711.672/40: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Special Mission at Lausanne
133. (1) Department has considered your draft of an acknowledgment to be addressed to Ismet, and suggests that in paragraph [Page 1058] 1, which recapitulates his letter, you omit the words “with the understanding that they would be continued until the attainment of a positive result,” and also the succeeding sentence which refers to negotiations at Constantinople. The Department thinks it would be better not to give the impression, by further repeating Ismet’s words, that you assent to his suggestion that when the negotiations have once begun they must be carried forward to a positive result, neither does it seem desirable to give emphasis to Ismet’s proposal that after diplomatic relations have been restored a separate treaty of commerce be negotiated at Constantinople. It may be desirable, as you have suggested, to include our commercial agreements in a general treaty of amity and commerce to be concluded at Lausanne before relations are resumed.
(2) As a substitute for the second paragraph of your draft the Department believes it would be preferable to employ a sentence somewhat as follows: I have the honor to inform you that under instructions from my Government I am authorized to propose that an effort be made, through informal conversations, to discover whether there exists a satisfactory basis for the negotiations referred to in the letter from Your Excellency.
(3) The merit of this suggested phrasing is that it would relieve you of the necessity of sending to Ismet later on a more detailed written statement, and thus the informal basis of the negotiations would not be disturbed until you had engaged the Turkish delegation in a thorough discussion of a draft treaty.
(4) The Department authorizes you, when presenting your reply to Ismet, to say to him that as soon as the discussions give evidence that a satisfactory result is in sight you will receive full powers to negotiate. At the same time you may find occasion to inform Ismet that this Government desires that the negotiations between Turkey and the Allies for a treaty of peace shall not be obstructed by anything which it may do, and to explain to him, if in your judgment it seems desirable, that the necessary basis for negotiating a treaty with this Government will be greatly improved if the question of the regime for foreigners in Turkey, which is now under discussion at Lausanne, reaches a satisfactory settlement.
(5) After your preliminary negotiations have begun, the Department will be in a better position to examine the question of the desirability of negotiating a detailed consular convention and a separate treaty of commerce.
(6) As you have been already advised, the Department does not wish to encumber you with elaborate instructions, and, if in your opinion the second paragraph of your draft acknowledgment is preferable to the one recommended above, the Department does not [Page 1059] object to your retaining your own phrasing after making the changes indicated in the first paragraph.
(7) The Department leaves to your discretion the question of publicity. But the Department wishes to be advised in advance if you decide to publish the text of the communications exchanged with Ismet and to be informed of the date on which you propose to make it public.