The Dodecanese and the British press online

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The Dodecanese

and

The British Press

4th December, 1918— January 27th, 1919.



The Dodecanese



and



The British Press



CONTENTS.



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Articles published in the following English papers in their chronological



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order.
Preface •

The Globe, 4th December, 1918
The Times, 5th December, 1918
The Manchester Guardian, 5th December, 1918
The Manchester Guardian, 5th December, 1918
The Irish News, 10th December, 1918 .
The Daily Telegraph, 12th December, 1918
The Manchester Guardian, 12th December, 191!
The Morning Post, 12th December, 1918
The Morning Post, 16th December, 1918
The Times, 16th December, 1918
The Manchester Guardian, 21st December, 19
The Near East, 21st December 1918 ,
Rhodes and the Twelve Islands, by William Pember Ree
The Times, 21st December, 1918
The Times, 24th December, 1918
The Near East, 27th December, 1918 .
The Near East, 27th December, 1918 .
The Morning Post, 6th January, 1919
The Manchester Guardian, 6th January
The Times, 8th January, 1919
The Times, 9th January, 1919
The Near East, 10th January, 1919 .
The Morning Post, 14th January, 1919
The Liverpool Daily Courier, 14th January
The Times, 15th January, 1919 .

The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury, 16th
The Times, 16th January, 1919
The Birmingham Post, 16th January
The Times, 17th January, 1919
The Challenge, 17th January, 1919
The Birmingham Post, 18th January
Common Sense, 18th January, 1919 .
The Sunday Times, 19th January, 1919
The Liverpool Post, 20th January, 1919
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 2 1st January
The Daily Telegraph, 21st January, 1919
The Liverpool Daily Courier, 21st January,
The Spectator, 25th January, 1919
The Nation, 25th January, 1919 .

The Sunday Times, 26th January, 1919
The Glasgow Herald, 27th January, 1919
White Book



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PREFACE.



On coming to Europe we received a mandate from the whole Dodecanese
to remind the civilized world everywhere of the services rendered to humanity
by these islands, which gave birth to Herodotus, Hippocrates, Pherecydes,
Praxagoras, and St. John the Divine, and to so many poets, historians,
philosophers and physicians.

Our mission is to make universally known the indisputable rights of the
Dodecanese to freedom, and the ardent desire of the islanders, belonging to
a race which has been pure Greek for 3,000 years, to be re-united to the
Mother-country, and to live or die Greeks.

Immediately on arriving in this free and hospitable country of England,
we submitted the following memorandum to their Excellencies Mr. Lloyd
George, M. Clemenceau, then in London, and the President of the United
States, Mr. Wilson.

We now present to the reader some articles concerning the Dodecanese,
which have appeared since then in the English press, in order that he may
form a clear idea of English public opinion on this subject. We intend to
publish later a few of the numerous letters which have reached us— important
and enlightening letters— extremely interesting not only to us, but also to the
chivalrous and liberal English people, who are called upon to show interest in
the Dodecanese, and to pay special attention to a question which is of vital
importance to them also, for Rhodes and Astypalea in the Dodecanese might
become important naval bases in the Mediterranean between the East and
the West. A single glance At the map is sufficient to show the importance
of the Dodecanese in connection with Suez and the Dardanelles.

The Executive Committee
of the
Inhabitants of the Dodecanese.



Dr. Skevos Zervos.
Paris Roussos.



THE GLOBE.

Cutting from issue dated December 4, 1918.

"DODECANESE FOR GREECE."

" Reuter's Agency learns that Professor Zervos, of Athens University,
and M. Roussos, representing the Executive Committee of the inhabitants
of the twelve islands in the ^Egean known as the Dodecanese, have
arrived in London in order to convey to the British Government the wish
of the Dodecanese to be united to Greece. An appeal to this effect was
conveyed to Mr. Lloyd George and to M. Clemenceau during the latter's
stay in London, and was also telegraphed to President Wilson."



THE TIMES.

Cutting from issue dated December 5, 1918.

" Mr. Lloyd George, in the character of ' pioneer of freedom ' and
4 protector of small nations,' has been approached by representatives of
the inhabitants of the Dodecanese, with a request for his assistance to-
wards effecting the reunion of the Twelve Islands with the Mother
Country, Greece."



MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.

Cutting from issue dated December 5, 1918.

"DODECANESE AND GREECE.

Appeal from the Islands for Reunion.

