Central Treaty Organisation ministerial meeting, Ankara, 23 May 1975

This file relates to a Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) ministerial meeting in Ankara on May 1975. It includes programmes, briefs, minutes, memoranda and correspondence on:

• The opening statements given by the acting US Secretary of State Kenneth Rush, the Secretary General of CENTO Nasir Assar, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iran Abbas Ali Khalatbari, the Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Aziz Ahmad, the Delegate of Turkey Melth Esenbel, and the British Minister of State Roy Hattersley
• Arrangements for Hattersley to visit Athens en route to the CENTO meeting
• The question of how to ‘flatter the Iranians’; allegations of Indian subversion in Pakistan; and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus
• The siege of the Iranian Embassy in London beginning on 29 April 1975
• A report on: the regional threat posed by the Soviet Union; and on China’s objectives and methods for exerting her influence
• A draft of CENTO’s political guidance for military planning
• A public expenditure survey from May 1975
• The CENTO annual report 1974-75, including chapters on: political aspects; military matters; economic matters; public relations; counter-subversion; and security
• A request by the incoming CENTO Secretary General Umit Haluk Bayulken for the UK to host the 1976 meeting
• Bayulken's visit to the UK in April 1975; his letter of gratitude to the Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps J N O Curle, and the Foreign Secretary James Callaghan