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  Selected Secret Documents from Soviet Foreign Policy Documents Archives - 1919 to 1941

Concentrated on 1st and  2nd WW Correspondence and Meetings related to Turkey, Balkans and Iran, with some additions from Afghanistan and India.

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Letter from the deputy peopleʹs commissar for foreign affairs of the USSR to the charge dʹaffaires of the USSR in Turkey, Ga

Zalkind. December 14, 1937

December 14, 1937

We quite deliberately refrained from commenting on the replacement of the Turkish cabinet in the Soviet press. At first, we wanted to wait for the declaration of the new government. However, when this declaration was published, we stated that Bayar, like Ataturk, did not mention a single word about relations between Turkey and the USSR. Under these conditions, we did not find it possible to make any statements in the press regarding the new Turkish government.

In the event that the Turks begin to grieve for you about the silence of the Soviet press about the arrival of Bayar, you should go on the offensive and directly state that you are surprised by such complaints, while the lengthy declaration of the new head of government does not contain a single word at Soviet Union. Bayar should, at least out of tact, mention the traditional Turkish‐Soviet friendship. If he did not do this, then, by doing so, willingly or unwillingly, he created the impression that the new cabinet did not attach the importance to relations with the USSR that they had before. We are not going to reproach the Turks for this, but the Turks, in turn, cannot pretend that the Soviet press show an interest in the new Turkish cabinet greater than the interest that this government is showing to the USSR.

As for the considerations that in general it would be necessary to publish articles on topics about Turkey in Soviet newspapers from time to time, I completely agree with this. Indeed, we could find a number of topics related to the economic development of Turkey, in particular railways, new factories, etc., in which we could give an impartial and positive coverage for the Turks. I therefore ask you to outline several such topics and instruct the embassy staff to prepare articles for publication in the central Soviet press. These articles can be sent to us, we will review them and then submit them to the newspapers. I consider this method to be the most practical, since in Ankara you are much more aware of what and in what aspect you should write.

Deputy peopleʹs commissar

B. Stomonyakov