At Geneva

Backed by Occidental public opinion, the Council of the League of Nations handed down two unanimous decisions of the first importance last week:

MOSUL. The vexed question of whether the Republic of Turkey or the British-protected Kingdom of Irak shall hold sway over the oil fields and Christians in the Vilayet of Mosul (TIME, Dec. 31 et ante) was illuminated early in the week by the report of the Esthonian General Laidoner, sent by the League to investigate British charges against the Turks (TIME, Oct. 12).

Turkish Atrocities of the perennially familiar type were reported by Laidoner, whose lack of sentimentality or easily shocked squeamishness is ably attested by the fact that he once ordered 130 Esthonian Communists shot in a batch because they were about to start a revolution.

General Laidoner began by recalling that the Turks had refused his commission access to the region on the Turkish side of the Mosul frontier. He then went on to say that the commissioners had cross- examined refugees from this region before there was any possibility of their having been tampered with by British agents. In conclusion he expressed absolute certainty as to the material fact that the Turks have been deporting the non-Moslem inhabitants of this region with frightful barbarity.

Specific Charges: 1) In September the village of Merga was surrounded by 500 Turkish soldiers under Colonel Backy. After separating the women from the men and children, the entire population was deported in two columns. Two men and three girls were shot without reason; five old women were buried alive under large stones because they were unable to keep up with the march.

2) At the village of Alto four men and seven women were killed, and all the comely women outraged during a forced march under Turkish guards to Begauda.

3) During their deportation from Billo to Gueznah, a ten days' march, the women of Billo were separated each night from their husbands and families and violated by Turkish soldiers and officers, who did not hesitate to kill those who resisted.

4) The 62nd Regiment of Turkish infantry was responsible for these and innumerable other acts of violence and pillage.

General Laidoner concluded, in speaking of the witness-refugees:

"These Christians are Chaldeans who have lived in this region for centuries as serfs of Kurdish chiefs, who last spring refused to carry out orders from Angora to massacre them. . . . They are a home-loving people, never rebelled, and were the backbone of Kurdish wealth. . . . All idea of voluntary emigration on their part must be excluded. The mere fact that they arrived at Irak and are still arriving daily in the utmost physical distress and completely without resources proves beyond doubt or dispute that they were compelled to abandon their villages by force and violence. . . .

"They showed no hesitation in replying to our questions and we never found any contradiction among the statements made by persons from the same village. . . . The Turks rounded up and deported these people on the pretext that war was about to break out between Irak and Turkey."

The Turkish Position. Foreign Minister Tewfic Bey sent an official protest to the Council, alleging that England had armed the Chaldeans against the Turks and that no Turkish atrocities had been committed. Unofficially the Turks at Geneva inquired, "How much did Laidoner get paid for his report?" Previously the Turkish representative before the Council, Munir Bey, had delivered an interminable harangue in which he raked up endless legal quibbles. He alleged that the Council had no right to dispose of Mosul, under the Treaty of Lausanne, except by a unanimous decision in which Turkey's vote must be counted.

When Signer Scialoja, Acting President of the Council, informed Munir Bey that "unanimous" was to be understood as "unanimous except for the votes of either Britain or Turkey, the interested par-ties," the Turks walked out, declaring that they had no authority from Angora to accept such a vote. This action amounted to flouting the League of Nations and the World Court, the latter having ruled that under the Treaty of Lausanne the Council was competent to adjudicate the dispute (TIME, Nov. 30).

The Council's Decision. Before Signer Scialoja handed down the Council's ruling, he went through the form of asking the ostentatiously absent Turkish representative to appear and be seated. After a pause of 15 minutes, the Turks sent in a message that it was impossible for them to attend the meeting. The Council then ruled as follows:

1) The present Mosul frontier to be moved in such a way as to give Turkey a very small increase of territory.

2) The Vilayet and Village of Mosul to be definitely acknowledged as part of the Kingdom of Irak.

3) Britain to renew her treaty obligation to protect Irak for an" other 25 years, unless within that time Irak is admitted as a member of the League.

4) Britain to conclude a commercial treaty between Irak and Turkey, allowing Turkey to use the trans-Irak trade routes.

The Significance. Well informed observers opined that, while there is a bare chance of war, Turkey will in all probability be given sufficient commercial inducements to keep her quiet.

GRECO-BULGAR DISPUTE.

The Council accepted the report of its Committee of Investigation (TIME, Dec. 14) laying upon Greece the responsibility for the recent Greco-Bulgar clash (TIME, Nov. 2, GREECE). Athens was instructed to pay an indemnity of 30 million leva ($219,000) to Sophia. MM. Rendis and Kaldoff accepted this adjudication of the matter, respectively on behalf of the Greek and Bulgarian Governments.

The Council also recommended that: 1) Neutral (Swedish) officers shall supervise the Greco-Bulgar frontier in future. 2) Persons of Greek origin living in Bulgaria shall be transferred to Greece.

The two governments concerned agreed to these recommendations, and also to "the broad principle that, where territory is violated without sufficient cause, reparation is due, even if at the time of the occurrence it was believed by the party committing the violation that circumstances justified the action."

OTHER EVENTS. 1) The delivery of the originals of the Locarno Pacts by Sir Austen Chamberlain to Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary General of the League of Nations, as provided for in the text of the pacts themselves. 2) The issuance of invitations to prominent economists all over the world to attend a League Preparatory Committee which will organize a World Economic Conference with the broadest possible agenda.