Treaty of Friendship and Neutrality between Turkey and the Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicsBeneˇs, Minister for Foreign Affairs;
Who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in
good and due form, have agreed on the following provisions:
Article I. In the event of Czechoslovakia or France suffering
from a failure to observe the undertakings arrived at this day
between them and Germany with a view to the maintenance of
general peace, France, and reciprocally, Czechoslovakia, acting
in application of Article 16 of the Covenant of League of
Nations, undertake to lend each other immediate aid and assis-
tance, if such a failure is accompanied by an unprovoked
recourse to arms.
In the event of the Council of the League of Nations, when
dealing with a question brought before it in accordance with the
said undertakings, being unable to succeed in making its report
accepted by all its members other than the representatives of the
Parties to the dispute, and in the event of Czechoslovakia or
France being attacked without provocation, France, or recipro-
cally Czechoslovakia, acting in application of Article 15, para-
graph 7, of the Covenant of the League of Nations, will immedi-
ately lend aid and assistance.
Article 2. Nothing in the present treaty shall affect the rights
and obligations of the High Contracting Parties as Members of
the League of Nations, or shall be interpreted as restricting the
duty of the League to take whatever action may be deemed wise
and effectual to safeguard the peace of the world.
Article 3. The present Treaty shall be registered with the
League of Nations, in accordance with the Covenant.
Article 4. The present Treaty shall be ratified. The ratifica-
tions shall be deposited at Geneva with the League of Nations at
the same time as the ratification of the Treaty concluded this
day between Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Italy,
and the ratification of the Treaty concluded at the same time
between Germany and Czechoslovakia.
It will enter into force and remain in force under the same
conditions as the said Treaties.
The present Treaty done in a single copy will be deposited in
the archives of the League of Nations, and the Secretary-Gen-
eral of the League will be requested to transmit certified copies
to each of the High Contracting Parties.
In faith whereof the above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries have
signed the present Treaty. Done at Locarno, the sixteenth Octo-
ber, nineteen hundred and twenty-five.
(L.S.)(Signed) Aristide BRIAND.
(L.S.)(Signed) DR. Edouard BENES.ˇ
4.1246 Treaty of Friendship and Neutrality
between Turkey and the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics
Alliance Members:Italy and Czechoslovakia
Signed On:December 17, 1925, in the city of Paris. In force until Sep-
tember 1, 1939, when the Soviets denounced the treaty at the start of
World War II.
Alliance Type:Neutrality Pact (Type II)
Source:League of Nations Treaty Series,vol. 157, p. 354.SUMMARY
Soviet leaders anxiously entered the interwar period fearful that the
major economic powers would shut the communist state out of inter-
national economic cooperation. Little concerned with the technical
details of trade agreements, Soviet leaders thus actively sought guaran-
tees of peace and political neutrality and the opportunity to conduct
trade across borders. This agreement with the newly established Turk-
ish Republic, a Soviet neighbor, provided for neutrality and, impor-
tantly, that neither party would engage in international agreements
that ran counter to the interests of the other party.
The Soviets tried to force a redrawn border between the two countries
in 1936, but the neutrality agreement lasted until the start of World
War II. Turkey continued to remain neutral toward the Soviet Union
during the war, but that foreign policy was more the result of Turkish
worries over the intentions of its powerful northern neighbor, espe-
cially during the two years of cooperation between Germany and the
Soviet Union. The Soviet Union formally ended the neutrality agree-
ment and demanded Turkish-held territories in March of 1945.Alliance Text
The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and
the Government of the Turkish Republic, recognising that it is
in the interest of the two Contracting Parties to define the exact
conditions which would contribute to strengthen the perma-
nent normal relations and sincere friendship which unite them,
have appointed for that purpose M. Georges Tchitcherine, Peo-
ple’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, and M. Tevfik Rouchdi Bey, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Turkey, who have agreed on the following
provisions:
Article I. In the case of military action being taken against
either Contracting Party by one or more other Powers, the other
Contracting Party undertakes to maintain neutrality as towards
the first Contracting Party.
Note: The expression “military action” shall not be held to
include military manoeuvres, since they do not cause any preju-
dice to the other Party.
Article 2. Each Contracting Party undertakes to abstain from
any aggression against the other; it likewise undertakes not to
participate in any alliance or agreement of a political character
with one or more other Powers directed against the other Con-
tracting Party, or in any alliance or agreement with one or more
other Powers directed against the military or naval security of
the other Contracting Party. Furthermore, each of the two Con-
tracting Parties undertakes not to participate in any hostile act
by one or more other Powers directed against the other Con-
tracting Party.
Article 3. The present Treaty shall come into force as soon as
it is ratified and shall remain in force for three years. After that
period the Treaty shall be regarded as extended automatically
for a period of one year, unless one of the Contracting Parties