constantinople and the surrounding territory. Secondly, the water-
ways—and by that l mean the Dardanelles, the Marmora, and the Bosphorus—
must be absolutely free both for the merchant shipping and for the ships of war of
all the Powers of all the world. Thirdly, the forts by which those narrow passages are
defended must either be disarmed or razed to the ground. I believe those to be
initial propositions upon which everybody is agreed.
Then we come to the much more difficult question, to whom is the government or
control of this area to be given ? 1 am assuming for the moment—I shall have to
revert to this later—that the Turkish Government disappears from the scene and that
some other Government is put into its place.
The ground may, at this stage, 1 think, be very quickly cleared. It must be
obvious, I think, to everybody, that the custodian or the trustee cannot be one of the
smaller or weaker Powers of Europe. Whatever claim Bulgaria may have had at
any time at the commencement of the first Balkan war, when she seemed to be
striding rapidly in the direction of Constantinople, and people talked about the Cross
being placed again on the cupola of St. Sophia, and Bulgaria’s secular ambitions seemed
to have some chance of realisation, all that ffias now disappeared, and the treachery
and the crimes of the Bulgarian people and Government during this war have effectively
removed any chance that Bulgaria might have, quite apart from the fact that no other
Balkan State would be willing to admit her.
The second small State that must be eliminated is Greece. We shall have
difficulty enough in settling the home borders of Greece in her relations with her
neighbours, without contemplating for a moment such a vast experiment as handing
over to her the fate of Constantinople. Her own position, even if it were given to her,
is not strong enough to enable her to hold it, at any rate, beyond quite a small length