Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, Volume VIII

611.82/2–554: Telegram

No. 484
The Ambassador in Turkey (Warren) to the Department of State

top secret

Ankara , February 5, 1954—3 p.m.

808. For Acting Secretary and Byroade. Please pass also Wilson, Defense and Stassen, FOA. Now that the negotiations between the Turks and Pakistanis¹ are well on their way to a successful conclusion, there are two urgent Turkish problems that require immediate consideration and decision.

1. The short-fall in the Turkish defense budget for this next Turkish fiscal year requires immediate decision. To continue as we have in the past to treat this problem on an annual ad hoc basis is not satisfactory. In order to encourage the Turks so to plan their economy that sufficient revenues are available to make their national defense effort self-supporting within the next four years, it is necessary that the United States review the Turkish as well as the American position and establish a general plan on which both we and the Turks can work in order to establish a Turkish military self-sufficiency at a prospective date. Coupled with this problem is the necessity of establishing a machinery of coordination so that successive NATO Commanders assuming responsibility for the land defense of this area shall not change tactical dispositions, particularly with reference to Turkey, beyond the over-all strategic NATO concept as well as the ability of the Turkish Armed Forces to discharge the tactical responsibility that may be placed upon them. Since we are relying upon the Turks to assume leadership in the area not only with respect to the development of the Balkan Tripartite Pact but also in the development of a collaboration of defense that reaches as far east as Pakistan, it is urgently desirable that the Turks should have a maximum degree of confidence in the fact of our planning and the phasing of its execution.

2. The current negotiations with the Turks on facilities and status of forces for our troops have progressed rapidly in the last six weeks and have now reached the point where only two or three subjects of importance are not yet agreed upon. One of these is the question of criminal jurisdiction. We cannot hope for benefits much beyond those obtained by the Turkish adoption of the NATO statute with respect to criminal jurisdiction. The adoption of this statute, whose submission to the Grand National Assembly is awaiting the conclusion of our negotiations, will in itself require some modification of the Turkish constitution with respect to the exercise of judicial processes. To ask the Turks to make an amendment to the constitution on their judicial processes in my opinion can only be justified if we consider it a matter of primary importance.

These considerations lead me to recommend most urgently that the Turkish country team be instructed to return to Washington not later than the last week in February in order to consult with all interested agencies in State, Defense, and FOA in order to arrive at the necessary decisions and then to take into confidence the three appropriate committees of each House of Congress, that is, Foreign Relations, Defense, and Appropriations. If these consultations can take place the last week in February it should be borne in mind that the President of Turkey and his party will have completed their official tour in the United States but will be remaining in New York that week privately and that several of them may be available if desirable for comment on the subject matter of our consultation.

General Shepard and Mr. Dayton concur.²

Warren

1. For documentation on these Turkish-Pakistani negotiations, see vol. ix, Part 1, pp. 433 ff.
2. On Feb. 17, Warren was informed that FOA and the Departments of State and Defense were giving serious thought at the highest level to the short-fall problem and that he would be advised of developments. (Telegram 902 to Ankara; 611.82/2–554) Two days later, Warren was advised further that the Turkish Ambassador had been informed that the United States had decided to make available an additional $30 million to Turkey for defense support aid in fiscal 1954. (Telegram 916 to Ankara, Feb. 19; 782.5 MSP/2–1954)