Thousand and One Nights

The treaty of Constantinople of Sept. 29, 1913 set back the Turco-Bulgarian frontier in Thrace to the mouth of the river Rezvaya on the Black Sea, considerably to the north of Midia, and, while making the right branch of the Maritsa the frontier on the Aegean, so drew the line between those points as to include Kirk Kilisse and Adrianople within Turkish Thrace. But Giimill jina was restored to Bulgaria, with the result that 14 Moslem deputies of Western Thrace held the balance of power in Bulgaria and, under the influence of their compatriot Talaat, helped to bring Bulgaria over to the Central Empires. Meanwhile the third Treaty of Bucharest fixed the Greco-Bulgarian frontier at the mouth of the Mesta; thus the Thracian coast from the Mesta to the Maritsa gave Bulgaria her coveted outlet on the Aegean. But the frontier cut the latter river and the Mustafa-Pasha (Svilen) Adrianople-Dedeagach railway so that Bulgarian trains had to traverse Turkish territory before reaching their Bulgarian port. The Maritsa was consequently declared free to the transit of both states till they had made fresh lines on their own territories. The cession of this awkward bend in the railway to Bulgaria in 1915 was a further inducement to enter the War on the Turkish side. Thrace was not long left in peace, for the operations at the Dardanelles brought her again within the war zone. The Treaty of Neuilly of 1919 again changed her boundaries. Bulgaria was moved back from the Thracian sea coast in favour of Greece, which by Article 27 of the Treaty of Sevres of 1920 obtained the lion's share of Thrace as far as "a point near the mouth of the Biyuk Dere" on the Black Sea, and "a point on the sea of Mar mora about one kilometre southwest of Kalikratia"—in other words, up to the Chatalja lines.

But the Allies undertook to make the Maritsa an international river and "to ensure the economic outlet of Bulgaria to the Aegean" by Article 48 of the Treaty of Neuilly. This they effected —in theory—by "the Thracian Treaty," signed on the same day as that of Sevres, which decreed, as a condition of the recognition of Greek sovereignty over the former Bulgarian territories in Thrace, that Bulgaria should have "freedom of transit over the territories and in the ports assigned to Greece in the present Treaty," that "in the port of Dedeagach Bulgaria will be accorded a lease in perpetuity, subject to determination by the League of Nations, of a zone," and that Dedeagach be "declared a port of international concern," free to all members of the League. In

practice, Bulgaria did not avail herself of this provision, rejecting Venizelos' offer in 1922 of a lease of the port and preferring a corridor and actual possession. The Greek tenure of Eastern Thrace was brief. After the disaster in Asia Minor, Article 2 of the second Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923 restored Eastern Thrace up to the Maritsa to Turkey, leaving Western Thrace, minus the enclave of Karagach, to Greece. By conven tions 3 and 6, on either side of these Greco-Turkish and Bulgaro Turkish frontiers in Thrace demilitarized zones of about 3o km. were established and existing fortifications ordered to be dis mantled, and the Moslem inhabitants of Western Thrace were exempted from the obligatory exchange of populations. Thus Thrace became divided between Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria.

Economic Conditions.

Heavy damage was inflicted on south western Thrace, the most fertile portion of the country, during the Balkan wars of 1912-13. Railway communications are compli cated by the unscientific frontier near Adrianople, whereby the line from Western Europe to Constantinople traverses a tiny strip of Turkish territory, re-enters Greece and then recrosses into Turkey. The Turks have in hand (1928) a scheme to build a line farther to the north, which will obviate the necessity of passing through Greek territory. Thrace is in a primitive condi tion, but amongst the steps taken by the Turkish Government to improve the position is the establishment of a modern sugar factory and the encouragement of modern methods in the cheese manufacture of the Adrianople area. Turkish Thrace is now ethnologically overwhelmingly Turkish, while the Greeks find the remaining Muslims of the western half useful for the tobacco culture. The demilitarization of the Gallipoli peninsula by the Lausanne Treaty should spare Thrace the spectacle of hostile armies. But the situation created by the treaties following the World War must be regarded as provisional and artificial.

(W. M.) and Foreign State Papers, vol. 107, pp.

656, 658, 72o (1914) ; vol. 112, p. 781 (1919) ; vol. PP. 657, 751 (192o) ; A Antoniades, Le developpement economique de la Thrace (Athens, 1922) ; N. Moschopoulos, La question de Thrace (Athens, 1922) ; Treaty Series, No. 16, Cmd. 1929 (1923); A. J. Toynbee, Survey of International Affairs, 192o-23 (5925) K. Stefano, Question of Thrace (1919) ; Stanley Casson, Macedonia, Thrace and Illyria; their relations to Greece from the earliest times down to the time of Philip, son of Amyntas (1926).