Today in History – 17 December

The reverse side of the Cold War

İsmet İnönü clarified a still-debated issue on why Turkey decided to join the West camp, in a speech he delivered at the Eskişehir People’s House on May 3, 1946:

When we met with the Russians to renew the Friendship and Non-Aggression Treaty they unilaterally annulled last year, Molotof told our ambassador Selim Sarper that the Russians were willing to establish close ties with us and that we must first clear some of the prevailing tension. He said that the territories concluded in the treaty signed in 1920 had to be rectified, the provinces of Kars and Ardahan had to be ceded to Russia, base camps should be given to them at the Straits, and that an alliance agreement, like the one they had with Poland, had to be signed.

We refused all these conditions on absolute terms. Their justification: when they signed the treaty in 1920, the Russians say they were in a weak position. Now, the conditions are changed. They are concerned and do not wish to worry that a threat might be posed in the Black Sea.