740.0011 European War 1939/19391
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
Towards the end of May His Majesty’s Government learnt that the German Ambassador at Angora had invited the Turkish Government to open conversations. The object of these conversations appeared to be the maintenance of Turkish neutrality in the event of a German-Soviet war, and German neutrality towards Turkey. The Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs assured His Majesty’s Ambassador that the Anglo-Turkish Alliance would be safe-guarded; His Majesty’s Government nevertheless felt considerable anxiety about these negotiations, which they conveyed at repeated intervals to the Turkish Government.
On June 14th, the Minister for Foreign Affairs showed the British Ambassador the rough draft of a proposed agreement, which was as follows:
Article 1.
Germany and Turkey-undertake to respect mutually the integrity and inviolability of their territories and abstain from all action which would be aimed either directly or indirectly at either contracting party.
Article 2.
Germany and Turkey undertake to put themselves amicably into contact in future on all questions touching their common interests, in order to bring about an understanding on such questions.
A third article would deal with the duration of the agreement.
After strong pressure from the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, the German Government reluctantly agreed to a clause in the preamble safeguarding existing agreements, but without any specific reference to the Anglo-Turkish alliance.
The British Ambassador has been instructed to see the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs urgently and speak to him on the following lines:—
It is obvious that Germany wants this agreement in a hurry as part of the pressure which she is now bringing to bear on Russia. The Turkish Government should not allow themselves to be rushed into concluding this agreement at a moment when there is no direct German military threat to Turkey and when the situation on Turkey’s southern frontier has greatly improved owing to the restoration of the situation in Iraq and the good progress made in Syria.
However innocuous the agreement may appear the mere fact of its conclusion at this moment would create the worst possible impression everywhere. Moreover, Article 2, seems to preclude Turkey from taking any action with regard to Syria without consulting Germany. [Page 855] His Majesty’s Government could not countenance any agreement of this kind unless there were included in it an explicit statement safeguarding the Anglo-Turkish Treaty.