Armament > Memorandum relating to the proposals of the Turkish delegation (Cong. D. 78)

LH.
Official No.: Conf. D. 113.
Geneva, April 13th, 1932.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Conference for the Reduction and Limitation
of Armaments
MEMORANDUM
RELATING TO THE PROPOSALS OF THE TURKISH DELEGATION
(Conf. D. 78)
Geneva, April 7th, 1932.
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency’s letter of March 17th,
1932, in which you inform me of the General Commission’s decision to the effect that delegations
who have made proposals should prepare and send to the Secretariat memoranda giving
detailed explanations and plans for putting them into effect.
In reply, I beg to forward herewith to Your Excellency the memorandum relating to
the proposal which our delegation had the honour to submit to the Conference.
I desire at the same time to draw the attention of the Conference to the fact that the
Turkish proposal for the reduction and equalisation of forces must be considered as a whole,
and that this delegation does not regard itself as in any way bound by an}^ particular part
of its scheme or the explanations relating thereto taken separately and apart from the scheme
as a whole.
(Signed) Cemal Husnu.
MEMORANDUM.
The Turkish delegation indicated in its general statement the political, economic and
social reasons which led to the preparation of its scheme. The delegation thinks that the
most certain and effective way of attaining total disarmament, which is the ideal to be
reached by humanity, is the equalisation of the reduced forces of all States.
It further desires to state that this result can only be made completely effective by the
strict observance of the principle of neutrality and peace proclaimed by the signatories of
the Briand-Kellogg Pact.
The fixing of a common level for all immediately mobilisable forces, with their reserve
effectives and material, .which may, for instance, be 100,000 men—the lowest figure being
naturally the most desirable—will be a matter for the Conference, and, when once this level
is determined, the armies with a strength exceeding this figure will reduce the surplus by an
annual reduction of n per cents so as to reach in % years the strength of y men fixed by the
Conference. As regards armies with a strength below the level decided on, it goes without
saying that the moment when nations have agreed to reduce their forces is not one at which
such States could think of increasing them for the purpose of attaining the level fixed. Their
security, which, with their existing forces, may be relative during the race for armaments,
would be virtually absolute under the system of equalisation, which would have secured,
around the States that have kept their effectives below the common level, a considerable
reduction of forces and therewith of potential menace.
It may be well at this point to make clear the fundamental idea embodied in the Turkish
scheme by saying that the proposed system of equalisation aims at a gradual diminution of
all armies according to their strength, and that this system is the exact opposite of those systems
which would maintain the existing situation as regards the present proportions of forces.
Series of League of Nations Publications
IX DISARMAMENT
1932. IX. 40.
S. d. N. 3.330 (F.). 2.475 (A.). 4/32. Imp. du J. de G.