Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V

Ankara Embassy Files: Lot 57F72: Box 2: 322.2 Straits 1950–52

The Ambassador in Turkey (Wadsworth) to the Secretary-General, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Akdur)¹

Ankara, June 5, 1950.

My Dear Mr. Ambassador: In compliance with your request, I am giving you herewith the substance of the telegram² from the United States Department of State which I read to you during our conversation on May 31:³

“The Montreux Convention, which replaced the Lausanne Convention of 1923 and to which all the signatories of the Lausanne Convention adhered, places no limitations on the right of Turkey to militarize the Straits, such as the stipulation of the Lausanne Convention regarding the demilitarization of certain specified zones and islands in the area of the Straits or its prohibition against the use of ‘submarine engines of war’. Moreover, Turkey’s right to remilitarize the Straits appears to be clearly established by the protocol of signature of the Montreux Convention, in which the signatory Governments accepted a provision that ‘Turkey may immediately remilitarize the zone of the Straits as defined in the preamble of the said Convention’.

“However, Article 2 of the Montreux Convention would clearly prohibit any militarization which would interfere with the complete freedom of passage through the Straits in time of peace. If, therefore, the proposed placing of mines described in your telegram⁴ would not in fact interfere with the complete freedom of passage of the Straits and navigation therein without pilotage, the Department considers that the provisions of Article 2 would constitute no obstacle thereto from a legal standpoint.”

You will recall that I emphasized to you the fact that this interpretation of a treaty to which the United States is not a party is an entirely informal one.

The paragraph in my telegram⁵ to the Department of State which I read to you was substantially as follows:

“I am informed by Admiral Ginder and by the Embassy’s Naval Attaché with whom the Turkish authorities have discussed the plan, that it is proposed to lay three lines of moored and ground mines near the Black Sea entrance to the Straits, at a depth of twenty to thirty fathoms. The mines would be controlled from a post ashore which is planned as a part of the defense system for the harbor entrance. When they are not energized, the mines would constitute no menace to navigation; the field could be crossed at any point and pilotage would consequently not be necessary. Any mines which might break loose would be sterile and would therefore not endanger passing vessels.”

Faithfully yours,

George Wadsworth

1. This paper bears the notation: “Copy to Admiral Ginder 7/12/50.”
2. Reference is to Department’s telegram 244, May 27, to Ankara, 782.022/5–2750, not printed.
3. No memorandum of the conversation of May 31 between Ambassador Wadsworth and Secretary-General Akdur has been found in Department of State files.
4. Reference is to telegram 213, April 29, from Ankara, p. 1254.
5. Reference is to ibid.