767.68119P/64: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Special Mission at Lausanne
200. Your telegram 444 of June 21 and final sentence of your 451 of June 23. The Department need not reemphasize how important it is to obtain assurances respecting the protection of minorities or how deeply the American people are interested in this problem. The Department would prefer the procedure suggested in its 180 of June 11 and would wish to have you press for such a formal statement if it were possible to obtain any practical results in that way. The Department would not, however, insist upon a question of form. It suggests, therefore, that you seek after appropriate preliminary talks to arrange with Ismet to have notes exchanged. In your note to him you would invite his attention to the various statements made at the Lausanne Conference by the Turkish delegates respecting their intentions to give ample protection to minorities. You would include a reference to the treaty provisions and ask the Turks to confirm their position. In their reply it is desirable to have the Turks not only refer to particular statements but also, as far as possible, cite the particular guarantees and provisions which it is the intention of Turkey to grant to minorities.
It is also to be desired that reference be made in any such exchange of notes to the extent to which the participation of the United States in the Lausanne Conference has been responsible for the attainment of the results achieved in this matter.