[Enclosure]
Draft Telegram From the Acting
Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Turkey
(Morgenthau)
You are advised in case the matter is brought to your attention by
the Ottoman Government of the following facts.
Rustem Bey, the Ottoman Ambassador here, gave an interview which was
published in the newspapers of September eighth and in which he
attacked the press of this country for its attitude toward Turkey
calling attention to the lynchings here and the water cure in the
Philippines. When he was asked as to the interview he acknowledged
the authorship and the accuracy of the report and stated that the
occasion justified his ignoring conventionalities.
[Page 75]
The President was much displeased with the published interview and
with the tone of the Ambassador’s note of explanation, which would
have merited immediate dismissal under ordinary conditions. In view,
however, of the critical situation in Europe the President was
disposed to deal leniently with this flagrant violation of
diplomatic propriety by the Ambassador, who was advised that the
President considered his explanation of his admitted breach of
etiquette unsatisfactory, but that on account of the tension in
European affairs he would overlook the offense provided the
Ambassador considered his usefulness here had not ceased and
provided that the Ambassador expressed regret for his
utterances.
The note stating the President’s views and decisions was delivered to
the Ambassador September nineteenth. On the twenty-first the
Department received a note from him dated the twentieth in which he
said that he disagreed with the President’s point of view as to his
conduct and stated he would ask for leave of absence and depart for
Constantinople within a fortnight.
On account of the critical situation in Turkey and the uncertainty of
Turkish action in relation to the European war the President was
loath to introduce another element of possible irritation into the
situation, but in view of the uncompromising attitude of the
Ambassador in regard to his conduct, the President feels that he
went to the extreme of leniency in offering the Ambassador an
opportunity to express regret. To have gone further would have been
inconsistent with the dignity of the United States and would have
made further intercourse between this Government and the Ambassador
intolerable.
You will use this information discreetly.
