Office of the Historian

867.00/3148: Telegram

The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]
Ankara, April 28, 1942—11 a.m.
[Received April 29—3:20 a.m.]

333. For President, Secretary and Under Secretary. My former colleague Aktay, Turkish Ambassador to Moscow,56 arrived in Ankara day before yesterday. He has told me following:

(1)
Shortly before his departure from Kuibyshev he called on Vishinsky and made a strong protest against Soviet radio and press criticism of bomb explosion trial in Ankara. Up to time his departure he had received no reply. However, he gained impression from Vishinsky’s attitude at time of his protest that Soviet authorities will refrain at least for time being from further criticism. The Ambassador expressed opinion that Soviet Government will not further strain Turkish-Soviet relations. He referred to the unusually considerate treatment accorded him at time of his departure. He said he had been given a special plane to Baku on 24 hours’ notice and that the train from Baku to Turkish frontier had made record time. Aktay holds the view that Soviet Government is much less concerned with conduct of trial and the fate of the two Soviet defendants than with the publicity given the trial which reveals a continuance of the practice of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
(2)
Since his arrival in Ankara Aktay has conferred with President Inönü and Saraçoğlu. He does not anticipate further deterioration in Turkish-Soviet relations. He believes that if Soviet Government refrains from further criticism of conduct of the trial relations between the two countries will improve. He was given to understand by the President that Turkish relations with the other great powers are regarded as satisfactory and that every reasonable effort will be made to place Turkish-Soviet relations on a similar basis.

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Steinhardt
  1. Laurence A. Steinhardt was Ambassador to the Soviet Union prior to his appointment to Turkey, January 12, 1942.↩