852.00/6301: Telegram
The Chargé in Turkey (Washington) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 27—8:45 a.m.]
50. My telegram No. 46, August 20, 3 p.m.38 Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has addressed to the foreign missions accredited to Turkey two circular notes dated August 24, with reference to the operation of an unidentified submarine in and near Turkish territorial waters.
The first confirms the sinking on August 14th 15 miles from Tenedos of the Ciudad de Cadiz by a submarine of unknown nationality. It also states that according to reports received a second hostile act occurred on the 18th less than two miles from Tenedos resulting in the sinking of the Armura concerning which the Government has ordered an official investigation, the results of which I will communicate later.
The second requests the missions to inform their governments that on the 19th a Turkish naval unit sighted a suspicious object near Marmara Island thus raising the possibility of the presence in the Sea of Marmara in violation of the Straits Convention39 and international law of a foreign submarine which, if ever discovered will be challenged and if possible seized, failing which force will be employed to encompass its capture or destruction.
Background submitted in despatch No. 334, of August 24, 1937.38
- Not printed.↩
- Montreux Convention, July 20, 1936, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxiii, p. 213. See also Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. iii, pp. 503 ff.↩
- Not printed.↩