741.6711/10: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State

2525. I talked with Daladier,50 Champetier de Ribes,51 Léger52 and Coulondre53 this afternoon. They were all delighted by the signature of the treaties between Turkey, France and England.54 The information of the French Government indicates that both Molotov and Stalin made a most violent and bitter effort to prevent the Turkish Government from signing the treaties in the terms which were signed today even going so far as to use threats.

The French Government believes that the Soviet Government went as far as it did in attempting to prevent the signature of these treaties because the Soviet Government had promised Germany to prevent Turkey from signing the treaties in exchange for Germany’s agreement to give the Soviet Union a free hand in the Baltic.

It is believed by the French Government that the Soviet Union has promised Germany to give Germany diplomatic support in all issues not directly affecting adversely Soviet interest.

The signature of the treaties it is believed will have a considerable restraining influence on Soviet activities directed against Iran since any attempt by the Soviet Union to enter Iran and control the Iranian oil fields can now be countered by the entry of the British and French Fleets into the Black Sea and the bombardment and destruction of Baku.54a

Bullitt
  1. Édouard Daladier. President of the French Council of Ministers.
  2. A. Champetier de Ribes, Under Secretary of State in the French Foreign Office.
  3. Alexis Léger, Secretary General of the French Foreign Office.
  4. Robert Coulondre, French Ambassador in Germany at the outbreak of war; Director of the Cabinet of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
  5. See footnote 42, p. 484.
  6. Undoubtedly the Black Sea port of Batum is meant.