Hints to Turkey

If a great totalizator for bets on the final outcome of the war were possible, it would perhaps show that odds on the Axis were longer this spring than last. For one thing, it was getting harder for Adolf Hitler to manipulate his Balkan puppets. Steady sabotage, despite the Nazi firing squads, was one sign (see p. 31). Another was the brave defense of Yugoslavia's "Island of Freedom" (see p. 31). Still another was given last week when the Bulgarian Cabinet resigned after a majority was said to have rejected plans for Bulgaria which King Boris III brought home from Berlin last month. Puppet-Premier-Professor Bogdan Filoff at once formed a new Cabinet with only two of the previous nine members.

But there seemed every possibility that Hitler would use the Balkans as he willed this spring, at least. The question remained: How?

It had long been rumored that Bulgaria would be used as a starting point for attacks on Russia or Turkey or both. As to that, strong hints appeared last week. Premier Filoff declared that Bulgaria "would pursue a friendly policy in Turkey." Turkish Ambassador to Germany Husrev Gerede, about to return to Berlin after an Istanbul visit, beamed to reporters: "You can write that I return to Berlin smiling. I am particularly satisfied that my return was delayed a few days to enable me to talk once again with my close friend and colleague [German Ambassador] Franz von Papen."

In Turkey the happy impression grew that Hitler would concentrate on Russia, that if he drove to the Suez or the Persian Gulf he would by-pass Turkey.

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