Italy Says She Must Have Tripoli.

New York Times 100 years ago today, September 5, 1912:
Absolute Sovereignty Demanded, but Turkey Need Not Formally Admit It.
WILL RETURN THE ISLANDS
But Reforms Must Be Granted to Them, and Italy Wants Stampalia as a Naval Station.
    CHIASSO, Switzerland, Sept. 4.— Italy is determined to maintain her hold on Tripoli and Cyrenaica. No great advance has yet been made in the unofficial negotiations for peace which are now going on in Switzerland between Italian delegates and representatives of the Turkish Government. The former, while expressing their readiness to make concessions on behalf of Italy in secondary matters, have declared it impossible to give in on several vital points.
    Italy demands absolute and complete sovereignty over Tripoli and Cyrenaica, without, however, exacting its recognition from Turkey. It demands the evacuation of the territories by the Turkish troops, and it is pointed out that the Administration at Constantinople might find a way to meet these demands by proclaiming the independence of these territories, trusting the Arabs to govern themselves.
    Italy pledges herself to grant general amnesty to all Arabs not undertaking any reprisals against the Italian Government, and promises that the sovereignty of the Kaliph in religious matters shall be respected. Italy will reimburse the Porte in an amount corresponding to the value of all Government properties which existed in Tripoli before the war and also that part of the Ottoman debt guaranteed by Tripoli's revenues, deducting from this sum the expenses for the maintenance of the several thousand Turkish prisoners.
    It is also proposed that Turkey shall immediately readmit Italians to the Ottoman Empire under the same conditions as prevailed before the war.
    Italy will keep Stampalia as a naval station, but she will return to Turkey the other islands in the Aegean on condition that their nationality shall be respected and that their political and administrative organization shall be conducted on the lines set forth in the proposal of Count Leopold von Berchthold, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister. Finally, Italy will grant to Turkey the same concessions as were granted by Austria when that power annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina.
    The representatives of several of the islands, including Rhodes, although they have not been received officially by the Italian delegates in Switzerland, have communicated with the Italian Foreign Minister, the Marquis de San Giuliano, to whom they submitted a memorandum outlining the desires of the islands. In brief, they declare that if it is impossible to remain under Italian sovereignty or to be annexed to Greece, autonomy must be granted simitar in form to that granted to Crete; otherwise they will oppose by force the re-establishment of the old order of things.