Editorial Note

The Foreign Ministers of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States at their meeting in New York on September 13 accepted a draft directive to the Defense Committee of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) proposed by Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson. This directive (Int. Doc. 31) stated that it was not feasible at that time to accept the Turkish request for accession to the North Atlantic Treaty but that it was desirable for both Greece and Turkey to associate themselves with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) planning on the defense of the Mediterranean area. This proposal with minor changes was approved at New York by the NAC deputies on September 14 and by the NAC itself on September 16. The Council commissioned Secretary of State Acheson to inform Turkey of its decision and, provided Turkey decided to associate itself with NATO Mediterranean defense planning, to invite Greece to participate in that planning as well. For detailed documentation on these discussions, see volume III, pages 1 ff. and 1108 ff.