740.00119 EW/7–2144: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Istanbul (Berry)
340. The Department is transmitting the substance of your three telegrams of July 21 (430R91 [429R91] to 430R93 [431R93]) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as to our Embassies at London and Moscow.
Pending an expression of their views, and for your own information, the Department finds that the concessions indicated by the Bulgarians appear to be of no great value. No action short of an actual severance of relations with Germany is regarded as satisfactory at this stage. The degree of consideration to be accorded Bulgaria’s claims following the cessation of hostilities would, of course, be largely influenced by the aid and cooperation afforded Allied forces in support of an early defeat of Germany.
Your informant may be advised that the Department is awaiting the views of the American military authorities, but that its present opinion is that negotiations cannot be satisfactorily conducted unless an emissary empowered to speak for the Bulgarian Government is sent to a convenient location, preferably Cairo, to meet with representatives of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union; the latter, though not at war with Bulgaria, having indicated a desire to participate in any eventual conversations. You should stress the urgency of any action Bulgarians may intend to take (see Department’s 331, July 19, noon).94
Further instructions will be sent to you as soon as the views of the Joint Chiefs and the two other Governments can be ascertained.
- In telegram 454, August 3, 6 p.m., the Consul General at Istanbul reported that his source left for Sofia on August 1 with the information given him (740.00119 EW/8–344).↩