662.6731/152: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 18—6:46 p.m.]
388. My 377, October 9, 5 p.m.
1. Turkish-German commercial arrangement (comprising commercial agreement with protocol and 13 confidential exchanges of notes, and payments agreement with confidential protocol and 2 exchanges of notes) which entered provisionally into force on October 9 and is to remain in force until March 31, 1943, provides for exchange of goods divided into 2 groups to the value of 96 million Turkish pounds. Turkish goods to f. o. b. value of 55 million Turkish pounds of which the most important items are: minerals and metals (copper, chrome “to be delivered after January 15, 1943” and antimony), 10 million, olive oil, 7, cotton, 7, mohair and other goats’ hair, 6, skins, 5, and oleaginous seeds, 4.5, are to be exchanged for specific German goods to a similar value, c. i. f., of which the most important are: war material, 18 million, iron and steel, [apparent omission], machines, means of transport, 30, and copper manufactures of which copper content is not to exceed 1,000 tons, 2.5. Turkish goods [Page 965] to a value of 41 millions, of which most important items are: tobacco, 20 million, figs, 6.5, hazel nuts, 5.4, raisings [raisins?], 3, fish, 2.5, are to be exchanged to the extent of 50 percent for German goods specified in first group with the exception of war material, copper manufactures and sugar beet seed and hardware, iron and other metal manufactures, and to the extent of 50 percent for German goods of any sort.
While the commercial agreement stipulates that export of Turkish goods will be authorized to the value of German goods in corresponding category arriving in customs in Turkey, a confidential exchange of notes provides for a margin in each group of 10 percent of value of goods to be exported. This apparently means that at the beginning the Germans could import from Turkey Turkish goods in group 1 to the value of 5,500,000 Turkish pounds prior to the arrival of any German goods in Istanbul. It is provided that when the margin is exceeded either Government may take measures necessary to restore the equilibrium. In a confidential note the Turkish Government agrees to issue export licenses to Germany for: 12,000 tons of copper, 7,000 tons of cotton, 45,000 tons of chrome and 8,000 tons of olive oil. In this connection it is worthy of note that the export of copper, chrome and antimony to Germany was not authorized under the previous Turkish-German commercial agreement, and that the quantities of cotton and olive oil have been vastly increased.
2. In a confidential exchange of notes the two Governments agree to conclude before March 31, 1943, an agreement concerning the delivery of Turkish chrome to Germany to be effected up to December 31, 1944 on the following conditions
- (1)
- that amount of war materials specified in schedule 1–A “must be entirely liquidated by the delivery to Turkey of the materials in the conditions specified by the agreement”;
- (2)
- “the chrome to be exported from Turkey will form the counter value of further war materials to be agreed upon by the two Governments”;
- (3)
- “the Turkish Government will then authorize the exportation of an annual quantity of chrome amounting to 90.000 tons, for the periods from January 15 to December 31, 1943, and from January 1 to December 31, 1944, that is a total of 180,000 tons from the 15th of January 1943 to the end of 1944.”
The war materials to be delivered by Germany to Turkey are: spare parts for German planes, heavy machine guns, Krupp guns 7.5/60, with sights and ammunition, Bochum guns 7.5/20 with ammunition, pontoons and engineering material spare parts for trucks and motorcycles and 40 relined Bochum guns.
3. Payments agreement which is similar to 1938 agreement covers in addition to payments arising out of commercial exchanges financial [Page 966] transfers of all sorts between the two countries, provision is made in a supplementary note for the utilization of excess blocked funds in Germany of persons residing in Turkey for the purchase by German banks for Turkish account of obligations of the Anatolian Railway, Port of Naydar Pasha and Turkish debt 1933 in circulation in Germany or in territories occupied by Germany.