867.5018/11: Telegram
The Chargé in Turkey (Kelley) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 14—7:05 a.m.]
1153. In the course of an important address made to the Grand National Assembly on the 11th on the serious economic situation prevailing in Turkey the Prime Minister recalled that since the end of spring and the ending of summer the country had experienced serious shortage of cereals and that the Government has taken various steps in order to overcome this shortage by requesting cereals of the British and Americans by seeking means of transportation for cereals which can be obtained abroad and by taking 25% of the crop from the farmers.
The 15,000 tons of wheat promised respectively by the Ambassador of Great Britain and the United States he continued have been delivered and in addition the British have promised 7,800 tons of oats more than half of which has been delivered. United States in addition to the 15,000 tons already granted Turkey holds at its disposition in America 6,000 tons of wheat which a Turkish vessel will go to pick up in the near future. It is hoped that the aid of the British and Americans will continue in this sense.
Furthermore, the Government has sought everywhere for means of transportation. All of its efforts to buy German boats in Portuguese ports have failed for lack of the consent of the Portuguese Government; negotiations to obtain Swedish ships continue but it seems unlikely they will be successful and steps to purchase Panamanian ships in America have not reached a definite stage. On the other hand negotiations with France with the full knowledge of the belligerents for the lease of certain French ships seem to have been successfully concluded although no definite and positive arrangement has yet been made and it is unfortunately possible that recent events may affect this territorial expansion [sic].