Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V

782.5/3–2050

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Turkey (Wadsworth)

top secret
No. 19

Washington, March 20, 1950.

Sir: The Department has studied with considerable interest the memorandum given to you by Mr. Sadak, the Turkish Foreign Minister, on the occasion of your last conversation with him in December 1949¹ prior to your departure for this country. Particular attention has been given to the proposal contained in Mr. Sadak’s memorandum that a common plan of defense and assistance be drawn up between the General Staffs of the two countries while awaiting a Department of State decision on a political commitment to Turkey.

You will recall that during your stay in Washington a reply was prepared in the Department for you to make to Mr. Sadak upon your return to Turkey (Enclosure 1).² It was subsequently submitted to the Department of Defense where it was considered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Department of State has now been informed by the Department of Defense that it perceives no objection to this reply from a military point of view and you are, therefore, requested to convey it to the Foreign Minister in such form as you deem appropriate.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:

Dean Rusk

[Enclosure 1]³

Reply To Be Made by Ambassador Wadsworth to Mr. Sadak

During my recent visit to Washington, I took occasion in my meetings with leading officials in the Department of State and the Department of Defense to discuss in full detail the conversation I had with Your Excellency on December ——,⁴ 1949, just before my departure from Turkey. I can assure you that as a result of these conversations, I have come away from Washington deeply impressed with the realization and appreciation of these officials of the particularly valuable contribution which Turkey is making in the joint endeavors of the freedom-loving countries of the world to prevent Russian aggression. In the view of the President and of the Secretary of State, the importance to the United States of the independence and integrity of Turkey, enunciated so clearly by the President in his speech of March 1947 requesting Congressional action on the Greek-Turkish Aid Program legislation⁵ and reiterated on a number of subsequent occasions, has in no way been diminished by the developments that have taken place since that time.

As Mr. McGhee explained to you last December,⁶ my Government does not feel able to enter into any new contractual security arrangements at the present time. Secretary Acheson informed me that in his desire to speak very frankly with you during your meeting last April,⁷ he had indicated that there was little likelihood of bringing Turkey into such an arrangement in such a relatively short period of time as one year. While considerable progress has been made since then in establishing the organizational framework envisaged under the Atlantic Pact, there remains the more important problem of implementing the Pact by concrete steps designed to strengthen the collective defensive capacity of the treaty nations. Under present circumstances, we still do not feel able to consider an extension of our formal security arrangements. I can assure you, however, that the desire of the Turkish Government to be included in the Atlantic Pact or a similar regional pact is being constantly borne in mind by the officials concerned with the problems of international collective security.

I should like to comment very briefly on the third point mentioned in your memorandum of our last conversation concerning your suggestion that the General Staffs of our two countries begin the preparation of a common plan of defense and assistance while awaiting a political undertaking by my Government. I know the importance which your President attaches to this problem. My discussions at Washington, discussions held at a very high level, all led to the conclusion that joint war planning could only be undertaken if there were a prior political agreement. Joint planning without such an agreement would imply a commitment which the executive branch of my Government could not properly give.

It is nevertheless considered understandable that as a result of the changed military capacities of the Turkish Armed Forces reflecting the aid received under the American Military Aid Program, as well as of the changes in strategic concepts which have been evolving since the conclusion of World War II, the Turkish General Staff would wish to revise Turkey’s strategic war plans. I have been particularly pleased to learn that, during my absence, discussions have been begun between your General Staff and General McBride relative to revising or improving such plans and that General McBride has indicated his willingness to be of assistance, within the limits of his authority, in giving military advice of a strategic nature.⁸ It is, of course, understood that such advice as he may be able to give will not directly or indirectly commit the United States to any future course of action. This, the revision of Turkish strategic war plans, appears to me and to the officials whom I have consulted to be the most practical step that can be taken at the present time, a step which will unquestionably be of great value should circumstances make possible at a later date the joint planning you have proposed.

1. Not printed.
2. Ambassador Wadsworth was scheduled to call on the Secretary of State in Washington, March 20, to discuss the reply to Turkish Foreign Minister Necmettin Sadak (Enclosure 1 below), a copy of which was transmitted to the Secretary of State by a memorandum of March 16 from John D. Jernegan, Director, Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs (782.5 MAP/3–1650, not printed). No record of the scheduled conversation between Ambassador Wadsworth and the Secretary of State on March 20 has been found in Department of State files. Ambassador Wadsworth returned to Ankara on March 23.
3. President Ismet Inönü of Turkey read this memorandum on March 26 before his conversation with Gen. J. Lawton Collins, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, at Ankara on the same day.
4. The date December 19 is inserted in handwriting on the French translation of this memorandum (RG 84, FRC Accession No. 68 A 5159, Ankara Embassy Files, Lot 57F72, Box 1, 030 Visits, 1950–1952).
5. Reference is to the address of President Harry S. Truman before Congress on March 12, 1947. (Department of State Bulletin Supplement, May 4, 1947, p. 829, or Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1947 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 176).
6. See the editorial note, Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. vi, p. 1685.
7. See the memorandum of conversation, April 12, 1949, at Washington, by Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson, ibid., p. 1647.
8. The Joint Advisory and Planning Staff (JAPS) of the Joint Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT) was established on January 15, 1950, to carry on discussions of Turkish war and mobilization plans with the Turkish General Staff Plans Group (Briefing for Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, undated: Ankara Embassy Files, Lot 57F72, Box 1, 030 Visits, 1950–1952).