Page:Turkey, the great powers, and the Bagdad Railway.djvu/365

 of view of those American interests which believe in the stimulation of foreign trade, likewise, the Chester project has much to commend it. Exploitation of the oilfields of the vilayets of Erzerum, Bitlis, Van, and Mosul, and the development of the mineral resources of Armenia—including the valuable Arghana copper mines—will provide rich sources of supply of raw materials. In the construction of railways, ports, and pipe lines there will be a considerable demand for American steel products. Economic development of the vast region through which the new railways will pass promises to furnish a market for American products, such as agricultural machinery, and to offer ample opportunity for the profitable investment of American capital. The Chester project may well become an imperial enterprise of the first rank.

With the exception of the temporary advantage which they hoped to gain at the second Lausanne Conference, the Turkish Government wished no political importance to be attached to the Chester concessions. As Abdul Hamid had awarded the Anatolian and Bagdad Railway concessions to a German company because he believed Germans would be less likely to associate political aims with their economic privileges, so the Government of the National Assembly has awarded the Chester concessions to an American syndicate because Turkish Nationalists are convinced that Americans have no political interests in Turkey. This was made clear by Dr. I. Fouad Bey, a member of the National Assembly, in a semi-official visit to the United States during April, 1923. "We Turks wish to develop our country," he said. "We need foreign coöperation to develop it. We cannot do without this coöperation. Now, there are two kinds of foreign coöperation. There is the foreign coöperation that is coupled with foreign political domination—coöperation that brings profit only to the foreign investor. We have had enough of that kind.