867.24/705: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant ) to the Secretary of State

3574. The proposed extension of Lease-Lend facilities to the Turks by the British, the subject of the Department’s 3127, of May 15, 11 p.m., was taken up with Sir Orme Sargent88 of the Foreign Office who has now replied as follows:

“We decided a short time ago that it was desirable to grant such facilities because the original arrangements for financing supplies of arms which form part of our treaty of mutual assistance with the Turks were no longer adequate to cover the increased deliveries which we are to deliver to the Turks as a result of the Adana Conference. Our Ambassador in Angora was instructed to inform the Turkish Government of the bare outlines of this offer and at the same time to inquire from his United States colleague what reception had been given by the Turkish Government to the draft Turco–American Lend-Lease Agreement, because we are [were?] anxious when it came to submitting a formal draft agreement to keep in line with the arrangements the United States Government were making. We informed our Embassy at Washington of the position, but it is apparent that they have not passed on the information to the State Department. I have, therefore, arranged that they shall do so as soon as possible.

The actual draft agreement is not yet ready and if Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen89 told Mr. Steinhardt that he expected to submit it to the Turkish authorities within a few days, I fear he was being a little optimistic. It goes, of course, without saying that directly the draft has been prepared, we will at once let you have a copy and ask our Embassy in Washington to communicate it to the State Department, since we fully realize the interest which the United States Government have in the matter, and also because we would value their views.

Let me add in conclusion that there is no question of this agreement covering any Lease-Lend supplies which originated in the United States. It is intended solely to cover supplies from the United Kingdom [Page 1104] and to supplement the financial arrangements for the supply of such arms to Turkey concluded at the time of the signature of the Anglo-Turkish Treaty of Mutual Assistance”.90

Winant
  1. British Deputy Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
  2. British Ambassador in Turkey.
  3. Treaty of Mutual Assistance between the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey, with special agreement, signed at Ankara, October 19, 1939, and subsidiary agreement signed at Paris, January 8, 1940, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cc, p. 167.