811.20 Defense (M) Turkey/426: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 23—5:33 p.m.]
536. My 534, March 22. The Soviet Ambassador22 informed me yesterday that he had called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to express the hope of his Government that no further shipments of strategic materials would be made to the Axis. Vinogradov said Numan had replied that trade relations between Turkey and the Axis countries were governed by existing agreements and that while the Turkish Government had no desire to furnish the Axis with strategic materials it was under the obligation to meet its commitments and to obtain products with which to sustain its economic life. In response to Vinogradov’s inquiry as to whether the Turkish Government was prepared to exchange copper for oil products, Numan stated that no copper was available for export.
- Sergei Vinogradov.↩