Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V

782.5/4–2750

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Webb)

secret

[Washington,] April 27, 1950.

Subject: Continuing Desire of Turkey to be Included in a Formal Security Arrangement

Participants:	H. E. Feridun C. Erkin—Ambassador of Turkey
	Mr. Webb—Undersecretary
	Mr. David Popper—UNP
	Mr. C. Robert Moore—GTI

The Turkish Ambassador referred to his meeting with me on September 30, 1949¹ in which he had discussed the desire of Turkey to be included in a regional defense arrangement associated with the United States. He indicated he was aware at the time that the problem was one which required study and that we would not be able to give him an early decision. The recent series of Soviet actions and statements was a new development, however, which compelled him again to bring this matter to our attention with the request that we give it urgent consideration.

The Ambassador mentioned that fourteen or fifteen months ago when the question of Turkey’s inclusion in a regional pact first came up he expressed the view that Turkish exclusion might well lead to an isolation complex on the part of the Turkish people and the feeling by the Russians that this country was indifferent or had a lack of interest in the survival of Turkey as a free nation. He considers that more recent developments have borne out his earlier fears and that the Soviet Union is now attempting to create an atmosphere of increasing turmoil and crisis leading up to a revision of the Montreux Convention² in 1951, the earliest date on which revision is possible. The Ambassador believes that this move should be countered now by a Mediterranean security pact, which would include Turkey. Such a pact would increase the confidence of the Turks in their own security and serve as a warning to the Russians. In addition, a pact of this kind would provide for the defense of the Eastern Mediterranean, a very essential counterpart to the defense of the Western Mediterranean, an area which is covered by the North Atlantic Pact. The Ambassador stressed the importance of timing in creating the proposed regional pact in order to gain the maximum psychological benefit therefrom and urgently requested that his present conversation, together with papers relating to his earlier approaches to the Department, be brought to the attention of the Secretary with the view of placing the problem on the agenda of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers in London.³

I informed the Ambassador that I did not feel that I was in a position to give him an answer to his request at this time as I wanted to discuss the matter with the Secretary, but that he could be sure that his views would receive serious consideration.

Note: (NEA has submitted a position paper⁴ on this subject for use if the general question of new security arrangements in the Mediterranean and Middle East is discussed during the Foreign Ministers’ meeting in London.)

The Ambassador then reverted to the subject of what he termed a “neutrality complex” in Western Europe and asked how I felt about it. I indicated that my personal reaction was that while three months ago there might have been some tendency in some of the European countries towards a position of neutrality it seemed to me that they had since become increasingly aware of the long-term problem presented by the Russian threat and that they were now much more concerned about how best to tackle the problem. I mentioned, for example, that the French press, which three months ago was publishing articles in the “neutrality” vein, seems to have changed its tone.

James E. Webb

1. Memorandum of conversation, September 30, 1949, not printed.
2. League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxiii, p. 213; also British Cmd. 5551, Treaty Series No. 30 (1937): Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits [With Protocol,] Montreux, July 20, 1936.
3. For documentation on the question of a Mediterranean regional defense arrangement, see vol. iii, pp. 1 ff. and 828 ff.
4. Position paper FM D D–1a, April 18, 1950, “Regional Security Arrangements in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern Areas,” quoted in part in the memorandum to Under Secretary Webb, May 1, by Assistant Secretary McGhee, printed ibid., p. 79.