The Executive Committee of the inhabitants of the Dodecanese have
addressed the following manifesto to Mr. Lloyd George, as Prime
Minister : —

Your Excellency, — The undersigned members of the Executive Com-
mittee of the inhabitants of the Dodecanese, representing both our com-
patriots, dwelling in the twelve islands and those who live abroad, as well
as the refugees from the Dodecanese, their leagues, associations, and
organisations, have the honour, on our arrival in this liberal country, to
bring to your knowledge that we have been asked by all our fellow-
countrymen, in the most simple, unequivocal, and categorical way, to
submit to you, the pioneer of freedom and the protector of small nations,
their one and unswerving desire for the reunion of the Dodecanese with
Greece, their mother country.

The Dodecanese, your Excellency, where Herodotus, the father of
history, and Hippocrates, the father of medicine, have seen the day; the
Dodecanese, which have reared and inspired many poets, physicians, and
philosophers, fervently request you kindly to intercede in favour of their
reunion with Greece, and to plead at the Peace Conference for their deli-
verance. We deserve freedom as much as any other country, not only
because of our immortal past history and traditions, and the signal ser-
vices rendered to science and humanity, but also because we have re-
peatedly and persistently asked of the Entente and of America during
the critical moments of this war the privilige to fight by your side and to
die for the sake of freedom.

We submit to your Excellency the deepest respect of the Dodecanese,
which expect from you their freedom, and we remain, your Excellency's
obedient servants,

Dr. Skevos Zervos.
Paris Roussos.

The foregoing statement of the claims and aspirations of the Dode-
canese has also been submitted to M. Clemenceau and to President
Wilson."



Comment by the Manchester Guardian upon the foregoing appeal.
(Leading article in the issue dated December 5, iqi8.)

"ITALY AND THE DODECANESE."

" The inhabitants of the Dodecanese, the twelve islands of the ^Egean
which the Italians occupied during the Tripoli War, have sent a petition
to President Wilson, Mr. Lloyd George, and M. Clemenceau, praying for
their union with the Greek motherland. Under the Treaty which ended
the Tripoli War the Dodecanese were to be evacuated by the Italians
immediately after the evacuation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica by the Turks.
The Turks, it could be alleged, never did evacuate Cyrenaica and Tripoli,
and war in some fashion persisted there right up to the outbreak of the
present war. It will be remembered that the surrender of the Turkish
forces in those provinces was arranged for in the armistice with Turkey.
The question of the Dodecanese will, of course, come up for determina-
tion at the Peace Conference. Equally certain is it that if the Allies axe
true to their professions there can only be one decision, though, of
course, it would have to be taken with the goodwill of Italy and as part
or a general settlement. The people of the islands are Greek in race,
speech, and sentiment. They long to return to Greece and be reunited
with their own. There can be no doubt, we should hope, that they will
get their desire."



IRISH NEWS.

Cutting from issue dated December 10, 1918.

"THE DODECANESE.

" Some months ago a distinguished Greek gentleman — a native of the
Island of Rhodes now resident in England — sent to the leading papers of
the Three Kingdoms an interesting and able plea for the restoration of
his native island and the eleven adjacent smaller islands to the sove-
reignty of Greece. These little areas are called the Dodecanese Islands;
they were dishonestly and forcibly occupied by Italy during the war with
Turkey in Tripoli several years ago. The Greek gentleman's plea was
ignored; he wrote to the Irish News soon afterwards, giving expression to
his gratitude for this journal's comments on his letter, and complaining
bitterly of the hypocrisy that even then characterised the European
apostles of 'freedom for small nations' and 'National Self-determina-
tion.' Still later, an Athenian paper containing a full translation of the
Irish News article reached us. The Dodecanesians are active again. They
have sent a petition to President Wilson, Mr. Lloyd George, and M.
Clemenceau, praying for reunion with the Greek Motherland, and point-
ing out that, under the treaty which ended the Tripoli War, the Dode-
canese were to be evacuated by the Italians immediately after the evacua-
tion of Tripoli and Cyrenaica by the Turks. The Turks, it could be
alleged, never did evacuate Cyrenaica and Tripoli, and war in some
fashion persisted there right up to the outbreak of the present war. It
will be remembered that the surrender of the Turkish forces in those
provinces was arranged for in the armistice with Turkey. Now we find
the Manchester Guardian writing as follows : —

