Cannot Permit Turks to Hold It
SERGIUS SAZANOFF, Russian foreign minister, in commenting upon Italy's entering the war, is reported to have said: “We already have two closed seas—the Baltic and the Black Sea. We do not want a third. If it were the Atlantic, then that would be different; but with the Adriatic we have nothing to do. The Black Sea is a Russian sea. Russia cannot permit barbarian Turkey to possess the key to this sea. The commercial life of Russia already has suffered by the closing of the Dardanelles, which must end. Bulgaria and Roumania have nothing to fear, because all would have equal commercial rights through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, which in the hands of Russia would guarantee order and safety of navigation.” Without much question, Italy was drawn into this war not so much because she desires additional territory, but that she may have her fullest opportunities in settling the questions that are involved in the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, the great keys to the Black Sea. The Turkish question is thrown into this conflict, and it will be one of the most perplexing problems with which the nations involved will have to deal. By the student of prophecy the outcome is watched with intense interest.