867.144/26
The Ambassador in Turkey (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 9.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that on December 27, 1939, the Y.M.C.A. at Istanbul and the affiliated American Language and Commercial School, fostered by the Y.M.C.A., but technically independent of it, together with the Student Hostel attached to the latter school, were closed by the police authorities, acting under the authority of the Governor of Istanbul. Although no notification has been made to either of these institutions by the authorities, a representative of the Y.M.C.A. was permitted to read the official order for the closing of the Y.M.C.A. held by the police officials, and a copy of this document made by him is enclosed.48
Of the three legal points apparently forming the basis for the closing of the Y.M.C.A. (and with it the School and Hostel housed in the same American-owned building) the most important is apparently that the Y.M.C.A. has been found to be an association having its headquarters in a foreign country, thus contravening Article 10 of the Turkish Law on Associations, which went into effect on July 14, 1938 [Page 991] (reported in the Embassy’s despatch No. 828, September 15, 1938,49 enclosing a translation of the law). The police had no authority for the closing of the Language and Commercial School, which, although occupying the major part of the premises of the building in question, holds a separate permit from the Ministry of Education (the Y.M.C.A. operated under a permit from the Ministry of the Interior). The Student Hostel was permitted to remain open temporarily as a result of protests made by the Turkish University students housed there, but the order for its closing is merely in suspense.
The Y.M.C.A., which has operated for 25 years in Istanbul, took cognizance of the new Law on Associations immediately upon its promulgation in 1938, and filed a petition with the appropriate authorities on June 13, 1939, for registration of its constitution under the new law. It hoped to obtain the permission of the Council of Ministers to continue its operations in Turkey in spite of the provisions of Article 10 of the law referred to above, by virtue of an exception contained in this Article, which reads as follows:
“Article 10. An association having its seat abroad may not open branches in Turkey. Associations pursuing international aims may not be founded.
“However, the Council of Ministers may authorize the foundation in Turkey of associations considered useful for the bringing about of understanding among nations, or the opening in Turkey of branches of already established associations of this kind …”.49a
It appears that the petition of the Association was given consideration by the Department of Public Security at Ankara but that, so far as can be learned, it did not come to the attention of the Minister of the Interior. No reply has yet been received to this petition, nor has the Association received any communication concerning it.
While recognizing the legal basis for the closing of the Y.M.C.A., its local Directors immediately took steps to secure the reopening of the American Language and Commercial School, which maintains, in addition to its scholastic activities, the Student Hostel and a large gymnasium. The Director of the School, Bay Ilhami Polater, a Turkish citizen, called at the Vilayet on January 2 in company with Bay Hamid, the legal adviser of the Y.M.C.A., and Mr. Luther L. Fowle, one of the Directors (Treasurer of the American Board of Foreign Missions, headquarters at Istanbul), and presented a petition calling attention to the separate entity of the School and protesting against its illegal closing. A translation of the petition is enclosed herewith. The Governor immediately referred the petition to the Department of Education at Istanbul, and the latter on January 2 [Page 992] returned to the Governor’s office a recommendation which is believed to have been in favor of the reopening of the School.
At the request of the local directors of the Y.M.C.A. and with my approval, Mr. Latimer, the consular officer in charge at Istanbul, called on the Governor on January 8 to express the concern of the Consulate General over the closing of a respected American institution. He pointed out that the Y.M.C.A. had done its best to comply with the new law, that it had received no reply to its petition, and that it had been closed without warning. He also emphasized the separate entity of the American Language and Commercial School, which had been closed apparently without authority, and stated that the Directors of the Y.M.C.A., while recognizing the validity of its closing, desired to continue operating the Language and Commercial School, provided they could be assured of the support and approval of the Turkish authorities and public, which they believed themselves to have enjoyed up to the present. The Governor replied that the Language School had been closed only because it was in the same building with the Y.M.C.A., and the police had been unable to make a clear distinction between the two organizations. He assured Mr. Latimer that the closing of the Y.M.C.A. was due solely to the automatic application of the new Law on Associations which provided that an association having its headquarters in a foreign country could not operate in Turkey. He further stated that he had been on the point of ordering the reopening of the School when the legal question was raised as to whether an affiliate of an association which had been closed for non-conformity with the new law could be permitted to continue operating. This legal question, he said, had been referred to a special committee for decision. He agreed to expedite decision on this question, and gave evidence of his friendly and favorable attitude towards the matter. The Governor made it clear that there was not the slightest feeling against the American institutions involved, or against American institutions in general, and took pains to discredit an article published in the Yeni Sabah of December 28, referred to by Mr. Latimer, which attacked the Y.M.C.A. as an institution dangerous to Turkish youth and took upon the paper credit for its closing. Translations of the article in question, and of a matter-of-fact one from the more respectable newspaper Tan, are enclosed herewith. A memorandum prepared by Mr. Latimer concerning his interview is enclosed herewith.