The question of the Dodecanese will, of course, come up for de-
termination at the Peace Conference. Equally certain is it that if the
Allies are true to their professions there can be only one decision,
though, of course, it would have to be taken with the goodwill of
Italy and as part of a general settlement. The people of the islands
are Greek in race, speech, and sentiment. They long to return to
Greece and be reunited with their own. There can be no doubt, we
should hope, that they will get their desire.
But be it noted that there are a minority of Dodecanesians who have been
seduced from their allegiance to their own country by the wiles and flesh-
pots of Italian officialdom ; and those natives of the islands are playing
the part of ' Ulster.' We dwelt several months ago on the similarity in
principle between Ireland's position and the case of these vEgean Islands.
Our Manchester contemporary takes it for granted that ' the question of
the Dodecanese will come up for determination at the Peace Conference';
but the islanders zvill not entrust the advocacy of their cause to ' fro-
Germcms ' — therefore they may be heard, and they may secure their
rights; and we hope they will."

IO



DAILY TELEGRAPH.

Cutting from issue dated December 12, 1918.

" Dr. Skevos Zervos and M. Paris Roussos, who have arrived in London
as representatives of the Executive Committee of the inhabitants of the
Dodecanese, have presented a memorandum to Mr. Lloyd George setting
forth the desire of the population of the twelve islands for their reunion
with Greece, their mother country, and asking him to plead on their behalf
at the forthcoming Peace Conference."



MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.

Cutting from issue dated December 12, 1918.

" ITALY AND THE DODECANESE.

Mr. Theodore D. Mosconas writes from 32, Oxford-street, Manches-
ter : — The Dodecanese claim nothing more than justice. Our people at
home have already twice voiced their desire for union with Greece, the
mother country, first at the Vz.n-Dodecanesian Congress held at Patmos
a few months after the Italian occupation, and secondly by their appeal
to the Conference of London in 1913. Our history is purely Greek, right
from the mythological ages, when Homer sang the epics of the " superb "
Rhodians and other Dodecanesians who took part in the Trojan War, up
to the Greek War of Independence, during which our sailors fought the
Turk and Egyptian for the resurrection of Greece, under Miaulis and
Canaris. During the War of Independence and after, when Capodistrias
was appointed Governor of Greece, Kalymnos, Leros, Symi, and other
islands of the Sporades, together with the island of Samos, formed part
of the newly-liberated territory until the Conference of London of 1832
handed them back to the Turk. The vast majority of the Dodecanesians
are Greek, the remainder being a few thousand Jews and Moslems, who
live mostly in Rhodes and Cos. The Central Committee in Athens re-
present the Dodecanesian Leagues both in Greece and abroad, where a
great many of our countrymen now reside, especially in Egypt, and I trust
that, in conformity with the principle of the self-determination of small
nationalities, their cry for union with the mother country will not be in



i i



MORNING POST.

Cutting from issue dated December 12, 1918.

" A prize is offered by the League of the Dodecanesiws for a history
ot the Dodecanese from Homer's time onwards. Manuscripts and writer's
name should be sent to the President, 47, Rue de l'Universite, Athens, by
the last day of 1919. The winner will receive a Rhodes crown of laurels,
a prize of five thousand drachmas, and six thousand more in exchange for
two hundred volumes of the work after publication. Dr. Skevos Zervos
and Paris Roussos may be applied to at the Savoy Hotel for details."



MORNING POST.

Cutting from issue dated December 16, 1918.

" Opening of a Competition for the Writing of

"A HISTORY OF THE DODECANESE."

" The League of the Dodecanesians, desiring to have an exact and
complete history of the Dodecanese from the time of Homer to our own
days, urgently requests those capable to collect carefully all the docu-
ments concerning the manifold activities of these people.

" The envelopes containing the manuscripts — with the name of the
writer in the usual way — should be sent to the President of the League,
47, Rue de l'Universite, Athens, at the latest on December 31st, 1919.

" A special Committee composed of people of international authority,
chosen in due time, will judge, and publicly reward, the best work. Its
author will receive a Rhodes Crown of Laurels, decorated with national
colours ; a special diploma ; and a prize in specie amounting to 5,000
drachmas. Moreover, he will be given 6,000 drachmas in exchange for
200 volumes of his work after its publication.

For further details please apply to: —

Dr. Skevos Zervos
Paris Roussos.

Plenipotentiaries of the League, Savoy Hotel, London, W."
12



THE TIMES.

Cutting from issue dated December 16 1918.

"THE DODECANESE."

