Office of the Historian

CFM Files

United States Delegation Journal

August 14, 1946, 10 a.m.

USDel (PC) (Journal) 15

[Here follows a summary of the speech made by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kulichev. For text of speech, see the extract from the Verbatim Record of the 16th Plenary Meeting, printed supra.]

M. Rzymowski (Poland) made a plea for humane and generous treatment of Bulgaria. He said that Bulgaria had been the only Slav nation in the ranks of the enemies of the United Nations but that its rulers had taken that course against the will of the Bulgarian people. M. Manouilsky (Ukraine) said that the new democratic Bulgaria was liquidating the vestiges of fascism and with other democratic Balkan nations was building a new system of pacific relationships in the Balkans. The only exception in this development was Greece. He stated that it would not be just to deprive Bulgaria of the territory claimed by Greece, which was merely following the old imperialistic policies. On the other hand, Bulgaria should have a peace of justice which would net impede its economic development; Bulgaria should not be cut off from the sea and therefore should recover Western Thrace. Merely to give Bulgaria certain free port rights in Aegean ports, as provided in the Treaty of Neuilly and proposed in the U.S. memorandum of September 1945,3 would not be adequate in the light of the present situation in Greece.

M. Tsaldaris (Greece) said that Greece was a pacific nation which nevertheless required elementary guarantees for its security. He cited three invasions of Greece by Bulgaria within a generation and justified the Greek claims on strategic grounds. He characterized the Bulgarian claim to Western Thrace as astounding and impudent in view of Bulgaria’s record and status as an enemy state. He called the Greek character of Western Thrace unquestionable. He referred to offers of an economic outlet to the Aegean which Greece had made to Bulgaria after the Treaty of Neuilly and which Bulgaria had refused.

  1. For text of the Treaty of Neuilly, signed November 27, 1919, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxii, p. 781. The United States memorandum, “Suggested Directive to the Deputies From the Council of Foreign Ministers To Govern Them in the Drafting of a Treaty of Peace With Bulgaria,” C.F.M.(45) 35, September 19, 1945, is printed in Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. ii, p. 263.↩