The Straits

There was a sharp rap at the door of the Turkish Foreign Ministry last week. It proved to be Russia, demanding that the Turkish Government allow her warships free passage, through the Bosporus and Dardanelles in wartime. (By the terms of the Montreux Convention, Turkey, if at war, may close the Straits to warships of all belligerent powers.) Russia was also reported to have requested that she be allowed to assist in policing the Straits by establishing bases on their shores. She would like to receive from Turkey the districts of Kars and Ardahan in Turkish Armenia, and to rectify the Bulgarian frontier.

In 1939, the Kremlin made somewhat similar demands on Turkey but, with the Finnish war imminent, failed to push them. Now, it looked as if the Russian proposals might well be the first major problem to come before the United Nations.

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