Office of the Historian

711.679 Residence and Establishment/30: Telegram

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

[Paraphrase]
Istanbul, September 26, 1930—10 a.m.
[Received 11:56 a.m.]

74. Department’s 55, September 22, noon.

(1)
It had always been my understanding that the words “conditions of residence and establishment” (as they were used in the formula quoted in my 62, October 2, 1929, noon) covered entry and sojourn, this interpretation having been commonly, if not universally, accepted since the negotiation of the 1923 establishment convention at Lausanne.13 And it appears that the words “entry and sojourn” (used in the Department’s revised formula) would seem, therefore, to be merely making explicit and specific what the original formula contains by implication and general usage. Should such be the case, the omission of the words “entry and sojourn” would not effectively cure the difficulty described in the Department’s 55, paragraph (2). It is my sincere hope that after further consideration the Department will find it possible to hold this difficulty to be not of so serious and practical a character as would require omission of the words “entry and sojourn”. The assumption under any phraseology that a treaty of [Page 860] establishment does not envisage entry and sojourn, in my opinion, would be open to most serious question.
(2)
Whatever the phraseology of the treaty of establishment, I fear that naturalized American citizens of Ottoman Turk-Armenian origin would meet with great difficulty in entering Turkey, on account of the well-known attitude of the Turkish Government regarding the expatriation and naturalization of Turkish citizens.
(3)
If omitting from the proposed treaty the words “entry and sojourn” means a denial to Turkey of treaty alien status, which now is being granted under the Department’s new policy to nationals of countries concluding treaties with the United States, the Turks may quite possibly resort to retaliatory measures against American businessmen who seek to enter Turkey.
Grew
  1. Signed July 24, 1923; League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. xxviii, p. 151; cf. ibid., vol. xxxvi, p. 179.↩