Office of the Historian

867.24/533: Telegram

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

Ankara, January 6, 1943—7 p.m.
[Received January 7—10 a.m.]

36. Department’s 635, December 5, and 1, January l.55 I have today discussed with the Minister for Foreign Affairs56 in a friendly but frank spirit the willingness of Department to accommodate Turkish Government in its desire to purchase or charter two or three vessels but only on the basis of a quid pro quo. I pointed out to Numan that while my Government had made sacrifices to meet various requests of Turkish Government such as the recent delivery of 15,000 tons of wheat57 and the promise to make tonnage available for the shipment to the United States of 15,000 tons of tobacco in 1943, Turkish authorities had failed to provide any substantial quantities of the essential commodities desired by us and that in consequence two or three vessels could only be made available to Turkish Government on a more reciprocal basis. Numan was frank in admitting the justice of our position and inquired as to the specific commodities desired. I suggested the following selected from the joint British-American preemptive list:58 Copper, antimony, skins, mohair, valonia, valex, hemp, olive oil, oil seeds and silk waste. Numan examined the list and remarked [Page 1088] that there were several commodities which were not available such as olive oil but that there were others which Turkish Government might at great sacrifice be able to provide in quantities commensurate with Turkish production. He suggested I leave the list with him and said after he had conferred with the competent authorities he would inform me as to the quantities of the various commodities Turkish Government could make available for purchase by us in exchange for the sale or charter to it of two or three vessels.

Steinhardt
  1. Ibid., pp. 740 and 741, respectively.↩
  2. Numan Menemencioglu.↩
  3. For correspondence regarding this subject, see Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. iv, pp. 727 ff.↩
  4. For correspondence regarding the joint United States–United Kingdom preemptive purchase program in Turkey, see pp. 1111 ff.↩