1941: Turkey

Turkey faced during 1941 the difficult decision of resisting the German war machine at some given time or trying to play the waiting game of neutrality.

German Threat to Turkey Grows.

The Turkish government during 1940 had given the impression of standing firmly by its alliance with Great Britain and realizing definitely the danger to its liberties which a German penetration of the Balkans and an ensuing encirclement of Turkey might bring about. Nevertheless, during 1941, the Turkish government allowed the occupation of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece, all of them in Turkey's defense zone, without any show of resistance. As a result Turkey soon found herself in a most unfavorable position, surrounded in all the approaches through the Balkans, through the Black Sea and through the Aegean Sea, by the German military machine. As a consequence, she began to veer more and more from her status as a non-belligerent ally of Great Britain to that of a neutral power, and ended with the conclusion of a treaty of non-aggression and friendship with Germany. Though it was officially maintained that this treaty in no way abrogated the alliance with Great Britain, and that Turkey was still determined to defend her territorial integrity and her independence against a German invasion, nevertheless, the treaty of friendship opened the way to a softening up process of Turkish public opinion, because the Turkish press and the Turkish radio were forbidden any anti-Nazi remarks, and the Germans pressed successfully for a closer economic collaboration.

Pact with Bulgaria.

This new attitude contrasted sharply with the firmness shown by the Turkish public opinion and press at the beginning of the year, when high-ranking British officers visited Turkey and the two general staffs were in consultation at Ankara. Even when Turkey concluded on Feb. 19 her non-aggression treaty with Bulgaria, the first open manifestation of the weakening of the stand previously taken, Turkey insisted that she retain full freedom of action in the event that Bulgaria would allow German forces to pass through her territory for an attack against Greece. The official Turkish press maintained that the Bulgarian-Turkish non-aggression pact represented an assurance that Bulgaria would not join the Axis and that it actually constituted an obstacle to any German advance through Bulgaria to Greece. At the end of the month the British foreign secretary, Anthony Eden, visited Turkey, where he had lengthy conversations with the leading Turkish statesmen. He was accompanied by the chief of the British general staff, Sir John Dill. After a visit to the president of the Turkish republic, Mr. Eden expressed his confidence that an agreement had been reached on all points on the means of bolstering the British-Turkish alliance against Germany's threatened aggression in the Balkan peninsula. But when the German war machine rolled into Bulgaria by the beginning of March and Bulgaria officially joined the Axis powers, the Turks remained passive.

German Encirclement of Turkey.

On March 4, an urgent personal message from Hitler was delivered to the Turkish president, offering German assistance for the Turkish welfare. The German ambassador, Franz von Papen, was the intermediary between the Turkish and the German governments. No official answer by the Turkish government to the German proposal for a closer collaboration was ever published. When the Germans invaded Yugoslavia and Greece at the beginning of April, the Turks maintained their attitude of neutrality, although this invasion brought the German war machine to the Turkish borders. The evacuation of Greece by the British, and in the following month the evacuation of Crete by the British, completed the encirclement of Turkey by the German forces in the west. The attitude of the Soviet Union, which borders on Turkey in the northeast, seemed doubtful, but Turkish fears were removed by a declaration of neutrality and non-aggression, given by the Soviet Union. On Turkey's southeastern border the situation, however, improved very much, when the British succeeded in suppressing the pro-German government in Iraq and in occupying Syria and later, in collaboration with the Soviet Union, Iran. Thus the British forces had a long common frontier with Turkey, and had the opportunity of coming swiftly to the aid of Turkey, should such aid be needed. On the other hand, it was most important for the British that the Turks hold firmly, not allowing the Germans to use Turkish territory for an attack upon Syria, Iraq or Iran. Such an attack would not only threaten the immensely important oil fields of the Middle East, but also prepare a possible road for the Germans to the Suez Canal and to the Persian Gulf.

Turkish-German Friendship Pact.

The Turkish-German pact of friendship was signed in Ankara on June 18. It was 'inspired by a desire to place relations between the two countries on a basis of mutual confidence and sincere friendship.' The treaty, of ten years duration, pledged both nations to respect the integrity and inviolability of their territories and to take no measure that would be aimed directly or indirectly against the other contracting party. The two countries bound themselves in the future to communicate with each other on all questions of common interest. In a supplementary note, the readiness of the two governments was declared to further the economic relations between them. Simultaneously the wish was expressed that 'the press of both countries as well as their broadcasts will always in their publications and transmissions take account of the spirit of friendship and mutual confidence that characterizes German-Turkish relations.' This new treaty soon brought results in two directions. It allowed Germany to attack the Soviet Union on June 22 fully confident that Turkey would not come to Russia's aid. On the other hand, it led to lengthy economic negotiations. A German mission under Dr. Clodius visited Ankara and was especially interested in Turkish chrome, Turkey being the largest source of this metal next to Russia. While Germany was Turkey's leading customer for chrome in 1939, the whole output in 1940 had gone to Great Britain and France, and Great Britain had assured herself of all Turkish chromium until the beginning of 1943. In the new German-Turkish trade treaty which was signed on Oct. 9 in Ankara, Turkey promised to deliver to Germany 90,000 tons of chromium in 1943 and 1944, out of a yearly output of about 300,000 tons. In exchange, Germany had to deliver war materials to Turkey to the value of 18,000,000 Turkish pounds, including heavy guns and armoured cars, which must be on Turkish soil before the end of 1942. In addition, Germany will deliver heavy machinery, spare parts, motor lorries without tires and dyes. The total amount of economic exchange between the two countries covered by this pact, was fixed at 100,000,000 Turkish pounds.

Turkey's Improved Relations with the Allies.

On Oct. 29 when the Turkish republic celebrated its eighteenth anniversary, the President of the republic, in his address, stressed Turkey's growing military strength, her continued neutrality, but also her determination to defend her territorial integrity. The military parade revealed a great strength of modern war material which had been supplied by the British and Americans, partly under the lend-lease act. But these goods had come to Turkey through Britain. At the end of November President Roosevelt made lend-lease aid directly available to Turkey, thus emphasizing the importance of Turkey for the defense of the common cause of liberty, and perhaps also expressing American confidence that Turkey would honor its pledge of defense against any attempted invasion by Germany. At the same time the apparent failure of the German war machine to make good its often heralded claims of completely annihilating the Russian army and of capturing Moscow and the Caucasian mountains impressed Turkish public opinion. The Turks had been very apprehensive of a possible German invasion of the Caucasian mountains, which would have brought the German army into the rear of Turkey and increased the danger of a British-German clash on land in northwestern Iran, and thus the possibility of a direct Turkish involvement. German control of the western approaches to the Caucasus would have also brought with it the complete domination of the Black Sea, and thus the strategic position of Turkey would have again deteriorated heavily. The growing strength shown by the Russians, the British advance in Libya, and finally, the entrance of the United States into the Second World War in December 1941, all tended to diminish Germany's chances for victory and thus to strengthen Turkey's tie with Great Britain.