Exchangeable?

More than ten years have passed since the Treaty of London was signed (1913), when the Powers set the boundary of Turkey-in-Europe along a line drawn from Enos on the Aegean Sea to Medea on the Black Sea. The Powers should have fixed a straight line, because, a little later, the Turks successfully upheld their claim to territory within a curved line that took in Adrianople.

Last Week, the Turk deported His All Holiness Constantinos VI, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, because he was not a Turkish citizen. The Treaty of Lausanne (TIME, Aug. 6, 1923), which ended the Greek War and the War between Turkey and the Allies, stipulated that Turkey should in no way interfere with the Patriarchate. To this the Turk now replies : "I have not interfered with the Patriarchate but with the Patriarch."

Be that as it may, the Turkish Assistant Director of Police in Constantinople received a cipher message from the Grand National Assembly at An gora, new capital of Turkey, instructing him to deport the Patriarch. At the early hour of 6:30 a.m., the police official called upon His All Holiness, apprised him of his imminent de parture, courteously saw him through passport technicalities and safely upon an ordinary train which forthwith chugged him to Salonika.

In Greece, public opinion flew into a virulent huff. The Government sent a stiff note to Turkey, charging that country with a flagrant breach of engagements entered into under treaties affecting Grece. It was further alleged by the Greek Government that the Mixed Commission, which is overseeing the transfer of Greek and Turk to their respective lands, have decided that the Patriarch was unexchangeable*. Acting President Paul Koundouriotis canceled a diplomatic reception. As a sign of grief, Parliament was adjourned. Conscripts of the 1923 class, whose disbandment was ordered, were commanded to stay with the colors. War murmurs were in the air.

The Government was thought likely, however, to refer the matter to the Permanent Court of International Justice at the Hague, and, if Turkey opposed the Court's verdict, to withdraw the Greek diplomatic representative at Angora, which might be interpreted as a declaration of war.

Meantime, the Government sent out to all the parliaments of the world a protest against the expulsion and a statement of its attitude. Said the Ethniki Phoni, Government organ:

"Turkey will only decide to become reasonable when the nations she oppresses rise against her. We favor peace, but it must be a just peace, based on respect for existing treaties."

The Archbishop of Athens sent the following message to the heads of all 'Christian Churches in the major nations:

"The Turks' hostility toward the Christians, which has manifested itself in many acts of indescribale brutality, has led them to expel Patriarch Constantinos from his See.

"Just as 100 years ago, they hanged Patriarch Gregorius V., so today, before the eyes of the civilized world and in defiance of international treaties, they have expelled Constantinos VI, with the object of abolishing the Patriarchate, which for centuries has been the centre of Christianity and civilization through which Europe was regenerated.

"This act of the Turks constitutes a vital blow at the existence of Christianity in lands still under Turkish domination. We beg the heads of the churches of Europe and America to raise their voices in protest and to exhort their nations to intervene for the cessation of this Turkish onslaught upon Christianity and to demand the reinstatement of the Patriarch to his See."

--The Greek Government was wrong and technically, Turkey was within her rights, for the Mixed Commission decided that, as the Patriarch had arrived in Constantinople after the Armistice, he was exchangeable. The Commission, however, recommended that he be allowed to remain in Turkey.