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    "label": "Report, Appendix \"F\" to Situation Report 1, Soviet Territorial Demands on Turkey",
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    "title": "Report, Appendix \"F\" to Situation Report 1, Soviet Territorial Demands on Turkey",
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    "ocrText": "SR-1\nSECRET\nAPPENDIX F\nSOVIET TERRITORIAL DEMANDS ON TURKEY\nSUMMARY\nAt various times in recent years the USSR has unofficially\ndemanded two strategic strips of northeastern Turkey on behalf of the\nArmenian SSR and the Georgian SSR. The areas claimed have never been\nprecisely defined, but they apparently overlap. It appears that Ar-\nmenia's claim includes the Provinces of Kars and Coruh, while that of\nGeorgia covers (at least in part ) the Provinces of Coruh, Kars, Rize,\nErzurum, Trabzon, Gumusane, and Giresun. According to the 1935 census,\nthe size of the area represented by the two claims is 29,258 square\nmiles, and the population is 1,717,602.\nThere is little justification on ethnic grounds for either\nclaim. Although Armenians have lived in the region for some three\nthousand years, there are very few there today. (The 1935 census\nshows that Turkey's total population of about 16,000,000 includes\nfewer than 60,000 Armenians, most of whom live in Istanbul.) In the\nterritory claimed for Georgia, there are 15,596 people able to speak\nGeorgian compared with 1,746,329 \"native Turks\" in the same region.\nFurthermore, the Treaty of Moscow of 16 March 1921 confirmed Turkey's\nsovereignty over the area claimed for Armenia, as did an agreement\nsigned at Kars on 13 October 1921 between the Turkish Nationalist\nGovernment at Ankara and the Armenian SSR.\nThe area included in the claims is part of the most mountain-\nous region in Turkey. Communications are poor, and the territory is\nlargely undeveloped although rich in timber and possibly in minerals.\nIt would have little economic value for the USSR. though it would pro-\nvide the Armenian SSR with an outlet to the sea. Strategically, how-\never, the area would be of considerable value to the USSR, primarily\nsince its acquisition would extend Soviet territory into Turkey beyond\nthe formidable mountain barriers near the present border. The Turkish\nGeneral Staff would have to abandon its carefully laid plans for the\ndefense of eastern Turkey and draw up new plans on much more vulnerable\nground. The threat of Soviet aggression would become accentuated, and\nthe Turks might well find it necessary to adopt a less intransigent at-\ntitude toward Soviet efforts to dominate the country. The USSR would\nalso outflank Iranian Azerbaijan and be in a far better position to\nmove south and west toward Iraq and Syria. Furthermore, they would\nundoubtedly attempt to create a friendly, independent Kurdish state,\nbeginning with Turkish Kurdistan and ultimately extending into Iran,\nIraq, and Syria. Soviet opportunities would thus be significantly in-\ncreased for penetrating the whole Middle East and the Mediterranean\nbasin.\nF-1\nSECRET"
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