867.00/3123: Telegram
The Chargé in Turkey (Kelley) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 26—12:25 a.m.]
103. I understand that the American correspondents have telegraphed full details of bomb explosion which occurred yesterday morning on the principal boulevard of Ankara only a few yards from the German Ambassador and Frau von Papen who were walking from their residence to the German Embassy.36a So far as can be learned no evidence has been found proving that an attempt on the Ambassador’s life was intended and so great was the force of the bomb destroying practically all evidence including the man presumably carrying it that it is doubtful whether such evidence ever can be found.
The Turkish authorities have not attempted to suppress the news of this event and have apparently allowed foreign correspondents to emphasize possibility that political assassination was real motive. In fact the official communiqué issued last night mentions “the probability that this evil act was directed against the Ambassador” and also states that the Minister of Foreign Affairs37 and Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs38 as well as representatives of the President39 and of the Prime Minister40 had called on the Ambassador to inquire after his health.
Today’s semi-official Ulus declares that the news has disgusted all of Angora as no doubt all of Turkey and that such incidents cannot be permitted in this country; also that it has “caused a feeling of joy that the Ambassador of the Reich whom we love and respect to the highest degree and whose conception German-Turkish friendship has had a great effect on the relations between the two countries as well as Madame von Papen should have escaped unharmed from the explosion. We congratulate them and express to them our most sincere sentiments. The repercussions of yesterday’s incident have called forth a new manifestation of German-Turkish friendship and of the respect and affection which we bear the German Ambassador to Turkey.”