740.00119 EW/8–2044
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Memorandum
With reference to the British Embassy’s aide-mémoire of August 20, 1944, and the reply of the Department of State, dated August 22 [23], [Page 365] 1944, regarding Bulgarian proposals for discussions looking to the conclusion of an armistice, there is now enclosed the text, in paraphrase, of (a) a telegram from the American Embassy in Moscow20 quoting a letter from Mr. Molotov in which he expresses the hope that conversations with the Bulgarians may be conducted in Ankara rather than Cairo and (b) a telegram from the American Consul General in Istanbul21 indicating that two Bulgarian delegates now in Turkey have been authorized by the Bulgarian Government to initiate conversations with the Allied representatives.
Since Mr. Molotov’s letter expresses the Soviet desire that the conversations should take place in Ankara rather than in Cairo, and in view of the fact that the Bulgarian delegates are now in Turkey, the Department sees no reasons why arrangements should not be made for the discussions to begin at once in Ankara, particularly in the absence of Lord Moyne22 and Ambassador MacVeagh from Cairo. If the British Government has already communicated to Mr. Moshanoff the conditions proposed in the British Embassy’s aide-mémoire and agreed to in the Department’s reply, it seems likely that it is not too late to inform him that he and his fellow delegates are expected to proceed to Ankara rather than Cairo. It is also felt that, if the British Government is in agreement with the Department’s view expressed in its memorandum already cited that we need not insist upon the release of Allied prisoners as a condition precedent to the commencement of negotiations, the talks might well be initiated without incurring the risk of indefinite delay such as might be entailed by a complicated operation designed to test the sincerity of Bulgarian intentions.
It is, therefore, proposed that the Bulgarian delegates now in Istanbul be told that: if they are fully authorized and prepared to proceed to Ankara to conclude an armistice with the Allies, the British and American Ambassadors in Ankara will be authorized to receive them for pertinent discussions; the Soviet Government is being fully informed of this proposal and invited also to have a representative present; and, in the meantime, any actions by the Bulgarian Government favorable to the Allies, such as the release of Allied prisoners, the severance of relations with Germany, the ejection of Nazi forces from Bulgaria or the announcement of the termination of Bulgarian hostilities against the United Nations, will be taken into account as a gauge of the sincerity of Bulgaria’s intentions.
Should the British Government indicate its agreement to the foregoing, the Department will immediately instruct its Consul General [Page 366] in Istanbul in that sense and direct its Ambassador to associate himself with the British Ambassador, together with the Soviet representative if the latter so desires, in receiving the Bulgarian delegates.