TheGerman–Turkish Treaty of Friendship (German:Türkisch-Deutscher Freundschaftsvertrag,Turkish:Türk-Alman Dostluk Paktı) was anon-aggression pact signed betweenNazi Germany andTurkey on 18 June 1941 inAnkara by German ambassador to TurkeyFranz von Papen andTurkish Minister of Foreign AffairsŞükrü Saracoğlu.[1][2] It went into effect on the same day.
A short two-page document containing only three articles, the treaty stated that:
Despite the pact stipulating that it was to last for ten years, Turkey severed its diplomatic and commercial relations with Germany in August 1944,[3] and on 23 February 1945Turkey declared war on Nazi Germany. The pact was dissolved on 24 October 1945, after the fall of the Third Reich, when Turkey joined the United Nations.
After the outbreak ofWorld War II in 1939, Turkish Presidentİsmet İnönü pursued a policy of neutrality, tried to avoid involvement in the war and sought to acquire military equipment from both theAxis powers and theAllies.[4] Germany tried to draw Turkey away from Britain by using diplomatic efforts.[5]
As Germany was preparing to invadeYugoslavia andGreece in April 1941, Axis troops massed along the Bulgarian border and demanded permission to transit through its territory. On 1 March 1941, inspired by irredentist claims to territory in Greece (East Macedonia and Thrace) and Yugoslavia (Vardar Macedonia), Bulgaria signed theTripartite Pact with the Axis powers.
On 4 March 1941,Franz von Papen forwarded a letter fromAdolf Hitler to İnönü in which Hitler wrote that he had not started the war and did not intend to attack Turkey. Further, Hitler emphasised that he had ordered his troops in Bulgaria to stay far from the Turkish border to avoid making a false impression of their presence. Hitler proposed anon-aggression pact with Turkey.[4]
On 6 April, Axis troops attacked Yugoslavia (inOperation 25) and soon after Greece (inOperation Marita) through Bulgaria. Yugoslavia surrendered on 17 April, by June 1, Greece was also defeated and the Nazis allowed Bulgaria to occupy much of the territory in both countries it had claimed.[6]
In the meantime, on 1 April 1941,Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani launched acoup d'état, which overthrew the pro-British regime in Iraq. The four generals leading the revolt worked closely with German intelligence and accepted military aid from Germany. Hitler asked Turkey for permission to pass through its territory to render military aid to Iraq. In exchange, the Turkish government demanded border concessions from Iraq. On April 18, while the negotiations were still taking place, British forces invaded Iraq, by June 3 the coup was defeated and the regime of EmirAbdul-Illah (regent of four-year-oldKing Faisal II) restored. With the border issue now moot, the German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship was signed on 18 June 1941.
In August 1944, Turkey severed diplomatic and commercial relations with Germany. On 23 February 1945, Turkey declared war on Germany.[3]
In October 1941, Turkey and Germany signed the Clodius Agreement,[a] in which Turkey agreed to export up 45,000 tons ofchromite ore to Germany in 1941 and in 1942, and 90,000 tons of the mineral in both 1943 and 1944, contingent on Germany's supplies of military equipment to Turkey. Germany would provide as many as 117 railway locomotives and 1,250 freight rail cars to transport the ore[citation needed].
In an attempt to prevent the supply of the strategic mineral reaching Germany, both theUnited States and theU.K. went on a buying spree to buying out Turkish chromite, even if they did not need so much of it. As part of the "package deal", the Anglo-Americans also bought Turkish dried fruit and tobacco.[3]
