390D.11/175: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Turkey ( MacMurray )
28. Your 88, June 17, 2 p.m. The Department hopes that the notes to be exchanged will be designed to make the process of obtaining release from Turkish nationality of the American citizens involved as simple as possible. The Turkish Ambassador here still has some hope that blanket action may be taken by the Turkish Government, but if this is impossible to obtain and lists of names are required, it should be pointed out to the Turkish authorities that personal appearance at Turkish consular offices in this country by the persons concerned will hardly be feasible. It is understood that under the French-Turkish option agreement of May 29, 1937,9 French consular officers in this country did not require personal appearance and left to Syrian organizations in this country the obtaining of signatures to necessary forms. Since the Turkish Government apparently has little interest in retaining its technical claim to the allegiance of the American citizens involved, whose status differs in no material manner from that of the persons covered by the Franco-Turkish option agreement, the Department hopes that the Turkish authorities will accord to the American citizens concerned corresponding facilities, which will enable them to obtain release from Turkish allegiance by means of signatures collected by their responsible organizations here.
Please report present status of negotiations.
- See despatch No. 278, September 13, 1937, from the Consul General at Beirut, Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. ii, p. 926.↩