390D.11/056b
The Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray) to the Ambassador in Turkey (MacMurray)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: We are sending to you in the next pouch an instruction76 regarding the proposed exchange of notes with the Turkish Government concerning the Turkish nationality of certain American citizens who are natives of parts of the Ottoman Empire detached by the Treaty of Lausanne. As you will observe, we are asking you to proceed with the negotiations.
As background, I might point out that the idea of the exchange of notes originated in a very informal conversation which I had with the Turkish Ambassador on December 9, 1937. In looking through the files we find that a memorandum of this conversation was, by inadvertence, not sent to the Embassy. A copy thereof is enclosed herewith, with our regrets. As you will observe, I pointed out to the Ambassador the desire of a large number of naturalized American citizens of Syrian or Lebanese origin to be released from their technical allegiance to Turkey, and said that in view of the Turkish-American Claims Settlement of 1934, which had eliminated the principal obstacle to the conclusion of a naturalization treaty between the United States and Turkey, I thought the time propitious for reaching an agreement between the Governments of the United States and Turkey regarding the citizenship of these persons. The Ambassador said that he would like to give more thought to the matter and would probably correspond informally with his Government on this question.
Growing out of this very informal discussion was our instruction to you of February 15, 1938, proposing the exchange of notes. There [Page 1114] has been at no time any idea in the mind of the Turkish Ambassador or my own that the negotiations would or could be officially conducted here. Since my conversation of December 9, we have discussed the question several times with the Turkish Ambassador, and I believe considerable progress has been made as a result of these discussions. However, inasmuch as final decision in the matter must be taken by the Turkish Government, it seems obvious that the negotiations must be conducted in Turkey. Should any problems arise during such negotiations which are not covered by your instructions, you will, of course, wish to clarify them by telegrams to the Department.
I should like to point out the urgency of the questions and our desire that a satisfactory solution be reached as soon as possible. As you are of course aware, the period during which natives of Syria and the Lebanon were entitled to opt for the nationality of their origin under the Treaty of Lausanne was extended for one year by the Franco-Turkish exchange of notes of May 29, 1937. That extended period expired on May 29, 1938. The naturalized Americans of Syrian and Lebanese origin hoped that our negotiations with Turkey would have been completed by that time. Interested persons are continually requesting information regarding the progress of the discussions. The Department’s original instruction requesting that the negotiations be undertaken will already be five months old by the time you receive the present letter. I hope you will be able to convince the Turkish authorities of the desirability of taking prompt action.
There is one portion of the exchange of notes as redrafted which deserves mention. As you will observe from the new draft, a provision has been included regarding persons in the specified category who have declared their intention of becoming American citizens or who make such declaration within one year after the date of the exchange of notes. Such persons would be released from Turkish citizenship as of the date on which they acquire American citizenship. This provision has been included in an endeavor to find as full a solution as possible to the whole problem of persons who are natives of former parts of the Ottoman Empire and are permanent residents of the United States, but who still owe a technical allegiance to Turkey. The provision appears also to make our exchange of notes somewhat more comparable to the notes signed by Turkey and France on May 29, 1937, and it is hoped that the Turkish Government will be able to draw the parallel and agree to our request without the necessity of formal parliamentary action.
I should also call attention to the fact that one word in the draft exchange of letters has been changed since it was handed to the Turkish Ambassador. In the final paragraph of the draft, the phrase “confirmed by nearly a century of usage” appears. In the draft as [Page 1115] handed to the Turkish Ambassador, and as forwarded by him to his Government, the phrase was “consecrated by nearly a century of usage”. The word “confirmed” was subsequently substituted for the word “consecrated”. I make this explanation in order that you may understand any reference which may be made by the Turkish authorities to the fact that the draft which you will submit (if the exchange of letters is found desirable) does not agree verbatim with the draft we have already handed the Ambassador. I have telephoned to the Ambassador telling him of this change, and he approves.
We do not anticipate that the Turkish Government will hesitate to agree to our request for the proposed exchange of notes, particularly in view of our willingness to agree to the exchange of letters and to receive the Turkish Government’s unilateral declaration regarding claims. However, it is of course desirable for you to be fortified with as many points of argument as possible, in case the authorities in Turkey may not be as ready to agree as their Ambassador here. One additional consideration has occurred to us. The Department and your Embassy, no less than the Turkish Government, has been frequently annoyed in the past by deportee cases involving persons who are natives of former parts of the Ottoman Empire but who never lived in Turkey proper, and whose allegiance to Turkey is at best merely a technical one. If Turkey refuses to agree to the present exchange of notes, Turkey will place itself in the position of appearing to desire tenaciously to hold to the allegiance of the persons involved. If so, Turkey must be willing to give consideration, under generally accepted principles of international law, to receiving such Turkish citizens back to Turkey should we desire to deport them. I believe the Turkish Government will appreciate the fact that it is in an illogical position if it stubbornly refuses to release persons from Turkish allegiance and at the same time refuse their admission to Turkey upon the request of the United States.
We realize that the argument is in the present instance largely academic, since the proposed exchange of notes would effect the cancellation of the Turkish citizenship only of persons who have acquired American citizenship, and we, of course, do not seek to deport naturalized American citizens. However, the Turkish Government does not recognize their naturalization, and there would be, at least theoretically, nothing to prevent our changing our laws to enable us to deport naturalized Americans to the country of their former nationality if that country still claimed them as its citizens. At any rate, the deportation angle of the question may possibly appeal to the Turkish authorities, without consideration of its limited applicability of the question in the present instance.
[Page 1116]Just as our latest instruction to you on this subject was ready to leave the Department, we received your despatch No. 704 of June 20, 1938.77 We have not felt that this despatch necessitates any change in the instruction. One of the enclosures to your despatch, however, appears to call for comment. In the aide-mémoire which the Embassy left with the Turkish authorities on March 11, 1938,78 the statement is made that agreement is desired as soon as possible “with regard to the situation of naturalized American citizens, until recently natives of the territories detached from the Ottoman Empire by virtue of the Treaty of Lausanne”. The phrase “until recently natives” is obviously incorrect, and we are at a loss to determine what the Embassy actually had in mind. A native of any territory, according to our understanding, is a person born in that territory, and, regardless of what citizenship a person may later acquire, his nativity, of course, remains unchanged.
The persons to be affected by the proposed exchange of notes must have left the place of their nativity prior to August 6, 1924, the effective date of the Treaty of Lausanne, for persons who were still residing in those territories at the time the Lausanne Treaty went into effect automatically lost their Turkish citizenship at that time and acquired the citizenship of their place of residence. I point this out in view of the word “recently” used in the phrase quoted in the preceding paragraph.
Sincerely yours,