In spite of the seemingly favorable attitude taken by the Department of Education and by the Governor, subsequent information obtained through private sources, particularly the Director of the School of Languages and Commerce, reveal that the trend of events did not augur well for a favorable decision. It was found that the question of the School’s reopening had left the hands of the special [Page 993] committee appointed by the Governor (composed of the Assistant Governor, the Legal Advisor of the Vilayet and the Director of Education of Istanbul) without decision and had been privately referred to the Istanbul Committee of the People’s Party, indicating that the issue had now become a local political matter. It had already been clear to the Directors that the “Halk Evi” (People’s Homes), maintained by the People’s Party, had evidenced a keen interest in obtaining the property of the Y.M.C.A., immediately upon its closing. In this connection it should be pointed out that the property of an association which is closed for non-conformity with the new Law on Associations automatically reverts to the Turkish Government.
On January 12th, the legal advisor of the Y.M.C.A. called on the Assistant Governor and on the Legal Advisor of the Vilayet to furnish complete details as to the organization and activities of the American institutions concerned, and both officials took the attitude that the whole affair was a closed issue and out of their hands, although the Y.M.C.A. representative was unable to learn from them what had been decided as regards the petition for the reopening of the Language and Commercial School or in whose hands the petition now rested.
At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Y.M.C.A. on January 12, 1940, attended by Consul Latimer, who furnished a statement concerning his interview with the Governor, the members decided to abandon the branch of the Y.M.C.A. at Istanbul and to concentrate their efforts on the reopening of the American Language and Commercial School. The approval of the Head Office of the Y.M.C.A. for this move had already been obtained by cable. The Board further decided to make it clear to the local authorities that if the latter approved of the activities of the School, the Directors desired to continue it with its Turkish Director assisted by an American teacher whose salary would be provided through local American contributions and with an Advisory Board which would include Turkish citizens in its membership. A telegram was drafted advising the Y.M.C.A. Head Office at New York to postpone the sailing of the Secretary scheduled to leave for Turkey in February of this year (to replace Mr. Baker, present incumbent at Istanbul, who left Turkey on leave of absence several months ago). The Directors requested Mr. Fowle to draw up a memorandum (copy enclosed herewith) showing the background of the Y.M.C.A.’s operations in Turkey, the attitude of the Directors towards its present situation, and the future operations of the Language and Commercial School. The Directors requested that a copy of this memorandum be furnished Mr. Latimer for transmission to the Embassy, and it was urgently recommended that the Embassy be asked to intervene in the matter in order to assure a complete examination of the question by the highest Turkish authorities.
[Page 994]An examination of the several reports and memoranda which were sent to the Embassy by Mr. Latimer, and by Mr. Fowle on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Y.M.C.A., served to create a strong presumption that the municipal authorities had acted on their own responsibility, without the knowledge or approval of the central Government, and with their own ends in view. If this were true—and it was later found to be the case—the action of the municipal authorities might, when it was too late, be found to have been unwarranted, and, even if warranted, might, because it coincided with the awakening of a genuine sympathy in the United States for the victims of the Turkish earthquake, be seriously misunderstood and exert an unfortunately negative effect on American-Turkish relations. It was therefore deemed advisable to bring the matter to the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but as a request for information and with a suggestion as to its possible effects, rather than as a formal complaint. A representative of the Embassy consequently called at the Ministry on January 13 and exposed the question in that light. A memorandum of the resulting conversation is enclosed for the Department’s information. The Department will observe that the Foreign Office is not inclined to consider the action of the local authorities of Istanbul as being final.
Respectfully yours,