767.68119/856

The Chargé in France (Marriner) to the Secretary of State

No. 1037

Sir: The receipt is respectfully acknowledged of the Department’s Instruction No. 469, June 29, 1934,92 enclosing a press article regarding the alleged intention of the Turkish Government to endeavor to obtain a revision of the Convention relating to the Régime of the Straits, signed at Lausanne on July 24, 1923, so as to permit the construction of fortifications in the Dardanelles, and directing that discreet inquiries be made with regard to what action, if any, the Turkish authorities may have taken with the French Government, and as to the attitude of the latter Government in the premises.

[Page 975]

Mr. Tuck, First Secretary of Embassy, called today upon M. de Saint-Quentin, Chief of the Division of Asia and Africa at the Quai d’Orsay, and there is transmitted herewith a memorandum93 of the interview.

It will be seen that M. de Saint-Quentin gave emphatic assurance that his Government was opposed to any revision of the Straits Convention and had so informed the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the latter’s visit to Paris and, previously and subsequently thereto, on several occasions, in Geneva. It may therefore be assumed that Tewfik Rushdi Bey94 had, at various times, unsuccessfully approached the French Government in an endeavor to win its support in favor of the revision of the Straits Convention.

Respectfully yours,

Theodore Marriner
  1. See footnote 87, p. 973.
  2. Not printed.
  3. Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs.