Stalin's Friendship

Russia slapped an old friend in the face last week. Without warning, the Soviet Government cancelled its treaty of friendship with Turkey and called for a new deal.

Bitter enemies in the 18th and 19th Centuries, the two defeated, revolutionary nations fell into each other's scrawny arms after World War I. They were among the first to recognize each other's new regimes, signed their treaty in 1925, and remained fast friends until World War II. One source of irritation may be Russia's only outlet from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, which Turkey kept closed to warships during most of World War II. Russia wants the Straits open to Soviet merchant shipping and war vessels at all times, and closed to the war vessels of hostile nations in time of war. Any change would have to be discussed with all the interested nations, but Izvestia may have had the Straits in mind when it said: "It is clear . . . that the Soviet-Turkish agreement calls for serious amendment."

But the consideration uppermost in Moscow's mind was probably the fact that the Treaty of 1925 was little more than a pledge of passive friendship. It bound Russia and Turkey not to help each other's enemies, but did not require either nation to give the other positive political or military support. In the southeastern Europe of 1945, Russia demands active friendship, and apparently expects to wring it from the uneasy Turk.

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