War?

Turkey, it was rumored last week, had decided simply to ignore the problem that has kept her neutral for five years--how to plunge into World War II without getting too wet. This week President Ismet Inoenue would convene the National Assembly, and if reports were true, break off diplomatic and economic relations with Germany. He would also offer the use of Turkish airfields to Allied planes, close the Straits to German ships, round up some 2,000 Nazi spies who, from their headquarters in Turkey, infest the entire Near East.

Meanwhile Ankara's war-sultry air was electric with facts and rumors. It was a fact that Turkey's Army was engaged in military maneuvers (scheduled some time ago). But conscription was still in the rumor stage. So were reports that all Turkish ships had been ordered into Turkish harbors. It was true that talks were going on among representatives of Turkey, the U.S., the U.S.S.R. and Great Britain, that Germany's nine-man economic mission were cooling their heels for nearly a month in Ankara.

It was also a fact that Turkey's Ambassador to Berlin had come home, would not go back to Germany. But Hitler's envoy, wily Franz von Papen, instead of racing for Berlin, canceled a vacation, hotfooted to Ankara for a last-minute, bootless talk with Turkey's Premier and Foreign Minister, Suekrue Saracoglu. This move also gave Papen a chance to burn some papers, pack his bags.

Some of Ankara's rumors concerned Turkey's neighbor, Bulgaria. It was whispered that Sofia had asked Hitler to withdraw his two German divisions from Bulgaria, had hinted that it was time to make peace with the Allies. There was one report that Bulgaria and Turkey were discussing how to avoid hostilities, another to the effect that Turkey was planning to invade Bulgaria. Well might the Bulgarians worry. If the Turks were entering the war to fight, Bulgaria might become a Balkan battleground as Turkish armies attempted to smash their way up in the rear of groggy Rumania.

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