RUSSIA AND TURKEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24431, 17 October 1940, Page 7

RUSSIA AND TURKEY

PACT NEGOTIATIONS MILITARY ASSISTANCE WARNING TO THE AXIS (United Press Association) • (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 16. (Received Oct. 16, at 8 p.m.) h The Sofia correspondent of the Associated Press says it is reliably reported that Russia and Turkey are negotiating: a • pact of military assistance. Russia is reported to be offering l' . armed support if the Axis attempts to seize the Dardanelles. Turkey. has chartered steamers and evacuated her nationals from Rumania. The Turkish newspapers warn the Axis against attempts to intimidate Greece and Turkey. Trainloads of German soldiers are rolling across Hungary to Rumania, and probably 50,000 are already in Rumania. A motorised division of about 15.000 has arrived at Ploesti. The Daily Telegraph says: “Evidence is accumulating that Germany is becoming increasingly heedless, of Russian feelings, perhaps because the German General Staff does not fear the Russian military machine. On this assumption it would be reasonable to assume that Moscow is acutely apprehensive concerning what the early future may hold for Russia. The apparition of an unbeaten Germany established in the Black Sea has for a long time been one of Moscow’s worst. nightmares. While perturbed at the succession of events and anxious to see the German eastward drive checked, the : 'Soviet leaders hesitate to take action capable of interpretation in .'Germany as.'hostile or even unfriendly. In such circumstances it is understandable that silence is the only course open. NAZI CAMPAIGN AGAINST TURKEY According to a Sofia despatch received at Istanbul Hungarian diplomats expect Germany to. assist Bulgarian action against Greece and Jugoslavia as a preliminary to a campaign against Turkey. This ;; belief is based on the number of German “tourists” arriving in '‘ Bulgaria! It is reliably estimated that there are now 20,000 Germans in Bulgaria) compared with the normal 3000. The newcomers include 3500 German soldiers, also several hundred pilots and tank drivers, who fly aircraft and drive tanks Germany has been delivering to Bulgaria in much larger numbers than can be used by the technical personnel of the Bulgarian Army The Germans are concentrated in large towns which are important railway junctions or on the Black Sea. The vital role of these German troops will be to assist the police in the event of a revolt, which can be expected if Bulgaria is pushed into the war on Germany’s side and ... if Russia disapproves.

SOVIET’S REACTION NO INDICATION GIVEN TENSION INCREASING MOVEMENT OF TROOPS LONDON, Oct. 15. (Received Oct. 16, at 9 p.m.) The’ Balkans, correspondent of The Times says Generals Spediel and Hansen, commanding the German forces in Rumania, are already showing scant regard even for an ap pearance of Rumanian independence They made a formal courtesy call on the Turkish ambassador in Buch arest as a demonstrative indication of, Turkish and German cordiality Observers consider it a bad sigh that the Turkish ambassador was singled out for this curious honour. German officers are already openly say

ing that Turkish-Rumanian relations would probably be non-existent within a few weeks. This seems to indicate an offensive in the Levant rather than against Russia.

The Soviet reaction continues to be reserved, but. the tension is clearly increasing. Considerable movements of Soviet troops, including tanks and motorised units, have been observed near Dorohoi- Reinforcements have been sent to the junction of the Danube and the Prut, opposite Galati, while the preparation of an enlarged airport at Cer nauti has been suddenly accelerated Rumanians, under German supervision, mined Galati., German officers hint that more German submarines are arriving. A message from Rome states that the newspaper 1 II Telegrafo says that Germany has assumed control of the entire collecting Of Rumanian oil and is fixing the Quotas for Greece and Turkey. The German High Command spokesman says that Germany’s reserves of all types of fuel oil are 1,000.000 tOns above those at the outbreak of war. Germany is amply supplied without Rumanian oil, but with it she has more than enough. ■ vi