890D.927/59
The Chairman of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity (Morey) to the Assistant Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Alling)
[Received March 9.]
Dear Mr. Alling: In accordance with your advice during our interview on the 20th of January, I am writing you the result of our discussion of the political situation at the meeting of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch held in Princeton on February 22nd. I must say that nothing very definite came out of the discussion except a feeling of great uncertainty as to the political future of the Sanjak.36 [Page 1032] We are particularly concerned (1) with the possibility that a Nationalist movement in the Sanjak may abrogate the contract contained in our concession for the export of antiquities (in practice 50%), (2) that possible Turkish control of the Sanjak may have the same effect, and (3) the possibility of actual trouble in the way of rioting and insurrection.
I have no doubt that to advise on these points is difficult for the State Department, but I would appreciate very much any information or counsel that your Bureau will be able to give.
With many thanks [etc.]
- For general correspondence relating to the status of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, see League of Nations, Official Journal, January 1937, pp. 22 ff.; ibid., May–June 1937, pp. 329 ff.; and ibid., February 1938, pp. 93 ff. and 115 ff.↩