740.5/5–150
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs (McGhee) to the Under Secretary of State
Subject: Continuing Desire of Turkey To Be Included in a Formal Security Arrangement
Ambassador Erkin, in his meeting with you on April 27, 1950,1 requested that the question of including Turkey in a regional security pact be placed on the agenda of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers in London. NEA believes that no purpose would be served in so doing in view of the Department’s position with respect to regional security arrangements in the Mediterranean area. This position has been stated in a paper dated April 18, 19502 which was prepared in NEA for the Foreign Ministers’ meeting and was fully cleared within the Department.
The paper in question recommends that in the event the Secretary is requested by British and French representatives to discuss regional [Page 80] security arrangements in this area, he indicate our position as follows:
“(a) We are not in a position to consider any security pacts with Greece, Turkey, Iran or other Near Eastern countries at the present time because we cannot tell whether our capabilities at this time are adequate to defend our vital interests in Europe. Only an increase in Europe’s own defensive strength, resulting from the North Atlantic Treaty and the Military Aid Program, would permit us to consider further security arrangements.”
It is further felt that no important developments have taken place since this position paper was prepared which would require a reconsideration of our position. It might be noted that, to the best of the Department’s knowledge, the recent Russian demands for a revision of the Montreux Convention3 have been limited to one article in a Soviet publication, Red Fleet, and that no direct demands have been made to the Turkish Government nor has there been a barrage of Russian press and radio comment on the subject since publication of the article.
It is suggested that a reply to Ambassador Erkin’s request be deferred until after the meetings of the Foreign Ministers as there is always a possibility that the question may come up during the meetings. Should Ambassador Erkin raise the question in the meantime, he could be informed that the Secretary was fully briefed on the matter before his departure but that it is doubtful that there can be any change at this time in this Government’s position as expressed to him previously.
- A memorandum by the Under Secretary on this conversation with Feridun C. Erkin, dated April 27, 1950, is in Department of State file 740.5/4–2750.↩
- Position paper FM D D–1a, “Regional Security Arrangements in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern Areas,” April 18, 1950 (CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 149, FM D D–Series).↩
- For text of statement made by Acheson at a news conference of April 21 on the suggestion made in the official organ of the Soviet Navy Ministry, Red Fleet, April 19, for revision of the Montreux Convention of 1936, see Department of State Bulletin, May 1, 1950, p. 687. For text of the Convention regarding the Regime of the Straits, signed July 20, 1936, see British Cmd. 5551, Treaty Series No. 30 (1937): Convention regarding the Regime of the Straits [With Protocol], Montreux, July 20, 1936; or League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxiii, p. 213.↩