The Turkish Nationalists of Angora under Kemal have attacked the
Greeks and have delivered a very swift blow. It is said that the Turks number about 50,000. The Greeks have been driven from the very important railway junction at Karahissar and their nerthern and southern armies at Brugge and Smyrna respectively have been divided. Apparently the Greeks have already retreated over thirty miles. We have written elsewhere on this subject and need say here only that the object of the Turks is evidently political. They want to present an entirely new set of facts to the Conference at Venice, if indeed that Conference should ever meet. In ordinary circum- stances the Turks would not have struck just now as the winter is approaching and serious campaigning cannot last very long. From what we have heard we believe that the Kemalist troops are by no means to be despised. The Greeks will not stand up against them after the initial reverse, and a Greek army in retreat is always hampered by Christian fugitives impelled by the only too well-founded fear of being massacred by the Turks.
