FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: JONATHAN CLARKE
July 1, 1998 No. 27/98

AHI CALLS FOR FURTHER U.S. REPORT AND HEARINGS ON TURKEY'S WORLD WAR II COLLABORATION WITH NAZI GERMANY

On July 1, 1998 the American Hellenic Institute sent a letter (copy attached) to Under Secretary of State Stuart E. Eizenstat congratulating him and all persons involved in the publication of a report giving details of Turkey's active collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War 11.

In the letter and in parallel letters to Senator Al D'Amato and Representative Jim Leach, Eugene T. Rossides, AHI general counsel, stated that Turkey's role in collaborating with Hitler involves issues of fundamental morality and equity. Mr. Rossides called upon the U.S. to make a further investigation and report and for Congress to hold hearings. These are particularly important in view of Turkey's attack on the report's validity. Is of the utmost importance that Turkey's role be made known to the families of Allied military personnel killed or wounded in the extra months of fighting and that arrangements be made for Turkey to compensate them.

The four areas for a further investigation and report and hearings are:
1. Turkey's failure to make restitution Nazi assets and Nazi Gold
    Turkey has failed to make any restitution of the Nazi assets in Turkey estimated at between $51-$71 million in 1945-46 and $10-$15 million in looted Nazi gold. The U.S. must insist on restitution.
2. Turkey's collaboration with Nazi Germany
    Turkey's trade with Nazi Germany in the vital chromite ore effectively prolonged World War II by several months. The State Department should calculate a precise figure for this prolongation of World War II.
3. Turkey's war profiteering receipts
    Turkey's war profiteering activities from both sides garnered large receipts. The State and Treasury Departments should quantify these receipts.
4. The disgorging of Turkey's war profiteering receipts and the creation of a fund for the living wounded and heirs of deceased military
    Turkey must be forced to disgorge all war profiteering receipts. An appropriate disposal of Turkey's war profiteering receipts would be into a fund to be administered by the U.S. and its wartime allies to compensate both the living wounded and the heirs of the deceased military killed during the extra months of the war. Consideration should also be given to compensation to civilians who died in the extra months of the war at the hands of German occupiers or in concentration camps.