767.68119T&M/36: Telegram
The Special Mission at Lausanne to the Secretary of State
[Received December 7—1:57 a.m.]
67. Our statement on Straits today was agreed upon by all of us after we had had separate conferences last night with Curzon and [Page 915] Ismet, both of whom indicated that there was some danger that the Turks would go over to the Soviet proposal that the Straits be closed to all warships and that Turkey be allowed to fortify the Straits. Of course this would leave us without any guarantee of the freedom of the Straits for commerce and would leave a future opportunity for Russia to seize from Turkey the control of the Straits. It seemed an opportune time to state the position of the American Government as given in our instructions so that Turkey would be faced by our attitude as well as that of the Allies before taking a definite stand. We are of the opinion that the Turkish delegates think that cooperation with the Soviets has gone far enough and that they have an increasing fear that Russia may prove a menace to Turkey. We intend to stand by our statement and not to be drawn into debate concerning it.