Today in History – 28 February / 1 March

Correspondence between Adolf Hitler and İnönü

During World Ward II, Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler sent İsmet İnönü a letter on February 28, 1941, which he forwarded through Ambassador Von Papen. Ravaging Europe with war at the time, the German troops had invaded most of the continent including France, and were heading towards the Balkans through Romania. Turkey had taken intense defense measures in Thrace against a possibility of occupation. The Turkish Commander General had contemplated every potential scenario, including the evacuation of İstanbul.

Closely following the measures taken, Hitler assured İnönü in his letter that he was “not intending to attack Turkey,” although he had an implicit threat behind this guaranty: “unless the Turkish government attempts to take measures that will force us to change our stance…”

In his March 12, 1941 reply to Hitler’s letter, İsmet İnönü used the same polite and diplomatic language, noting Turkey had not taken any position against Germany, intimating; however, in more or less the same wording, a similar warning: “So long as the German government is not inclined to take measure that will force the Turkish government to change her stance…”

In his study on Turkish-German relations, German researcher Lothar Krecker interprets the said correspondence as follows: “At the height of his power then, Hitler was rarely defied with such words. After this incident, he felt the urge to be more cautious in his dealings with Turkey.”