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[handwritten: “distributed”]
RECORD OF A CONVERSATION
between Cde. N. S. Khrushchev, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, and S. H. Urguplu, head of a delegation of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, 12 June 1963
[Handwritten at the bottom of the first page: “The record of the conversation was not reviewed by N. S. Khrushchev“]
After N. S. Khrushchev’s conversation with members of the Turkish parliamentary delegation its leader, S. H. Urguplu, Chairman of the Republic Senate of Turkey, asked Cde. N. S. Khrushchev to have a one-on-one conversation with him.
Cde. N. S. KHRUSHCHEV. We are very satisfied that so representative a delegation of the Turkish parliament has visited the Soviet Union. This is good because to some degree it helps dispel the mood which has existed in our relations up to now. In our opinion, it is time to put an end to this. This will be both in the interests of Turkey as well as in the interests of the Soviet Union.
Of course, Turkey will benefit most of all, and we have common land borders. The Black Sea brings us close together. According to reports of our ambassador in Ankara I know about Mr. Gursel’s and Mr. Ismet Inonu’s statements about a desire to strengthen the friendship with our country. But it seems to me that it is time to switch from words to deeds.
Today I have already said that we have examined the question of the creation of a large fleet in the Black Sea. But we abandoned this idea since there is no need of this with the current technology, with the level of modern weaponry. We now have such equipment which allows us to examine and fire on the entire Black Sea coast.
Earlier the presence of a military base in the Dardanelles concerned us, but now, although it is not pleasant for us, these bases do not represent a serious threat to the USSR. Even the US understands that we can help Cuba from our territory in the event of an attack upon it. But the Dardanelles are much closer.
We hope that you will understand us correctly, that they will understand us correctly in Turkey: we threaten no one, but only speak of the actual state of affairs.
Friendly relations between our countries will bring benefit to both Turkey as well as the Soviet Union.
For we are friendly not only with socialist countries, we are also friendly with capitalist countries, and with monarchs. For example, we have good relations with Afghanistan. We are building a great deal in Afghanistan. We are building factories, roads, power stations, airfields, and other structures. We recently vacationed with the King of Afghanistan on the shore of the Black Sea. We both remained satisfied. When the King left we told him that we would be glad to greet his arrival at any time.
We have many economic ties with the United Arab Republic. We are building the Aswan Dam there, which will provide this country with enormous benefit. Not to mention cheap electrical power, this dam will provide the opportunity to double Egypt’s area under cultivation.
In addition, we are holding talks with Iran about the joint use of the energy of the Araks River.
We can also do the same thing for Turkey. We are in a position to do this. Our economy has enormous capabilities. This would only bring benefit to Turkey.
S. H. URGUPLU. We arrived in the USSR with a sincere feeling of friendship. In two weeks we have become convinced that both the Soviet people and their leaders desire peace and friendship with the Turkish people. Our impressions are 100% positive in this respect. On arrival in [my] country I will have a long conversation with both the Prime Minster and President of Turkey. I will present to them your sincerely and frankly expressed thoughts. We are very glad that you, Mr. Prime Minister, have frankly talked about the past mistakes of Stalin and Molotov. We also want to look not backward, but forward. We want friendship with the Soviet Union. I say this sincerely, and personally, having arrived in your country, I will apply all my strength and efforts to do everything possible in this area.
I assure you, Mr. Prime Minister, that I will genuinely do this.
Cde. N. S. KHRUSHCHEV. Pass to Turkish President Gursel and Prime Minister Ismet Inonu that if they express a desire to follow your path to our country we will be glad to welcome them.
The conversation lasted 20 minutes.
Recorded by I. Mustafayev
Khrushchev and a Turkish parliamentary delegation discuss the history of Soviet-Turkish relations, including tensions under Stalin and the impact of U.S. military bases in Turkey. The delegation shares positive impressions of their visit to the USSR, highlighting Soviet economic progress and expressing interest in improving bilateral ties.
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