In reply to Lord Curzon, M. Montille, of the French:
Embassy, said that France could not continue hostilities with the Turks and had therefore to conclude " an arrangement of local signifi- cance," by which she evacuated Cilicia. The part of Northern Syria which she had abandoned was " not properly Arah terri- tory," but a country " without sedentary. population "—though it actually includes six or seven considerable towns like.Aintab and Urfa. France should not be reproached, the reply Trent on, with giving up a "relatively insignificant fraction " of '.the mandated territory when she was employing 100,000 troops on the Syrian border, whereas in other ex-Turkish lands thereamre only a few Allied battalions. The Turks would not be allowed to use the Baghdad Railway for an attack on Mesopotamia. There were no seoret concessions. France admitted that, when peace was concluded, the Angora agreement must be readjusted. Lord Curzon, in his reply, reiterated his objections but took note of France's professed desire to co-operate with Great Britain in the Near East. The plain truth is that France accepted a trust which she cannot or will not fulfil.
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