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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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Telegram of the attorney of the USSR in the Turkish republic Vinogradov to V. M. Molotov, the peopleʹs commissar of foreign affairs of the USSR

September 4, 1940

On your instructions, today I visited Saracoglu, to whom I explained the whole history of the issue of wool, passing to him in conclusion, in accordance with your directive, the opinion of the Soviet government on the position taken by the Turks on this issue. Saracoglu, silently listening to my statement, asked me if the official export prices for wool, set by the ministry of commerce, had been published. I answered in the affirmative, referring to the newspaper ʺCumhuriyetʺ dated April 13, 1940, in which the official communiqué of the Anatolian agency was published about this, as well as to the official statement of the chairman of Birlik * to our trade representative. Saracoglu then asked me which countries Turkey currently sells wool to. I replied that I was not interested in this, and I believe that the question raised by the minister has nothing to do with the discussed issue of supplying us with wool to repay the loan. After that, Saracoglu said: ʺI am not aware of this case, but I will attach the same importance to it as you attach to it, and I will personally speak with the minister of trade.ʺ I expressed the hope that the difficulty created by the ministry of trade will be removed and wool will be released to us at “Birlik” prices. At the same time, I asked the minister to invite me personally to give an answer to my statement. Saracoglu promised to resolve this issue in the very near future and give me an answer on it.

I asked Saracoglu what news about the international situation. He replied that “there is nothing particularly interesting. In Bucharest there are demonstrations of protest against the Transylvanian concession, as for western Europe, two days ago I received a telegram from London, from which it is clear that, despite the desperate air battles taking place over England s9, the British remain completely calm and confident that will repel all German air attacks. England is confident that if this year the German attacks are repelled, then next year will be achieved complete superiority in the air force over Germany and this will ensure victory for the British. I see that now the quietest countries where you can breathe calmly are the Soviet Union and Turkey. ʺ regarding the situation in the Balkans, Saracoglu said: “we have always believed and declared that Hungarian‐Romanian‐Romanian relations are outside the sphere of our interests, but we have never spoken out for Romania, and for Hungary. As for the Romanian‐Bulgarian dispute, we considered the claims of the Bulgarians to be fair and recommended that the Romanians both in Belgrade and in other places come to an agreement with Bulgaria. We are very pleased that the twenty years of dispute between the two Balkan countries has finally ended. As for the possibility of new demands, from what Papen told me about the Salzburg negotiations133, I realized that there were no more questions about any demands. ʺ further, speaking about the Italian‐Greek incident, Saracoglu said: “I believe that although this issue is not acute now, it has not been resolved. This is a postponed party, a party that does not have an acute form, but has assumed a chronic character. ʺ leaving, I once again expressed my hope for a positive solution to the wool issue. Saracoglu reiterated his promise to do this immediately. I will give you the answer immediately.

Vinogradov

Avp rf, f. 059, on. 1, p. 314, d. 2162, l. 169‐171.