Turkey Yields, Ending The War.

New York Times 100 years ago today, January 23, 1913:
Grand Council Consents to Give Up Adrianople and to Let Europe Decide Islands' Fate.
MINISTERS' ADVICE IS TAKEN
All Tell the Assembly That the Only Course Is to Accept the Counsel of the Powers.
ALLIES WANT $200,000,000
Question of Indemnity Still to be Settled — Turks Will Strongly Contest the Demand.
HARD FINANCIAL PROBLEM
New Apportionment of the Ottoman Debt Will Have to be Arranged Owing to Territorial Changes.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Thursday, Jan. 23.— Peace is at last really in sight.
    The National Assembly, to which the Grand Visier submitted the powers' note, met yesterday in Constantinople and discussed the question whether the Turkish Government should accept or reject the powers' advice to surrender Adrianople and the Aegean Islands under certain conditions.
    The Turkish Government was in favor of accepting these conditions of peace, and the National Assembly arrived at the same decision almost unanimously. The Ottoman Government will to-day send a reply to the powers placing itself in their hands, and the Sultan, it is stated, will make known this decision in a proclamation to the nation.
    The news has been received with the utmost satisfaction by the allies' peace delegates in London, and as soon as the reports from Constantinople are officially confirmed the conference will again meet to arrange details.
    The Daily Mail's Sofia correspondent says he is informed that Turkey's reply to the powers will indicate that the Porte is afraid that the allies will demand a war indemnity. Turkey will ask the powers to inform her of the nature of the financial support promised to her and of the guarantees of her Asiatic possessions.
    In London it is expected that the powers, in view of Turkey's willingness to make peace upon their terms, will refuse to concede to the allies any further demands they may feel disposed to put forward, and the Balkan League will have to rest content with its territorial acquisitions.
    The Daily Telegraph says that it is believed in diplomatic circles that the allies will have to reconsider their reported intention to claim a war indemnity. Whether, in view of the Turks' agreement in regard to Adrianople and the islands, the league means to persist in this demand for pecuniary compensation is not at present known, but it may be predicted with confidence that the claim, if seriously advanced, will not be backed by the powers.
    The powers have virtually pledged themselves to assist Turkey in the vast work of financial rehabilitation which must be undertaken as soon as the treaty of peace is signed. Among the many tasks which must be dealt with is the apportionment of the Turkish debt among those sections of the empire which have passed from the sway of the Sultan and those which remain integral parts of the Ottoman dominions.
    The figure mentioned in Balkan circles as a war indemnity is £40,000,000, ($200,000,000.) This sum, it is suggested, would balance the proportion of the debt which the allies will have to take over as a result of their territorial conquests.

    CONSTANTINOPLE. Jan. 22.— As officially announced, the Grand Council, or National Assembly, to-day "approved the Government's point of view, declared its confidence in the sentiments of equity voiced by the great powers, and expressed a wish to see their promises and proposed assistance effectively realized."
    It also asked the Government "to exert all its efforts to insure in the future the safety of the country and the development of its economic interests."
    The question submitted by the Turkish Government to the Grand Council to-day was: "Should the recommendations contained in the note of the European powers be accepted or rejected? "
    The Government frankly confessed itself in favor of agreeing to the suggestion made by the powers, and after a brief discussion the Assembly decided almost unanimously in agreement with the view of the Government.
    To-morrow at about noon, therefore, there will probably be handed to the Marquis de Pallavicini, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps at Constantinople, a note, in which the Ottoman Government agrees to the proposals embodied in the joint note with regard to the cession of the fortress of Adrianople and the future disposition of the Aegean Islands, and places itself in the hands of the powers.
    A meeting of the Council of Ministers will be held to-morrow morning before the final step is taken. It is possible that the Porte will at the last minute attempt to make reservations which may lead to further discussion. It is not likely, however, that the conclusion of peace will be long delayed.

Grand Council's Meeting.
    The meeting of the Grand Council, which was fraught with such grave importance, was of brief duration, and its decision in favor of accepting the views of the powers was an almost unanimous one. The Sultan gave an audience to the assemblage collectively. With the Grand Vizier and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the members of the Council, about 80 in number, were grouped according to their professions, the military officials, civil officials, Senators, and Ulemas (ecclesiastics) forming distinct groups.
    The note of the powers was read, after which Nazim Pasha, the Minister of War, explained the military situation. He declared that the army was eager to continue the war, and that Turkey might even hope for a measure of success, but there was little chance of recovering Adrianople.
    Moreover, continued the War Minister, aside from the purely military question, there were other matters strongly militating against the continuation of hostilities.
    The Finance Minister explained the dependence of the Treasury upon the foreign markets.
    The most onerous task, however, devolved upon Noradunghian Effendi, the Foreign Minister, who set forth the international situation. He dwelt especially on the attitude of Russia, which power, he said, on two recent occasions had warned the Porte that a continuation of the hostilities might oblige Russia to depart from her attitude of neutrality.
    Throughout his speech Noradunghian Effendi made it clear that there was little hope that any advantage could be derived from European complications.
    Not only Kiamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier, but all three Ministers supported the Government's contention that a continuation of hostilities was inadvisable and that adhesion to the advice of the powers was the only course open to the Government.
    Scarcely a dissentient voice was raised, and Said Pasha, the ex-Grand Vizier, fully concurred in the Government's view. The Grand Council then registered its decision.  Ex-Ministers belonging to the Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks) were not invited to attend the meeting, with the exception of Mahmud Shefket Pasha, formerly commander of the army, and Aristidi Pasha, both of whom are Senators.

The Powers' Joint Note.
    The note handed to the Porte on Jan. 17 by the European Ambassadors called the attention of the Ottoman Government "to the grave responsibility it would assume if, by resistance to their counsels, it should prevent the re-establishment of peace," adding: "It would only have itself to blame if the prolongation of the war had as a consequence to put in question the fate of the capital and perhaps to extend hostilities to the Asiatic Provinces of the Empire." The document continued: "In that case the Turkish Government could not count on the success of the efforts of the powers to preserve it from the dangers against which they had already warned it, and which they once more warn it to avoid."
    The powers then called the attention of the Ottoman Government to the fact that after the conclusion of peace it would have need of the moral and material support of the powers to repair the evils of the war, to consolidate its position at Constantinople, and to develop its vast Asiatic territories.
    The note pointed out that the Turkish Government could count on the efficacy of the benevolent support of the powers only as long as it deferred to their counsel, inspired by the general interests of Europe and of Turkey.
    The powers then advised Turkey to consent to the cession of Adrianople and to leave to them the fate of the Aegean Islands.