The Turco-Soviet talks of September-October 1939 : a secret German report
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Abstract
The hitherto unknown evidence drawn from the PRO’s British archives
help to shed more light on the wishes of the parties most immediately
concerned in the Montreux Convention, notably Turkey, Great Britain,
and Greece. The conclusions to be drawn from this evidence may be summarised in the following four main points: (i) In its intention to abolish the process of demilitarisation set in train by the Lausanne Convention on the Straits, Turkey had basically aimed to replace it with a new convention which would make no reference to any such restrictive regime. More specifically, Turkey had persistently sought the suppression of the Lausanne clauses relating to this regulation, and most notably article 4, which also concerned the Greek islands. (ii) The Turkish government had officially acknowledged, in its report
of 11 June 1936 to the British and the French governments, that the
Greek islands were included within the Straits zone that had been exempted
from demilitarisation. (iii) In the same report, the Ankara government specifically linked the rearmament of the Greek islands with the measures designed to strengthen the security of its own country. (iv) The official representatives of Great Britain, whose positive attitude had largely determined the course of the negotiations undertaken with a view to revising the Lausanne Convention, decisively came out, in all circumstances, in favour of Greece’s legitimate right to refortify the two islands.
help to shed more light on the wishes of the parties most immediately
concerned in the Montreux Convention, notably Turkey, Great Britain,
and Greece. The conclusions to be drawn from this evidence may be summarised in the following four main points: (i) In its intention to abolish the process of demilitarisation set in train by the Lausanne Convention on the Straits, Turkey had basically aimed to replace it with a new convention which would make no reference to any such restrictive regime. More specifically, Turkey had persistently sought the suppression of the Lausanne clauses relating to this regulation, and most notably article 4, which also concerned the Greek islands. (ii) The Turkish government had officially acknowledged, in its report
of 11 June 1936 to the British and the French governments, that the
Greek islands were included within the Straits zone that had been exempted
from demilitarisation. (iii) In the same report, the Ankara government specifically linked the rearmament of the Greek islands with the measures designed to strengthen the security of its own country. (iv) The official representatives of Great Britain, whose positive attitude had largely determined the course of the negotiations undertaken with a view to revising the Lausanne Convention, decisively came out, in all circumstances, in favour of Greece’s legitimate right to refortify the two islands.
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