File 705/1916 Pt 3 'The War: Eastern Reports; Nos 1 to 100' [‎198r] (81/1218)

SECBET.
I
APPRECIATION OF THE ATTACHED EASTERN
; •) i 8
REPORT, No. XCII. ,
Li
Turkey.
qa+i i reP ^t Sentatl — ° f the Tlirkisl:i Government 'signed at Mudros on the
30th October the armistice terms submitted on behalf of the allies by the British
admiral ihe armistice came into force at noon on the 31st October The exact
terms oi the armistice are only just being received, and detailed comment must be
resen ed. It is enough that they are sufficiently drastic to enable us to dictate the
terms ot a rightful and enduring peace in the Near and Middle East.
History will yet have to determine the part played by the Committee of Union
and Progress, with its secret ramifications in every capital of Europe in lurine on
Oermany to war and m compassing the destruction of the Ottoman Empife—so lone
the cause of wars, diplomatic entanglements, massacres, and the misrule of many of
the fairest provinces of the ancient world. Carasso, Talaat, and Enver have done
their evil work, and the reckoning has now to be paid. Armenia, Mesopotamia,
Arabia, byria, and Palestine now enter upon a new chapter of their history
iL ^mediate moment is the opening of the front door to Russia through
the Black feea, and the final extinction of German dreams of expansion absorntion
and aggression m the East. At last we have the key of the Dardanelles in our pocket’
and a British fleet can he off the Golden Horn, not on sufferance or on invitation but
of its own free will and right. The war in the East is won, and the days when
1 Constantinople could dictate terms to Europe are over, let us hope for ever.
In comparison with this great event in the history of the world other matters
referred to in the Report sink into insignificance, and comment would appear super-
October 31, 1918.
W. O. G.