800.00B Communist International/266: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 1—1:35 a.m.]
996. The news of the dissolution of the Third International has created wide speculation in the Turkish press and occasioned considerable comment among Turkish Government officials. Both the press and Turkish officialdom appear inclined to question the sincerity of the announcement. While editorial comment has been restrained in line with the Government’s policy of fostering friendly relations between Turkey and the Soviet Union the views expressed to me by high Government officials in private conversations are uniform in attributing Stalin’s action to a desire to meet the political and military needs of the moment rather than to an irrevocable decision to abandon a program of world revolution. They have pointed out the importance of the move in paving the way for closer cooperation with the United States and Britain, particularly the former. The more thoughtful among high Government officials seem disposed to await developments in the hope that the action taken by Stalin is the forerunner of a definitive change in Soviet foreign policy and that developments in the near future will dissipate all suspicion that the move was merely one of expediency. Even these officials, however, express the view that were Soviet imperialism to replace the program of world revolution the danger to Turkish interests would be enhanced rather than decreased in that the menace of communism within Turkey is much less than the threat to Turkish interests which would result from Soviet imperialism.
Since the end of the Tunisian campaign which carried with it the conviction in Turkish Government circles of an ultimate Allied victory there has been unmistakable evidence of a recognition of Turkish dependence on the United States and Britain to safeguard Turkish interests as against suspected Soviet ambitions not only in respect of the Straits but of the Balkans as well.