867.24/799

The British Minister ( Campbell ) to the Assistant Secretary of State ( Acheson )

My Dear Mr. Acheson: You may remember that on 31st May last you were informed that His Majesty’s Government had decided to [Page 1107] extend Lease-Lend facilities to Turkey to cover the supply of warlike stores. I now enclose herewith text of the Lease-Lend Agreement95 which His Majesty’s Government proposes, after receipt of any observations which the United States Government may desire to make, to submit shortly to the Turkish Government.

I am instructed to explain that this Agreement has been drafted in a form consistent with the terms of the Anglo/American and Anglo/Soviet Lease-Lend Agreements. In view, however, of the Treaty of alliance which exists between Great Britain and Turkey and of the arrangements already in existence for the supply of armaments under credit terms, it has been necessary to depart from these Agreements in certain respects. His Majesty’s Government, however, feel certain that the United States Government will appreciate that these previous Agreements constitute the basis of our very special relations with Turkey and that consequently it is desirable that the present agreement should be so framed as to constitute a continuation of them.

In drafting the Agreement, considerable difficulty was experienced regarding the date on which it should come into force. The Lease-Lend facilities it is proposed to give Turkey are meant to cover all supplies of armaments which are delivered in response to the lists given us by the Turkish Government as a result of the Adana Conference. The lists as presented, however, contain both past requests and fresh demands. They were received by His Majesty’s Government very shortly after the Adana Conference, but no decision regarding them was given to the Turkish Government until the beginning of May. In the meantime, however, supplies of armaments, much of which figured in the Adana lists either as old or new demands, continued to go forward to Turkey. For administrative reasons the most suitable date for switching over from Credit to Lease-Lend facilities appears to be the 31st March 1943, and accordingly this is the date which appears in Article 6. In order, however, to cover certain supplies, principally aircraft, our agreement to supply which dates from the time of the Adana Conference, but which were delivered before the 31st March, the date on which the Agreement comes into force is 1st February, and this is the date which appears in Article 8.

I should be most grateful for an early expression of the views of the United States Government upon this draft Agreement, a copy of which has already been handed to the United States Embassy in London.

Yours sincerely,

R. I. Campbell
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