761.67/4–2845: Telegram
The Chargé in Turkey (Packer) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 29—6:40 a.m.]
578. ReEmbs 452, April 4.34 In the course of a conversation yesterday with the Turk Ambassador to Moscow Sarper informed me that he does not believe that the Soviets intend to advance any claim to Turk territory in the Kars or Ardahan areas but that he considers it probable they will press for a revision of the Montreux Convention which he emphasized is multilateral not bilateral.
He said that a study made at this [his?] Embassy in Moscow of Russian press criticism of the US, Great Britain and Turkey revealed that both “quantitatively and qualitatively” Soviet criticism of the Anglo-Saxon powers exceeded that of Turkey.
He was inclined to believe that the Soviet selection of “fifth class representatives” for the San Francisco Conference (this was prior to the decision to send Molotov35) was based on a desire to place the San Francisco Conference on a lower plane internationally than the Yalta Conference at which only the Big Three were represented. He thought it unlikely that Molotov would remain in San Francisco until the end of Conference as his presence at Moscow will probably be desired in order that he may make the usual report of the Government to the forthcoming session of the Supreme Soviet.
Sarper expects to depart for Moscow in about 2 weeks.
Sent to the Department; repeated to Moscow as 28.
- Not printed; it reported Ambassador Sarper’s arrival in Ankara, and the immediate granting of an audience to him by President Inönü (701.6761/4–445).↩
- For Chairman Stalin’s agreement to send Mr. Molotov to San Francisco as head of the Soviet delegation, see telegram 1161, April 13, 11 p.m., from Moscow, vol. i, p. 269.↩