Question Answered

Last week the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague handed down a decision to the effect that the Council of the League of Nations has authority to determine the final disposition of the Vilayet of Mosul, and that the disposition of the Council shall be binding upon the chiefly interested Powers, Turkey and Britain.

It was recalled that, at the last Assembly of the League, the League Council expressed uncertainty as to the extent of its authority and competence in this matter. The opinion of the Permanent Court of International Justice was asked (TIME, Oct. 12). It is now expected that the Council of the League will make an arbitral award covering the disposition of Mosul at its scheduled session in December. At that time the League Commission, which is at present in Mosul, will make its report; and it is hoped that a definite settlement will be reached. Until some such action is taken, the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice amounts to no more than an academic ruling on "legal competence."

"The Mosul Question" is, as everyone knows, the question of what is to be done with some 35,000 square miles of territory bounded by Turkey, Persia, the British protected Kingdom of Irak, and the French mandated region of Syria. The Kemalist Government of Turkey wants the territory as a matter of Pan-Islamic Nationalist policy; and Great Britain is equally determined that Mosul shall remain sufficiently dominated by Downing Street to keep open the Palestine-TransJordania-Irak route on India.