Evening star., 1940-02-09
Turks Charge
Vast SABOTAGE
Plot 10 Nazis
Discovery Declared
Reason for Clusters
And Krupp Seizure


BY the Assocj- ess.
ISTANBUL, Feb. 9.-Authorita.
tive sources tonight said government
dismissal of 100 German technicians
and occupation of the German
owned Krupp shipyards were due to
discovery of a far-flung German
sabotage plot in the Near East.
Turkish marines occupied the
shipyards yesterday; today the gov
ernment dismissed 100 German
technicians employed by the war
and naval ministries and gave them
48 hours to quite the country.
Authoritative sources said the
government had uncovered evidence
of a network of Nazi agents ready
to perpetrate explosions, train
wrecks and other havoc throughout
the Near East on the signal from
Berlin.
Working on Submarines.
Under the circumstances, they
said, it was impossible to allow the
Germans to remain in strategic po-
sitions, especially as the technicians
were completing work on submarines
which Turkey would expect to throw
into combat if she became involved
in war in the spring.
1t was announced that the expul-
sion OF the German technicians
was under special decree powers
voted to the government by the
National Assembly "for the protec-
ton of national defense"
The blanket discharge, coming one
day after Turkish seizure of the Ger
man-owned Krupp shipyards here,
applied to 20 marine specialists at
the Turkish naval base of Gyeldjuk
on the Sea of Marmora: 20 techni-
clans at a munitions factory near
Ankara, and 60 others active in
Turkeys military preparations.
May Affect Hundreds More.
Officials said that henceforth no
German could work in state-owned
industries. This was believed to
affect several hundred men in addi-
ton to those discharged today.
Reports that Germany's Ambas-
sador. Franz Won Papen, had been
directed to make a sharp protest
against the shipyard's confiscation
were answered in government circles
with the assertion that Turkey was
within her legal rights.
Marines continued to occupy the
Krupp yards on the Golden Horn.
q a y,t nf tNn efr
of the Bosphorus, where 80 Germans
had been supervising completion of
two submarines for the Turkish
navy until their sudden custer yes
terday.
Confiscation Expected.
Conf1scation of other German
property in Turkey was expected
sooner or later" in informed circles.
which saw the once-strong German
influence in Turkey waning since
Turkeys alignment with Great
Britain and France
1t was learned that hundreds of
German experts employed in Turkey
would be discharged and sent back
to the Reich. They have been acting
as government advisers, factory
technicians and professors in Istan-
bul University and Ankara Agricul-
tural College.
Forced liquidation of German en-
terprises and voluntary withdrawal
of many German businessmen was
reported already under way. the
Germans alleging that Turkish OBJ
structions made further trade I'M
possible.
Measures against German inter-
ests were seen by foreign observers
as logical upon recalling Turkish
Foreign Minister Sukru Saracogus
recent statement that Turkey is not
neutral, but only on-belligerent for
the moment
1n Berlin authorized German
sources said confiscation of the
Krupp shipyards on the Golden
Horn, an inlet of the strategic
Bosphorus Straits, was likely to
result in nothing more serious
than diplomatic words and more
emphatic press comments. Ger
many regards the Turkish act as
inspired, If not demanded, by
Great Britain and France, but
will not be provoked, these
sources said)
Spring Coming" Expectation.
Declining to explain the seizure.
official Turkish quarters remarked
only that spring is coming
Many observers have expressed
fear that spring will bring German
or Russian thrust into the Balkans
to seize the Dardanelles and the
Bosphorus, which link the Black
Sea and the Mediterranean.
In this connection, attention was
riveted today on British and French
troop concentrations in the Near
East, with statement in Paris by
the French minister of colonies that
Frances Colonial Army could be
swelled to 100000 men if necessary.
Turks assert that the French and
British now have some SOC, 900 men
under arms in the Near East.
An article in the Turkish press,
app;S emily inspired, said, "the allies
have counted on the possibility of a
Russian attack across the Balkans
toward the Dardanelles. Allied and
Turkish armies will give adequate
support to the defenders"
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