767.68119P/55a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Special Mission at Lausanne
180. 1. A large part of the American public is keenly interested in provisions for the protection of minorities in Turkey, and the Department feels that this country would fail to approve an arrangement with Turkey which did not deal with this subject. The intention of the Turks with regard to minorities is indicated in section III, articles 36 to 44 of the draft treaty,75 which, as the Department notes, the Turks have accepted without modification. You should discuss this matter with Ismet as soon as possible, and suggest to him that it would be desirable to receive from him a voluntary statement giving expression to the principles contained in articles 36 to 44 but omitting reference to supervision by the League of Nations contained in article 43. The statement should be addressed to you as plenipotentiary, and should be in the form of a written declaration on behalf of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. You should telegraph the Department before taking this step if you perceive any objections to it.
2. The Department wishes to know whether it will be possible for you to get from Ismet a declaration regarding schools, in the form described above, and embodying the declaration and pledges which are set forth in the report of May 18 by the subcommittee on schools.76
The Department has been consulting with Dr. Gates77 on the problems of schools in Turkey. His view of the situation is very reasonable, and he recognizes that the good will of the Turks must be secured before new schools are established and privileges obtained for them if Turkish sovereignty is to be recognized on Turkish territory. Dr. Gates has suggested that we might fall back on the principle of reciprocity and agree that in Turkey Americans should receive all privileges which are accorded to Turks in America and which they are disposed to exercise. The Department has examined, [Page 1088] however, the various state laws governing the founding of schools by foreigners, and has concluded that because of the wide diversity of provisions in the various states and because in certain states privileges might be denied which are especially important to American schools in Turkey, the principle of reciprocity would fall short of the requirements of the case. The Department will not, therefore, attempt to secure a clause of the sort indicated in its telegram of June 8, number 174.78
It is a matter of especial concern to Dr. Gates that schools be confirmed in the right to own real property and to hold it in their various corporate names. The general question of the right to own real property has been discussed in other telegrams, and the Department feels that it would not be wise to try to treat the rights of schools as a separate question. Instead of trying—and perhaps unsuccessfully—to obtain treaty provisions for matters of detail, it will be better to solve the various problems of the schools by direct understandings with the Turks. You should keep this matter in mind, however, and endeavor to secure for our educational, missionary, and philanthropic enterprises in Turkey every possible protection.
3. In what form will the Turks make their declaration on judicial reforms? Will they address it to you and to the chiefs of the Allied delegations specifically? Does it seem probable that a way will be left open for the nomination of an American adviser, and has the phrase “European judicial adviser” been changed?