File No. 763.72119/275
The Ambassador in Turkey (Elkus) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 28, 8.30 a. m.]
2366. My 2360, December 24, 4 p. m. In reply to the President’s message communicated to the Sublime Porte on the 23d instant, Minister for Foreign Affairs handed me to-day a note of which the following is a translation:
Mr. Ambassador: In reply to the note which your excellency was pleased to deliver to me under date of the 23d instant, No. 2107, containing certain suggestions of the President of the United States, I have the honor to communicate to your excellency the following:
The generous initiative of the President, tending to create bases for the reestablishment of peace, has been received and taken into consideration by the Imperial Ottoman Government in the same friendly spirit which manifests itself in the President’s communication. The President indicates the object which he has at heart and leaves open the choice of that path leading to this object. The Imperial Government considers a direct exchange of ideas as the most efficacious means of attaining the desired result.
In conformity with its declaration of the 12th of this month, in which it stretched forth its hand for peace negotiations, the Imperial Government has the honor of proposing the immediate meeting, in a neutral country, of delegates of the belligerent powers.
The Imperial Government is likewise of opinion that the great work of preventing future wars can only be commenced after the end of the present struggle between the nations. When this moment shall have arrived, the Imperial Government will be pleased [to] collaborate with the United States of America and with the other neutral powers in this sublime task.
Halil