Office of the Historian

767.68119/8–2246

The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Bevin) to the Soviet Chargé in the United Kingdom 75

undated

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your note of August 8th in which you communicated to me the text of a note which the Soviet [Page 851] Government had delivered to the Turkish Government on the 7th August concerning the future of the Montreux Convention. The Soviet Government will already be aware from the communication addressed to the Soviet Government by H. M. Ambassador in Moscow on the 23rd November 1945, that His Majesty’s Government are of the opinion that a revision of the Montreux Convention is desirable and that they would, if the Soviet Government or the Turkish Government desired to call a Conference for the revision of the Convention, to ready be ready to take part in its work. His Majesty’s Government have consequently given careful consideration to the proposals which the Soviet Government have now put forward for the new Regime which they consider should be established in the Straits. Before, however, they comment on the proposals put forward by the Soviet Government, His Majesty’s Government wish to point out that the agreements reached regarding this question at the Potsdam Conference, as recorded in Section XVI of the Protocol of the Conference, were that as a next step the matter should be the subject of direct conversations between each of the three Governments and the Turkish Government. It was not, as is suggested in the second paragraph of the note under reply, agreed at Potsdam that the matter should be the subject of direct negotiations between each of the three powers and the Turkish Government. As regards the proposals now put forward by the Soviet Government, His Majesty’s Government note that there is no mention in these proposals of the United Nations. His Majesty’s Government desire to place it on record that in any modification of the Montreux Convention the Regime should be consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Subject to this His Majesty’s Government wish to offer no comments at the present stage upon the first three proposals made by the Soviet Government. As regards the fourth proposal, however, His Majesty’s Government would point out that it has for long been internationally recognised that the Regime of the Straits is the concern of other states besides the Black Sea powers. His Majesty’s Government cannot therefore agree with the Soviet view that the future Regime should be the concern of the Black Sea powers and Turkey alone. As regards the fifth proposal that Turkey and the Soviet Union should organise the defence of the Straits by joint means, His Majesty’s Government consider that Turkey, as the territorial power concerned, should continue to be responsible for the defence and control of the Straits. In conclusion, His Majesty’s Government wish to make it clear once again that they would be ready to attend an international conference to discuss a revision of the 1936 Convention if all the interested parties agree.

  1. Copy transmitted to the Department by the British Embassy on August 22. The note was handed to the Soviet Chargé in London on August 21 and published on November 22↩