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    "localId": "294550265",
    "label": "Central Intelligence Agency, Situation Report 1/1, Turkey",
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    "id": "294550265",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Central Intelligence Agency, Situation Report 1/1, Turkey",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/294550265",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 22,
            "logicalDate": "1948-12-22",
            "month": 12,
            "year": 1948
        }
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{
    "seq": 39,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "SECRET\nalso made efforts to improve their relations with Syria and Lebanon. In 1946, after\nyears of delay, Turkey recognized the independence of both states, and an exchange of\ndiplomatic representatives has since taken place. The Syrians' refusal, however, to\nacknowledge Turkey's sovereignty over Hatay, a Turkish province bordering Syria on\nthe Gulf of Iskenderun, is still an outstanding issue between the two countries.* The\nTurks would like to settle their differences with Syria and are willing to make such con-\ncessions as the use of port facilities in the harbor of Iskenderun, but they refuse even to\ndiscuss the question of sovereignty over the area. Although at present the issue\nremains in abeyance, nationalistic elements in Syria have threatened to press their\nclaims before the United Nations Security Council or International Court of Justice.\nThe Turks regard their relations with Arab states as SO important that, despite their\nsincere wish to avoid even the appearance of opposing the US, Turkey was among the\nfew nations which supported the Arab viewpoint and voted against partition when the\nUN was considering the Palestine problem. Although Turkey is likely to fulfil its\nobligations as a member of the UN, the Turks regard the US policy of supporting the\ncreation of an independent Zionist state in Palestine as a serious mistake likely to lead\nto Soviet penetration of the Middle East with potentially calamitous consequences.\nRelations with Balkan states (except Greece) are subordinated to Turkish rela-\ntions with the USSR while those states are under Soviet domination. Irritating diffi-\nculties have complicated relationships with Bulgaria during 1948. These include\ncertain minor border incidents, the shooting down of Turkish aircraft which had mis-\ntakenly crossed the border, and accusations of espionage levelled at the Turkish Mili-\ntary Attaché in Sofia, followed by the removal of the Military Attachés of both countries.\nThe Turks have maintained cordial relations with Greece for many years, and they\nview with great sympathy Greece's efforts to avoid becoming a Soviet satellite. They\nalso realize that the fall of Greece to Communism would greatly endanger the stability\nof their own country. During the trouble in Iranian Azerbaijan in 1946, the Turks\nremained diplomatically aloof though their sympathies were unquestionably with the\nIranian Government in its efforts to regain full sovereignty over Iranian territory.\nWhile in the past France has been an influential force in Turkey, particularly in cul-\ntural matters, present relations between the two countries are somewhat indeterminate.\nThe 1939 British-French-Turkish Tripartite Agreement is still valid, however, and\nTurkey is represented in Paris by one of its most able diplomats, the wartime Minister\nfor Foreign Affairs, Numan Menemencioglu.\nTurkey has concluded trade and civil air agreements with a number of countries,\nand other such agreements are being negotiated. The Turks especially desire to pro-\nmote trade with western industrial nations in order to fill the vacuum left by the col-\nlapse of Germany. During 1946 and 1947 the volume of trade with the US increased\nconsiderably, as did that with the UK. Trade with the UK and other countries in the\nsterling area, however, has been severely restricted by the UK's decision to suspend the\nHatay, once a part of the Ottoman Empire, was turned over to France in 1921 by the Turkish\nnationalists. It was returned to Turkey in 1939 by France, which was then the mandatory power\nfor Syria and Lebanon. See ORE 15, \"The Hatay Question.\"\n31\nSECRET\nNARA"
}