§ Mr. A. WILLIAMSasked the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs 588W whether the Government has received news of the fall of Hadjin on or about 15th October after being besieged for seven months by the Kemalist insurgent Turks; whether the town was burnt and almost all the inhabitants, numbering about 10,000 people, were massacred; whether there is grave cause for anxiety as to a similar fate befalling the town of Zeitoun; whether these two towns are within the zone of Turkish territory in which French special interests were recognised by the tripartite agreement made between Great Britain, France, and Italy in August last; whether, in consideration of such recognition, France undertook responsibilities in respect of the protection of the minorities within that zone; and what steps have been taken by France in fulfilment of that undertaking?
Mr. HARMSWORTHHis Majesty's Government have received indirect information that Hadjin fell into the hands of the Turkish Nationalists on 16th October and that there are few survivors. Confirmation and details are being sought. There is no information about Zeitoun. We learn that considerable French reinforcements have reached Cilicia. Hadjin and Zeitoun are within the French sphere of economic priority, but French rights and responsibilities within this zone only come into formal existence when the Treaty of Peace comes into force.