767.68119/396: Telegram
The Special Mission at Lausanne to the Secretary of State
[Received February 2—3:23 p.m.]
232. Curzon has won over the Allies to a resolution to present to the Turks tomorrow morning a categorical demand for acceptance of the treaty, giving them only until Sunday night for a reply. This step is a consequence of the abrupt alteration in the attitude of the French delegation. Apparently the instructions received from Paris have been modified, and probably Poincaré has come to some new arrangement with the British Foreign Office. It is uncertain how the Turks will receive this demand, but we are disposed to concur in Curzon’s view that to keep up the informal discussions as arranged for through us yesterday will only tend to encourage the Turks to delay action. … We do not now recommend that the Department make any statement, as such a statement might not fit the present circumstances and might afterwards be judged in the light of later developments not yet foreseen.