On Tuesday evening the preliminaries of peace between Italy and
Turkey were signed at Ouchy. During the day there had been much coming and going and many meetings between the delegates. The Turkish Government had evidently decided that it was absolutely necessary to end the Italian war before entering in earnest on the Balkan war. The principal pro- visions of the agreement are that Italy has absolute sovereignty over Tripoli and Cyrenaica, but that Turkey does not " recognize " this sovereignty. This curious contradiction between fact and theory gets over the difficulty that the Koran forbids the cession of Mussulman territory to infidels. Turkey withdraws her soldiers and promises not to help the Arabs. Italy restores to Turkey the captured islands in the .gear, with stipulations as to the proper treatment of the inhabitants. The Caliph is permitted a religious authority in Tripoli and Cyrenaica. Italy makes herself responsible for that part of the Ottoman debt secured upon revenue derived from Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
