740.0011 European War 1939/14282
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)
The Turkish Ambassador91 called on me at his request this afternoon and expressed his deep concern over the developments leading to the invasion of Iran by British and Bolshevist troops. The Ambassador said he had received no instructions from his Government in this matter and was speaking only personally but he was convinced that this action would have grave repercussions in the Moslem world and even among “atheistic” Turks, to say nothing of the pious ones.
The Ambassador seemed deeply depressed and disillusioned. He said he was sure his Government would be greatly perturbed over an extension of the Soviet frontier along the eastern frontier of Turkey, which was not fortified, and purposely so because of the friendly relations existing between Turkey and Iran as symbolized by the Saadabad Pact. The Ambassador added he had no confidence in British promises and feared that the whole of Iran and perhaps even Turkey would be turned over to Soviet Russia as a price of continued Soviet resistance.
Continuing in a pessimistic and rather cynical strain, the Ambassador said he was disappointed in the Eight Points evolved at the [Page 417] Atlantic Conference92 and felt they were not a proper basis for future peace. He also added that he was somewhat disappointed at the manner in which this Government was following British leadership rather than itself assuming leadership in these perilous times.
I tried to reassure the Ambassador that the situation was not as bad as he seemed to believe and that the moral authority of this Government would make itself felt more and more as time went on, but he only replied that he feared the mistakes committed after the last war would again be repeated after the present war, with equally disastrous results. “You blamed the Kaiser then for everything and now you blame Hitler. The troubles go much deeper than the actions of any one man.”
I was somewhat surprised at this state of mind of the Ambassador as I had not experienced it before. He has in the past repeatedly emphasized his belief that the only hope of the world lay in the moral leadership of this country which he felt sure would be brought to bear at an appropriate moment. Today, however, he seemed obsessed with the idea that our Government is only endeavoring to rescue the British Empire without regard for the welfare of other countries and to preserve the ruling caste of England, for which he said he had only contempt because of their utter selfishness and readiness at all times to sacrifice others for their own interests.
While the above remarks of the Ambassador may be only indicative of his present depressed state of mind, it may on the other hand possibly indicate a renewed disposition on the part of the Turkish Government to withdraw further into its present seclusion, if not actually to adjust itself to a policy of collaboration with Germany.
- Mehmet Münir Ertegün.↩
- For text of the Atlantic Charter, August 14, 1941, see vol. i, p. 367.↩