348. Memorandum of Conversation0
SUBJECT
- Turkish Prime Minister’s Call on the President
PARTICIPANTS
- The President
- His Excellency Adnan Menderes, Turkish Prime Minister
- His Excellency Ali S. H. Urguplu, Ambassador of Turkey
- His Excellency Fatin Rustu Zorlu, Turkish Foreign Minister
- The Honorable Christian A. Herter, Secretary of State
- The Honorable G. Lewis Jones, Asst. Secy. of State for NEA
- The Honorable Fletcher Warren, United States Ambassador to Turkey
Mr. Menderes, who had met the President when he was Commander at SHAPE and on two other occasions, greeted the President warmly. He did all the talking for the Turkish party, except for a few interpolations by Mr. Zorlu.
Mr. Menderes wished to thank the President (a) for receiving him, (b) for having the CENTO meeting in Washington, and (c) for the unwavering [Page 817] support which the United States has given to the regional CENTO states. Mr. Menderes stressed to the President the excellent atmosphere prevailing among the regional members at the Conference. He said the Pakistanis displayed a greater peace of mind than at previous meetings and that all of the members were leaving in a better frame of mind.
The President brought up the question of the radio propaganda attacks against Iran. The Secretary referred to the special declaration issued by the CENTO Council of Ministers in this regard.1 Mr. Menderes confirmed that these propaganda attacks were continuing and said that they had had the interesting effect of stiffening the resistance of the Iranian people and causing a “rallying to the throne”. The President then spoke to the Secretary regarding the editing of a statement re Iran which the President was to issue after seeing Eghbal.
The President told Mr. Menderes that nothing would give him greater pleasure than to visit the CENTO countries. The trouble was that he was bound to his desk. He could not delegate his responsibilities to the Vice President. If it were possible to make the Vice President Acting President then Mr. Eisenhower would not be abroad as President. If he went abroad he would have to be pursued by a stream of papers on which only his signature would serve. Moreover, once he started visiting countries he would have to visit many countries. “It is impossible to visit 10–12 countries for two days each.” Mr. Menderes said that Turkey understood the President’s problem, but nonetheless hoped sincerely it would be possible for him to visit Turkey at some stage. He said, “Your visit to the CENTO countries would be worth three American divisions.”