811.20 Defense (M) Turkey/36: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
Washington, August 11,
1942.
3794. Your 4347 of August 4 and the Department’s 3664 of August 5.49
- 1.
- In the light of the comments of the London Preemption Committee and those of Amembassy Ankara, a redefinition of the short [Page 722] term U. S. preclusive program in Turkey and its transition to a long term U. S. program in collaboration with the British are under study. You will be kept informed in this connection.
- 2.
- It can be stated that in general this Government favors assigning individual responsibility for individual commodities. Adherence to this principle, however, would not preclude joint action by the British and ourselves in any specific commodity where Turkish policy either on allocations or the issuance of export licenses indicated the advisability of such collaboration.
- 3.
- The Department would appreciate an elaboration of MEW’s50 recommendation that edible oils should not be preempted in Turkey. Amembassy Ankara has telegraphed, in an extension of its comments reported in the Department’s 3664 of August 6 [5], that the Axis attach importance to the purchase of oil seeds such as sunflower, sesame and ground nuts, and that both the British and American Embassies in Ankara are in agreement that we should enter these markets. Ambassador Steinhardt states that the British Embassy has proposed the purchase of 15,000 tons sesame, 5,000 tons sunflower seed, and 15,000 tons ground nuts, although doubt is expressed as to the availability of ground nuts for export.
- 4.
- Steinhardt further reports that the British are seeking authorization to purchase 250 tons gum tragacanth and unlimited authority to purchase linseed. The Department would appreciate being informed as to whether or not these requests for authorization have been granted by UKCC.
- 5.
- The matter of financial arrangements between the British and ourselves will be discussed in a later telegram after the receipt of comments on the Department’s 3561 of July 30, 5 p.m.51
Hull