" The League of the Dodecanesians offer prizes for an exact and' com-
plete history of the Dodecanese from the time of Homer to our own days.
A special committee composed of people of international authority will
judge, and publicly reward, the best work. Its author will receive a
Rhodes Crown of Laurels, decorated with national colours, a special
diploma, and a prize in specie amounting to 5,000 drachmas (£200 at
normal rate of exchange). Moreover, he will be given 6,000 drachmas
(£240) in exchange for 200 volumes of his work after its publication.
The envelopes containing the manuscripts are to be sent to the president
of the league, 47, Rue de l'Universite, Athens, at the latest on December
31, 1919. Further details may be obtained from Dr. Skevos Zervos and
Paris Roussos, Plenipotentiaries of the League, Savoy Hotel, London,
W.C."



MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.

Cutting from issue dated December 21, 1918.

" MISCELLANY.

" Amongst the appeals for recognition of national aspirations we have
lately had one from the Dodecanese, and many people have wondered
who and what they are. It has evidently been assumed by those who
framed the appeal that this knowledge was elemental. The Dodecanese
are twelve islands in the ^Egean Sea, off the south-eastern coast of Asia
Minor. Most atlases called them the Sporades. Orginally the Dode-
canese consisted of the following islands : —Nikaria, Patmos, Leros,
Kalymnos, Kos, Stampalia (Astypalea), Nisyros, Tilos, Symi, Chalki,
Karpathos, and Kasos. But Rhodes and Castellorizo really belong to the
same group. Greece now occupies Nikaria, and the French Castellorizo.
The Italians occupy all the other islands, and have been doing so since
their war with Turkey in 1911-12. The population of the Dodecanese is
overwhelmingly Greek— 143,000 of a total population of 150,000. The
islands played an important part in the Greek War of Independence,
rendering valuable aid to the motherland. Ultimately all the islands
once more reverted to Turkey, at the same time losing the self-government
granted them by the early Turkish conquerors."

l 3



NEAR EAST.



Cutting from issue dated December 21, 1918.

"IRREDEHTA DODECANESUS FILIA GR^CIA EST."
To the Editor of The Near East.

" SIR, — Grecian Irredentists claim not only Thrace and Asia Minor,
but also the Dodecanese (where Herodotus and Hippocrates were born),
whose history, religion, and culture bear witness to their right to appeal at
the coming Peace Congress for their long-delayed union with Greece, the
Mother Country.

" Tidings of good news are already spread throughout all the Greek
communities abroad that our national rights will no longer be considered
as a Midsummer Night's Dream and Utopia. The Unredeemed Greeks
hope that their movement will meet with as much support as the similar
rising of national spirit of the Armenians and Syrians has received. Irre-
dentist meetings are held, a Provisional Government already established,
and every Greek expects the realisation of the " Grand Idea " for which
the Hellenic nation twice arose against the Osmanli before the Eight
Years' War of Independence took place in 1821.

" The Dodecanesians, true to their motherland, and a vital part of the
Greek family, will emphasise the justice of their claim by presenting the
following official statistics to the Peace Conference: —



Islands.


Greeks.


Patmos


... 2,700


Leros


... 6,000


Kalymnos .


... 18,000


Kos


... 10,550


Nissyros


... 5,000


Astipalea


1,200


Symi


16,000


Delos


1,300


Halki


2,740


Rhodes


... 25,010


Karpathos .


8,527


Kassos


5,700



Turks.



4,000



Jews.
20



20



Various.



7,960



3,960



150



Total.
2,720
6,000

18,000

14,570
5,000
1,200

16,000
1,300
2,740

37,080
8,527
5,700



102,727 11,960 4,000 150 118,837

" In fact, every Dodecanesian could repeat a new version of Mary
Tudor's last words : ' Open my heart, you will find Greece written upon
it.' — I am, etc.,

Theodore D. Moschonas"
32, Oxford Street, Manchester, December 16.



AN APPEAL FOR THE LIBERATION AND UNION OF THE

HELLENIC RACE.

By William Pember Reeves.

From the above work we reprint the following chapter : —
RHODES AND THE TWELVE ISLANDS.

