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

740.5/2–1150

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in Turkey

secret
No. 35

Washington, December 11, 1950.

The Secretary of State refers below to various statements which indicate that simultaneous with the negotiation of the Turkish-British-French Treaty of Mutual Assistance which was signed on October 19, 1939,¹ a secret military convention may have been negotiated between those three countries.

During discussions at the French Foreign Office late in August 1950 with regard to the Turkish request for membership in the NATO, a French Foreign Office official stated, in effect, to an officer of the American Embassy at Paris, that Turkey had a political and a military treaty with Great Britain but only a political treaty with France, the “military clause” of the Franco-Turkish treaty having become inoperative upon the withdrawal of French troops from Syria and Lebanon. In this connection reference is made to Paris’ telegrams Nos. 1524 and 2217 of April 13, 1949, and May 31, 1949,² respectively (repeated to Ankara as Nos. 5 and 7), referring to the question of French confirmation of the validity of the Treaty of Mutual Assistance. The first of these references stated that although French legal experts regarded that Treaty as being still in effect, there was some question about military assistance since the original commitment was entered into by France on the basis of the presence of French troops in Syria and Lebanon. The second telegram under reference stated that, although a suitable opportunity might be found to confirm the validity of the 1939 Treaty, it would be made quite clear that the military convention “annexed” to the Treaty would be declared null and void since the situation under which it was negotiated no longer obtained.

In addition, reference is made to the following excerpt from despatch No. 1238 of October 24, 1939, from the American Embassy at Ankara,³ entitled “Conclusion of Anglo-French-Turkish Treaty of Alliance and Soviet-Turkish Negotiations”:

“The Embassy has furthermore learned that a military convention was also signed on October 19, presumably with the participation of General Wavell, Commander of the British Forces in the Near East, and General Weygand, Commander of the French Army of the Levant, who both arrived in Ankara on October 18 and carried on discussions with the Turkish General Staff from October 19 to the 21st. The military convention is not to be published, and the interested Governments have manifested an earnest although patently over-optimistic desire to keep secret even the fact that such an agreement was signed.”

The following questions have been raised by the above references:

1) Was a military convention, in addition to the Anglo-French-Turkish Treaty of Mutual Assistance, signed by Great Britain, France and Turkey on October 19, 1939?

2) If so,

(a) What were its general provisions, and

(b) What is its present status?

In connection with 2(b) above, it is noted from the Embassy’s despatch No. 209 of July 2, 1949,³ (copies to London and Paris) that, although the Turkish Foreign Office made available to the Embassy a copy of its acknowledgement of a note from the British Embassy of May 23, 1949, reaffirming the validity of the Treaty of Mutual Assistance, the texts of the British note and of a similar note from the French Embassy were apparently not made available. Since the fact that both Great Britain and France had reaffirmed the validity of the Treaty was given wide publicity in Turkey, the withholding of the texts of the British and French notes on the question would appear to support the view that they may have also made reference to a military convention.

The Department would appreciate receiving any clarification of the points raised above which the Officer in Charge may be in a position to obtain.⁴

1. League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cc, p. 167 also British Cmd. 6165, Treaty Series No. 4 (1940).
2. Neither printed.
3. Not printed.
3. Not printed.
4. Ambassador George Wadsworth raised the subject of the military convention during a call on Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Köprülü on January 27, 1951. “Mr. Köprülü replied that, at the time of the reaffirmation of the Treaty of Mutual Assistance, the question of the military agreement was not raised. He stated that he had been considering raising the question with Sir Brian Robertson when he visits Turkey in the near future. The Foreign Minister observed, also, that the military accord had now outlived its period of usefulness, and would need revision.” (Despatch 425, February 2, 1951, from Ankara, 740.5/2–251)