711.672/18: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the High Commissioner at Constantinople (Bristol)
49. (1) The Department appreciates thoroughly the practical difficulties of your position as described in your 53 of February 27 and your 75 of March 20.45 It is the opinion of the Department that under the circumstances no other course was open to you than to advise informally the Americans in Turkey that you were leaving to their discretion whether they should, under reservation of their rights, make private working arrangements with the Turkish authorities.
(2) It appears from your account of the situation that the Turks show no disposition to deny Americans such rights as they accord to the nationals of other powers, and that other foreigners including the British, French, and Italians are suffering the same vexations.
(3) The present state of American interests is not fundamentally unlike that which existed in Turkey during the war before the rupture of our relations with Turkey and after the abolition of the capitulations by Turkey’s unilateral declaration. During those years as at the present this Government did not undertake to enforce the letter of the treaty rights. It seems, however, that Germany and Austria were no more successful than the United States in protecting their interests, although they acquiesced in the abolition of the capitulations and tried to protect themselves by elaborate treaties.
(4) The Department does not delude itself, however, by believing in the possibility that American citizens will continue to enjoy all the privileges to which they are entitled under the capitulations and under our present treaties. It acknowledges readily that we must seek a new basis for our rights, but it feels that to make a formal surrender of present treaty rights before a new treaty is concluded would in no way strengthen your position in attempting to meet existing difficulties. It is necessary, moreover, that this Government shall be free to exact satisfaction from the Turkish Government if American treaty rights are violated and American citizens suffer injury thereby.
(5) The Department has had under consideration various possible courses of action. The United States might negotiate a treaty with Turkey reproducing the substance of the conventions annexed to the Allied treaty of Lausanne which relate to the status of foreigners in Turkey. But as was pointed out in the Department’s 27 of February [Page 1052] 21, such a course would not provide for the present necessities of the situation, owing to the impossibility of obtaining an early ratification of the treaty, in view of the Senate’s adjournment. The Department has also examined as an alternative the possibility of adhering to the Allied conventions with Turkey. Whether that course would be desirable will depend upon the outcome of the present negotiations between Turkey and the Allies and the ultimate form of the conventions. This procedure would also involve ratification.
(6) The Department also invites your comments upon another alternative suggestion: that you inform the Turkish authorities that Americans in Turkey are under grave apprehension that on account of arbitrary regulations, excessive taxation, and a want of confidence in the future they may be obliged to discontinue their work in Turkey and withdraw from the country; that American enterprises, both commercial and philanthropic, are uncertain what course to follow, and that trade and intercourse between the United States and Turkey will be seriously obstructed unless assurances are given and made effective. You could then say that your Government had instructed you, in bringing this situation to the attention of the Turkish authorities, to inquire whether American enterprise is regarded with favor in Turkey and whether the Turkish Government would be willing to take measures to avert the withdrawal of American enterprise.
It should be possible to elaborate your statement and make it definite enough so that the Turkish reply could hardly be couched in mere vague and unsatisfactory generalities.
(7) In the opinion of the Department there would be more efficacy in a voluntary statement by the Turkish authorities than in an elaborate treaty providing for the protection of American interests. The Turks might accept provisions similar to those in the Lausanne treaty, but try to evade them afterwards.
(8) You should ascertain for the information of the Department whether the Turks intend to insist that the proposed judicial advisers shall be chosen only from countries which were not belligerents, and whether they would favorably consider appointing Americans as advisers in any branch of their administration. This Government would give careful consideration to any expressed desire for American advisers, and might possibly be moved to regard such advances from Turkey as evidence of intention to establish satisfactory relations with the United States.
(9) The Department desires you to telegraph your views, and especially to comment upon paragraph 6 above.
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