740.5/11–2651
Memorandum of Conversation, by C. R. Moore of the Division of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs1
| Participants: | Hon. Feridun C. Erkin, Turkish Ambassador |
| Mr. McGhee, Assistant Secretary—NEA | |
| Mr. Moore—GTI |
Problem: Turkish Government fears that Turkey is to be divided into two Commands and is unwilling to accept such an arrangement.
Action required: Consideration of Turkish position in light of Command arrangement proposals which may result from Rome NAC meeting.
Action assigned to: GTI
Ambassador Erkin referred to a request made several weeks ago that the Turkish Government appoint a military representative to meet with the Standing Group.2 As the Ambassador had understood that the Standing Group was primarily interested in transmitting a communication, rather than in military discussions, he had proposed to his Government and received its agreement, that the Turkish Military Attaché in Washington be appointed for this purpose.
The Military Attaché subsequently met with the Standing Group, presumably a formality, and later with planning officers attached thereto. At that meeting, according to the Ambassador, one of the American officers implied that the Aide-Mémoire which the Turkish Government had given to the British, French and American Ambassadors following the Bradley–Slim–Lecheres visit,3 had been drawn up solely in the light of Turkish interests. He had then inquired of the Military Attaché what the views of his Government would be were Western Turkey, including the Straits, to fall under one Command [Page 609] and Eastern Turkey under another. This led the Ambassador to conclude that the United States favored such a solution to the Command problem. At the same meeting a British Representative had advanced the possibility of Turkey and Greece falling under a new NATO Command and not under SACEUR.
The above discussions had disturbed the Ambassador considerably and he had reported them to his Government. He now wished to inform Mr. McGhee of its reply. The Turkish Government freely admits that the Aide-Mémoire was framed in the light of Turkish interests but it considered that these interests coincided with the common interests of the NATO countries. With reference to the proposal of a divided Command, the Government found this unacceptable and reiterated its belief that all of Turkey should fall under SACEUR.
Mr. McGhee commented that the question of divided Command was only one of a great number of possible solutions to the Command problem which had at one time or another been considered by the Standing Group. He did not, however, believe that it was a solution which our military people favored. There was no question as to Turkey’s entry into NATO with full and equal rights and obligations and no question that all of Turkey, a NATO territory, would fall under a NATO Command within that framework. The problem was to work out Command arrangements which would be the most suitable from a military point of view. As our top military people were now in Rome, he could make no definite statement on their present thinking as to the details of the Command relationship but he could state that there was no change in our position that Turkey should be fully integrated into NATO. He added also that, as indicated on previous occasions, Command proposals would be discussed with the Turkish and Greek Governments before any final decision was reached.
The Ambassador seemed reassured by Mr. McGhee’s comments.