Office of the Historian

740.0011 European War 1939/32357: Telegram

The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State1

Ankara, December 1, 1943—1 p.m.

1958. The following telegram has been sent to Cairo,2 repeated for the Department’s information:

Most Immediate December 1, 1 p.m. Most secret for the President.

In a conversation with the Foreign Minister3 this morning he referred to your presence in Cairo and again expressed the hope that a meeting could be arranged between Inonu and yourself.4 He intimated [Page 633] that given sufficient notice Inonu could meet you in Aleppo, just across the Turkish frontier.

For your information Aleppo is about 26 hours by special train from Ankara and would seem satisfactory from a security point of view.

Please instruct the Security Officers to transmit any reply you may send me as quickly as possible.

Steinhardt
  1. For earlier correspondence relating to arrangements for the Second Cairo Conference, see ante, pp. 43, 386.↩
  2. Not found in the Roosevelt Papers.↩
  3. Numan Menemencioğlu.↩
  4. For the previous expression of hope for such a meeting, see Steinhardt’s telegram 1869 of November 14, 1943, 5 p.m., ante, p. 86.↩