" The Islands of the ALgean, from Crete in the south to Thasos in the
north, are now most of them under the Greek flag. The sole exception is
found in the south-east of the sea, where Rhodes and twelve small islands
are held by Italy. For what reason the Italians persist in retaining these
unwilling and petty conquests may well puzzle anyone of balanced mind.
Italy seized them from Turkey in 1911. The simple-minded inhabitants,
believing that the Italians came to free them from bondage and to help
them to join their mother country, welcomed the invaders with enthusiasm.
The Italian officials in command of the landing forces promised them
liberation. Signor Giolitti, the Italian Premier, gave them the best reason
for thinking that their confidence had not been misplaced. In a speech in
the Italian Parliament he distinctly discountenanced the notion of hold-
ing these islands in subjection, pointing out that this would be to put Italy
in the position of keeping ' unredeemed ' civilised people in bondage.
What sinister influences were brought to bear to make him or the Italian
Foreign Office change their minds can only be guessed. It is enough to
say that for some unavowed purpose Italy has continued to hold these
valueless acquisitions for seven years, and gives no sign of renouncing
them. The murmurs of the disappointed inhabitants have passed un-
heeded, and the efforts of M. Venizelos to induce Italy to surrender even
the smaller islands have been baffled.*

" The islands, as I have said, are quite worthless to Italy. Rhodes,
which is larger than all the rest of them put together, contains a few
hundred square miles of fairly good hilly country, capable of sustaining
the 40,000 or thereabouts of people who inhabit it, and incapable of
doing much more. Kos and Karpathos have patches of good arable land.
The others are little better than rocks tenanted by fishermen, goatherds,
sponge-divers, and sailors. Astypalaia has a good natural harbour, but
its uselessness to Italy is proved by the fact that for seven years she has
done nothing there to speak of. The size and the material value of the
islands, indeed, are so paltry that the reader may ask why Greece should
trouble about acquiring them. The answer is that seven-eighths of the

*Viscount Grey, in a statement in the House of Commons on August 12th, 1913, made
the following declarations : —

" We have a particular interest that no one of these islands should be claimed or re-
tained by one of the Great Powers . . . The testimony of the jEgean Islands is one
which concerns all the Powers, and no one Great Powers can claim one of those islands for
itself. ...

" Italy has never allowed us for one moment to doubt that it is her intention to complete
that part of that treaty (of Lausanne) with regard to these islands and retire from these
islands when Turkey has completed her part. We have complete confidence in her good
faith."



" inhabitants are Greeks, and that they include some of the purest examples
of the old Greek Hellenic type. Ethnically the islands have been Greek
for 2,500 years, and, living as they do in sight of enfranchised Greek soil,
the inhabitants — most of whom are better educated than the Southern
Italians — may be excused if they feel all the sickness of hope deferred.
Materially, I repeat, these picturesque rocks are worthless to Italy. Judged
by their area and resources, their economic value might be conceived to be
about one-sixth of the value of Cyprus to Britain. As, however, the
economic value of Cyprus to Britain is nil, the material worth to Italy of
Rhodes and the twelve specks, her neighbours, would appear to defy
calculation. One is reduced to hope that a Great Power, the Ally of Free
Nations, will be too proud and too business-like to persist in the un-
profitable injustice of holding them much longer in subjection."



THE TIMES.

Cutting from issue dated December 21, 1918.

" Representatives of the Dodecanesians resident in Egypt met in
Alexandria on December 1 and passed a resolution asking the Allies to
put an end to the present transitory state of the islands by uniting them
with Greece."



THE TIMES.

Cutting from issue dated December 24, 1918.

" NEW BOUNDARIES.
" The Smaller States in the Near East.

" To the Editor of The Times.
"Sir,— ........

The islands are all Greek, though there is a Turkish minority among the
inhabitants of Crete, of Rhodes, and of Cos. The Italian claim to twelve
of the islands cannot possibly be maintained along with the Italian claim
to the Trentino and Trieste, for the Italians cannot at the same time set up
the principle of nationality for themselves and deny it for the Greeks

Your obedient servant,

Spenser Wilkinson."

i6



THE NEAR EAST.

Cutting from issue dated December 27, 1919.

"HITHER ASIA AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

" The attitude of certain Powers at the Paris Conference towards the
settlement of that part of the Ottoman Empire lying between the ^Egean
Sea and the Persian Gulf is likely to prove the " acid test " of the sincerity
with which they subscribe to what are generally accepted as the Allies'
war aims. Before the war the question of the reversion of the Turkish
inheritance was continually before the European Chancelleries. The
latest claimant for favourable consideration was Italy, whose war with
Turkey represented a definite step in a policy that aimed at Mediterranean
equilibrium, in other words, the equalising of Italy's position in the Medi-
terranean with the position of Great Britain and of France. Those were