Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume VI

501.BB Balkan/9–1349

Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Leonard J. Cromie of the Division of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs

secret

[Washington,] September 13, 1949.

Participants:	Mr. Jernegan
	Lord Jellicoe
	Mr. Cromie
	Mr. Dixon1

Problem:

Action required: Telegraphic Instruction to Mr. Drew, UNSCOB.

Action ref erred to: Mr. Cromie

Lord Jellicoe called at 12:00 noon by appointment at his request to convey the British Foreign Office reaction to certain American views on the handling of the Greek item at the forthcoming GA.²

Lord Jellicoe opened the conversation by saying that the British Foreign Office is now substantially in agreement with United States thinking as to the form and timing of the so-called conciliation talks during the GA but felt that exact details of this could be worked out in New York after the session convened. The Foreign Office does not, however, like the idea of establishing three separate committees to deal with relations between Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia respectively, but the Foreign Office thinks that this possibility need not be expressly excluded in the UNSCOB recommendations.

The Foreign Office, Lord Jellicoe continued, opposes the Australian proposal³ regarding UN supervision of repatriation of the guerrillas to Greece for the following reasons:

1. No UN body could assume responsibility for the safety of returning guerrillas which it will be difficult enough for the Greeks themselves to guarantee.

2. There is no reason to concede Russian participation in such a body where their nuisance value could be very high and difficult to control.

3. The Russians would be able, by their control of individual options, to select for their own purposes those guerrillas who would remain abroad and those who would return to Greece.

In any case, Lord Jellicoe concluded, the British Foreign Office feels that the Greek Government should be consulted at a very early stage regarding this proposal and that we should not go forward with it unless the Greeks are agreeable.

Lord Jellicoe then went on to say that the Foreign Office feels that UNSCOB should avoid a specific recommendation on the establishment of Mixed Frontier Commissions but believes that the establishment of such commissions would not necessarily be incompatible with the continued existence of UNSCOB or a successor organization.

The Foreign Office agrees that UN observers should be invited to verify the claimed internment and disarmament of the Greek guerrillas in Albania.

The Foreign Office, finally, is decidedly cool to the idea of a referendum on relegalization of the Greek Communist party simultaneous with the forthcoming planned Greek Parliamentary elections. The Foreign Office believes that the referendum is a successful political institution only in highly developed countries such as Switzerland and that it has not been especially successful in Greece where past referenda have been subject to political manipulation. Moreover, the simultaneous holding of Greek Parliamentary elections and a referendum, though logical and convenient, would be likely to confuse the Greek voters. When Mr. Jernegan and Mr. Cromie expressed some doubt as to the cogency of these arguments, Lord Jellicoe indicated that the real reason for the British opposition may be that the referendum is not a normal political device in British practice.

At the conclusion of the conversation Mr. Jernegan said that Mr. Drew would be informed of the British Foreign Office views relating to the Atyeo proposal.⁴

1. Ben Franklin Dixon, of the Division of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs.
2. Lord Jellicoe had previously met Jernegan and other officers of the Department of State on a number of occasions in late August and early September to discuss the manner of handling the Greek issue at the forthcoming session of the U.N. General Assembly. Records of the previous meetings are included in file 501.BB Balkan.
3. The reference here is to the proposal made by Australian Representative Atyeo and described in telegram 1758, Combal 481, September 2, from Athens, p. 395.
4. British objections to the Australian proposal were outlined in telegram 1546, Baicom 304, September 15, to Athens, not printed (501.BB Balkan/9–1549).