Office of the Historian

867.24/1–145: Telegram

The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

Ankara, January 1, 1945—1 p.m.
[Received 3:06 p.m.]

1. ReEmbs 2427, December 29 and 2437, December 30.16 In a final endeavor to persuade the Turkish Government to agree to the proposed exchange of notes when the mutual aid agreement is signed17 I had a talk yesterday afternoon with the Prime Minister.18 Saraçoğlu frankly expressed his concern that the American Government might seek to take advantage of the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the proposed notes at some time in the future. He also referred to the firm opposition of Parliamentary leaders to the notes as drafted. At the close of our 2-hour talk the Prime Minister proposed the following alternatives with the object of resolving the impasse.

1.
The signing of the mutual aid agreement without the exchange of notes, discussions with respect to the notes to continue.
2.
That he seek the approval of the Parliamentary leaders to the proposed exchange of notes as drafted subject to the addition of a [Page 1294] paragraph specifying that in the application of the provisions of the notes Turkey shall receive no less favorable treatment than any other country which has entered into a similar agreement with the United States.

I should appreciate the Department’s instructions.

Steinhardt
  1. Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. v, pp. 912 and 914, respectively.↩
  2. The text of the proposed agreement was similar to that of the master agreement concluded with Great Britain on February 23, 1942 (Department of State Executive Agreement Series 241; 56 Stat. (pt. 2) 1433); differences are described in the Department of State’s aide-mémoire: to the Turkish Embassy, March 8, 1943, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. iv, p. 1096. For draft text of the proposed exchange of notes, as transmitted to Ambassador Steinhardt, see telegram 60, January 16, 1943, to Ankara, ibid., p. 1088; in instruction 460, August 17, 1944, to Ankara, not printed, the Department added a fourth article to the proposed draft exchange which read: “It is, of course, understood that in the implementation of the provisions of the agreement each Government will act in accordance with its own constitutional procedures.”↩
  3. Sükrü Saraçoğlu.↩