TURKEY REPLIES TO RUSSIA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 269, 26 August 1946, Page 3

TURKEY REPLIES TO RUSSIA

REVISION OF MONTREUX CONVENTION PRIVILEGED POSITION DENIED (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright.) LONDON, August 24. Turkey’s reply to the Russian Note on the Montreux Convention emphasises that the maintenance of security is the responsibility of the United Nations, says Reutee’s Ankara correspondent. The Turkish Note said the best guarantee for the security of Russia lay not in seeking a privileged position in the Straits, but in the restoration of strong relations with a strong Turkey. “Turkey believes that the security of each nation is better guaranteed by the international forces placed at the disposal of the United Nations,” the Note continues. “Even in the uu.ikely case of Russia fearing an atraclc in the Black Sea from the Mediterranean through the Straits, Turkey considers that this would be a case for the United Nations, to which Turkey remains firmly attached. “The Russian reproach that the Montreux Convention does not correspond to present conditions cannot be accepted by Turkey, which asserts before the world, and which will assert again when the time comes before the competent authorities, its good faith and high consciousness of her international responsibilities under the Montreux Convention, Turkey does not intend to put any obstacle in the way of applications for an international conference among the signatories to the Convention and also the United States.”

Signatory Powers Ignored

Turkey points out that the application for a revision of 'the Montreux Convention must be "supported by one or two parties to the Convention and notified to all parties three months before the expiration of the five years’ period.

The reply commeuts that part of the Russian Note seemed to ignore the interests of the other signatory Powers. (The Russian Note said the responsibility for establishing a regime for the Straits must lie with Turkey and the other Black Sea Powers. The defence of the Straits must be jointly organised by Turkey and Russia.) The reply said the Russian proposals amounted to the elimination of Turkey’s role as a linking Power holding the balance in the Straits. The reply concluded that, if Turkey had been incapable of defending by her own means the sovereign rights of the Straits, Turkey would not have escaped the fate of her neighbour during the w r ar.