Untitled report on the Turkish movement against Communism

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Beirut, Jun 27, 1949

Number 142/ The Turkish Commission has received an important memo about the communist activities that have increased lately in southern Turkey, on or around the border.

This list includes large number of Turkish communists who had been arrested in those areas and their activities in Syria and Lebanon and the group that was arrested recently in the middle of last June in Turkish Antaba. This group is led by the ophthalmologist,[page 2] it appears from information in this Turkish memo as I found out from the translator at the Commission, Mr. Mukhtar Al-Tanbar, that the papers that have been confiscated from this band of communists have shown that:

First – the presence of contacts between Turkish communists and the Russian Commission in Beirut undertaken by two residents in the city.  The first one is Osman Ozturk and the other is Bakir Kolu.  And since the Turkish government is not sure of the true identity of these individuals [page 3] and whether they are real or fake, therefore it had asked its employees in Beirut to find out.

Second – the main focus of contacts between Turkish communists is on (smuggling) along the Syrian-Turkish border and in the Ladiquia area.

Third – Contacts signed by the Kurdish Democratic Party were found.  Also found were a number of copies of the “the People’s Struggle,” the Arabic communist newspaper and a publication entitled (Ashik) in Turkish.

The Commission is interested in knowing the members of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Beirut and the extent of their contacts with the Russian Commission [page 4] in Beirut on the one hand and also finding out the location where the “People’s Struggle” is published and the way it’s being sent to Turkey.

Two days ago, Mukhtar Al-Tanbar visited me and asked me to help find out the truth about that, so I promised him to provide what I can find out about it.