Australian Treaty Series

[Note from the Bulgarian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the British Legation, Sofia]

Sofia

12 August 1938

M. le Chargé d'Affaires

I have the honour to ask you to be so good as to bring to the knowledge of the Government of the United Kingdom, signatory of the Treaty of Neuilly[1] and of the Convention regarding the Frontiers of Thrace, signed at Lausanne on 24 July 1923,[2] that Bulgaria of the one part and Greece, Roumania, Turkey and Yugoslavia, as States members of the Balkan Entente, of the other part, have concluded and signed at Salonica on 31 July last an Agreement to dispense, so far as these States are concerned, with the carrying out of the provisions contained in Part IV (Military, Naval and Air Clauses) of the Treaty of Neuilly, as well as the provisions contained in the Convention regarding the Frontiers of Thrace, signed at Lausanne on 24 July 1923.

The Salonica Agreement, of which a certified copy is attached, is the recognition by the States members of the Balkan Entente that Bulgaria has equal rights in the matter of armament. It indicates the confidence which exists in the relations between the Balkan States, and is a confirmation of their desire and willingness to collaborate in the consolidation of the peace of the Balkans.

In expressing its thanks to the Government of His Majesty for its benevolent interest, witnessed by the realisation of this Agreement, which is a contribution to its efforts for the maintenance of peace, the Royal Government of Bulgaria ventures to hope that His Majesty's Government will agree to dispense, so far as it is concerned, with the carrying out of the said provisions contained in the Treaty of Neuilly and in the Convention concerning the Frontiers of Thrace, signed at Lausanne on 24 July 1923.

I shall be much obliged if your Government will be so good as to make the necessary communications to His Majesty's Governments in Canada and New Zealand, as well as the Governments of the Commonwealth of Australia,[3] the Union of South Africa and India, as signatories of the Treaty of Neuilly.

I have, etc.

[Signed:]

G KIOSSÉIVANOFF

President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship

Taking into consideration:

That Bulgaria adheres to the policy of the reaffirmation of peace within the Balkans, and that she desires to share with the Balkan States relations of good neighbourliness and trustful collaboration, and

That the States of the Balkan Entente are inspired as regards Bulgaria by the same pacific spirit and the same desire for co-operation,

The undersigned:

His Excellency M. le Dr Georges Kiosséivanoff, President of the Council of Ministers, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, of the one part, and

His Excellency M. Jean Metaxas, President of the Council of Ministers, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, in his capacity as officiating President of the Permanent Council of the Balkan Entente, acting in the name of all the members of the Balkan Entente, of the other part,

Declare in the name of the States which they represent that these States undertake to abstain, in their mutual relations, from all recourse to force, in conformity with the agreements regarding non-aggression to which each of these States is a party, and that they agree, so far as they are concerned, to dispense with the carrying out of the provisions contained in Part IV (Military, Naval and Air Clauses) of the Treaty of Neuilly, as well as the provisions contained in the Convention regarding the Frontiers of Thrace, signed at Lausanne on 24 July 1923.

DONE at Salonica, in duplicate, the 31st July, 1938.

[Signed:] [Signed:]

G KIOSSÉIVANOFF J METAXAS

[Note from the British Legation, Sofia, to the Bulgarian Minister for Foreign Affairs]

Sofia

24 November 1938

Your Excellency

As Mr Coote had the honour to inform you in his note of 13 August, he did not fail to transmit to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the contents of the Note in which your Excellency informed him of the Agreement concluded at Salonica on 31 July last between Bulgaria, on the one part, and Greece, Roumania, Turkey and Yugoslavia as States members of the Balkan Entente, on the other.

2. I have now received instructions from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to inform you that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom have been happy to learn of the conclusion of this Agreement, which they are confident will lead to the development of still closer and friendlier relations between the States parties to it.

3. I am further to inform your Excellency that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom do not, so far as they are concerned, intend in future to rely on the provisions contained in Part IV (Military Clauses) of the Treaty of Neuilly or the provisions of the Convention signed at Lausanne on 24 July 1923, regarding the Thracian frontier.

I avail, etc.

[Signed:]

G W RENDEL [1] UKTS 1920 No. 5 (Cmd. 522); Hertslet 29 p. 473; SP 112 p. 781.

[2] UKTS 1923 No. 16 (Cmd. 1929); SP 117 p. 543; LNTS 28 p. 12.

[3] A Note, similar, mutatis mutandis, to Note II (following) was also sent to Bulgaria from the Australian Government (text not available).