740.0011 European War 1939/13933: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 13—3:09 p.m.]
1489. Today’s newspapers publish an announcement by the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs stating that on August 10 the Soviet Ambassador at Ankara94 informed the Turkish Foreign Minister as follows:
“The Soviet Government reaffirms its fidelity to the Montreux Convention95 and assures the Turkish Government that the Soviet Government has no aggressive intentions and claims whatsoever in respect to the Straits. The Soviet Government, like the British Government, is ready to respect scrupulously the territorial integrity of the Turkish Republic. Fully understanding the desire of the Turkish Government not to be involved in the war, the Soviet Government, like the British Government, would nevertheless be ready to render to Turkey every assistance and help in the event that Turkey be attacked by any European power.”
The announcement adds that on the same day the British Ambassador96 made a similiar declaration to the Turkish Government.
No editorial comment on this definition of Soviet policy has yet appeared in the Moscow papers.
- Sergey Alexandrovich Vinogradov.↩
- Signed July 20, 1936, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxiii, p. 213. For correspondence regarding the Montreux Conference, see Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. iii, pp. 503 ff.↩
- Sir Hughe M. Knatchbull-Hugessen.↩