390D.11/152
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)
During a call from the Turkish Ambassador yesterday he conveyed to me the following information which he has recently received in an instruction from the Turkish Foreign Office, regarding the problem of naturalized American citizens of Syrian and Lebanese origin who have not opted for Syrian nationality under the Franco-Turkish Agreement of May 29, 1937.
According to the information received by the Ambassador, the Turkish Government is of the opinion that it may be possible to find a means of relieving American citizens of the above category from unwanted Turkish citizenship in case they have not opted for Syrian or Lebanese citizenship in accordance with the Franco-Turkish Agreement under reference, although some solution must be found to obviate certain conflicting provisions of Turkish law.
The Turkish Government is of the opinion that a solution might be found in one of the two following procedures:
- (1)
- The Turkish Government might authorize such Syrian and Lebanese Americans to abandon their Turkish nationality; or
- (2)
- The Turkish Government might declare that the Turkish citizenship of such naturalized Americans has lapsed or that they have been divested of their Turkish citizenship.
The Ambassador emphasized, however, that in either of the above cases it would have to be understood that Turkey would reserve the right to refuse permission to such former Turkish nationals as those referred to above to return to Turkey; and that no claims on behalf of such former Turkish nationals up to the time of their being divested of their former nationality would be admissible against the Turkish Government.
I told the Turkish Ambassador that we would be glad to give consideration to these views of his Government, and that meanwhile we would doubtless be hearing from our Embassy in Istanbul on the subject.
Without entering in detail at this time into the assurances, either implicit or explicit, which the Turkish Government would expect to receive in case of the negotiation of an exchange of notes on the above subject, it would appear that no insuperable obstacle would be presented by reason of the Turkish viewpoint in this matter. It would appear that in any agreement that we might negotiate with the Turks on this subject full reservation would be made of the immigration laws [Page 1109] and regulations of both countries which would, I presume, cover the question of former Turkish nationals requesting permission to return to Turkey. In so far as claims against the Turkish Government on behalf of such naturalized American citizens of Syrian or Lebanese origin are concerned, it would appear that under the ordinary accepted principles of international law the Turkish Government would be under no obligation to entertain claims from another Government on behalf of individuals who, when the claims arose, were under Turkish law regarded as Turkish nationals. This principle was accepted by this Government in the American-Turkish claims settlement of 1934, and there would appear to be no reason why it is less valid today than it was at that time.