The Activities of Special Operations Executive in Turkey

Abstract

The issue of Turkish entry into the war on the side of the Allies was a subject of great interest to Churchill. Turkish policy in the Second World War, however, was to play for time and pray that she would not be involved in the war, at least, she hoped, not until her rearmament had reached a stage where she would have a greater chance of resisting a German attack. Having underlined this, Turkish officials were not very willing to co-operate with Special Operations Executive (SOE)' so as to avoid provoking the Germans. Taking Turkish attitudes into account, a divergence of view appeared between the British Foreign Office and the SOE regarding the nature of such activities in Turkey. While the Foreign Office did not want to jeopardize its relations with Turkey, SOE was concerned with military and strategic aspects. Moreover, its work in Turkey was very strictly controlled by Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, British Ambassador to Ankara, who placed a stringent set of conditions on the mission's work to prevent anything which might have a disastrous effect on Anglo-Turkish relations. Therefore, SOE's work in Turkey was restricted in scope but there were plans and initial preparations to be made against the time when the situation would change in its favour; it was advisable to be on the spot and prepare to take advantage of any opportunities that might arise. Since the Turkish authorities rejected the approach made by the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), Middle East, SOE was anxious to lay plans without the knowledge of Ankara. However, from the political point of view, the Foreign Office strongly suggested that any plans for military sabotage in Turkey should be drawn up with the knowledge and approval of the Turkish authorities on the grounds that the establishment of a comprehensive SOE organization in Turkey, which would inevitably bring in equipment and material, would certainly be discovered before long by the Turkish authorities. This would defeat Britain's objective and could not fail to have a bad effect on her relations with Turkey. Therefore, the Foreign Office suggested that the role of SOE should be advisory and consultative and it