Word: ankara
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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...
...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, Sükrü 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...
...travelers from Occupied Europe reached Turkey. They had traveled separately, did not even know each other. But both had talked with officials in the Reich. In Ankara, both gave much the same account of Germany's last hope...
...years by staying neutral. A German invasion of Turkey, when Britain was barely able to hold Egypt and Suez, might have been disastrous. Last week, when Anthony Eden (who reportedly dislikes Menemencioglu) complained that German warships, disguised as merchantmen, had been allowed to cruise through Turkey's Dardanelles, Ankara had to give in. Numan Menemencioglu took the fall, handed over his portfolio to Premier Sükrü Saracoglu. But nobody thought brilliant Mr. Menemencioglu was out for a very long count...