740.00/783: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 12—7:35 p.m.]
470. My 467, April 12, 6 p.m.99 and 462, April 11, 8 p.m., first paragraph. Following communicated by the Foreign Office in strict confidence.
British Ambassador to Turkey was instructed this afternoon to make a proposal to the Turkish Government along the following lines: to point out the obvious solidarity of the Berlin-Rome Axis in the policy of aggression against other countries; that wherever one member strikes, the other is there in support; that another act of aggression in the Mediterranean will be a grave menace to the security and independence of all Mediterranean countries; and to offer the Turkish Government a guarantee of assistance by Great Britain in the event of an attack by Italy, in return for a reciprocal guarantee by Turkey to Great Britain should she be the object of an Italian attack. Proposal follows the model of the Anglo-Polish agreement for reciprocal assistance in the event of an attack by Germany. It is hoped here that this offer will, besides serving other purposes, encourage Turkey to hasten a favorable reply to the British proposal for guarantee of Greece.
[Page 129]The Turks are being urged at the same time for an expression of their views and intentions regarding problem of Rumanian security and for their views as to how Bulgaria might be integrated into a plan of Balkan solidarity.
- Not printed.↩