Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, Eastern Europe; Eastern Mediterranean, 1969–1972

447. Memorandum From the Presidentʼs Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon¹

Washington, June 14, 1971.

SUBJECT

• Turkish Position on Opium

Before returning for your meeting on narcotics,² Ambassador Handley met with Turkish Prime Minister Erim and his top advisers on opium.³ As of now, their position—which is still subject to further evolution—includes these elements:

• —A major effort underway to collect this yearʼs harvest.
• —Passage of the licensing and control bill assured by June 30.
• —Reduction of this fallʼs planting from seven provinces to four with the strong possibility that the government, before the end of June, will announce that production of opium after the 1971 planting season will no longer be in the hands of private farmers but might, if not eliminated altogether, be confined to one province on state farms only.

Handley notes that the precise Turkish position is still under discussion in Ankara. The issue seems to be how far they can announce now that 1972 plantings will be cut back. One proposal is to allow legal planting in one or two provinces; another is to allow it only in one and there on state farms. The procedure being adopted in the three provinces to be eliminated this fall is a subsidy to be paid to former growers and the introduction of labor-intensive industry, e.g. apparel, leather and industry based on animal husbandry. Following Handleyʼs expression of deep disappointment that they could not take a dramatic step now, the Turks after this meeting sent him a revised plan which would add voluntary elimination of planting and compensation in the four remaining provinces this year if the US were able to cover financing for the compensation scheme.

This first Turkish position does not go as far as we had hoped it would. However, the government for the first time is seriously engaged in the problem and in developing a position for moving on a broad front. While there are some hardliners, the Prime Minister seems well disposed toward our view. There is now room for negotiation of a solid step forward—even if not all we would like—before the end of the month. It seems important to give this negotiation every chance.

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 633, Country Files—Middle East, Turkey, Vol. II 1 Jan 1970–31 Dec 1971. Secret; Nodis. Sent for information. Kissinger did not initial the memorandum, and there is no indication that the President saw it.
2. See Document 448.
3. As reported in telegram 4090 from Ankara, June 12. (Ibid.) Handley arranged this meeting in response to an instruction from the Department, in telegram 100799 to Ankara, June 8, that he give Erim a personal message from Nixon expressing the Presidentʼs concern with the heroin problem in the United States. (Ibid.) In the message the President explained U.S. domestic efforts to attack the problem and asked that Erim respond with decisive action to proposals suggested by Handley on May 17; see Document 446.