501.BC Greece/5–2047: Telegram
Mr. Mark F. Ethridge to the Secretary of State
confidential
Geneva, May 20,
1947—11 a. m.
373. Ethridge 80. Full text of recommendations accepted by nine delegations follows.
[Here follow introductory portions.]
- (A)
- The Commission proposes to the Security Council that it should recommend to the governments of Greece on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia on the other, to do their utmost to establish normal good neighborly relations, to abstain from all action direct or [Page 864] indirect which is likely to increase or maintain the tension and unrest in the border areas and rigorously to refrain from any support overt or covert of elements in neighboring countries aiming at the overthrow of the lawful governments of those countries. [Here follows remainder of paragraph A.]
- (B)
- With a view to providing effective machinery for the regulation and control of their common frontiers the Commission proposes that the Security Council recommend to the governments concerned that they enter into new conventions along the lines of the Greco-Bulgarian convention of 1931, taking into account the needs of the present situation.
- (C)
- For the purpose of restoring normal conditions along the frontiers between Greece on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia on the other, and thereby assisting in the establishment of good neighbourly relations the Commission recommends the establishment of a body with the following composition and functions:
- [Here follow the composition and functions of the proposed commission.]
- (D)
- The Commission recognizes that owing to the deep-rooted causes of the present disturbances and to the nature of the frontiers it is physically impossible to control the passage of refugees across the border. As the presence of these refugees in any of the four countries is a disturbing factor, each government should assume the obligation to remove them as far from the country from which they came as it is physically and practically possible. [Here follows remainder of paragraph D.]
- (E)
- The Commission proposes that the Security Council recommend to the governments concerned that they study the practicability of concluding agreements for the voluntary transfer of minorities. In the meantime, minorities in any of the countries concerned desiring to emigrate should be given all facilities to do so by the government of the state in which they at present reside. [Here follows remainder of paragraph E.]
Repeat New York for Austin.
[
Ethridge
]