The Cretan Crisis and Delayed Evacuation
The temporary solution of the impending Cretan crisis is foreshadowed in the report that the European powers in occupation of the island since 1898 will postpone their evacuation until the situation in the Levant becomes clearer. Crete was administered, after the disastrous war which Greece fought against Turkey in 1897, by a Christian government guaranteed by England, France, Italy, and Russia, the resident high commissioner being designated by the king of Greece. In February, 1907, a new constitution was granted and the powers made preparations to withdraw entirely, believing no doubt that Greece would annex the island in spite of Turkey’s nominal sovereignty, and be morally sustained by the concert of Europe. At least, such was the program mapped out in Greece and Crete, and last October the Cretan Assembly directly voted in favor of annexation to the Hellenic kingdom. But this is an outcome which under present conditions in Turkey would probably embarrass seriously the Young-Turk government. The new regime at Constantinople has already suffered the empire to be technically dismembered by Austria and Bulgaria, and if Greece should now absorb Crete, the Young-Turk power might suffer gravely in prestige among the Moslem population of the empire. It is understood, in fact, that the present government of Turkey has given the powers to understand that Greece must not have Crete. The postponement of the evacuation by the occupying powers, consequently, seems necessary for the tranquillity of the countries surrounding the Egean Sea. The ultimate fate of Crete seems more uncertain than it did prior to the Turkish revolution.