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{{about|the Second Cairo Conference of December 4–6, 1943, between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Turkey|the First Cairo Conference of November 22–26, 1943, between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of China|Cairo Conference}}

[[File:Roosevelt Inönü and Churchill in Cairo cph.3b15312.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]], [[İsmet İnönü|İnönü]] and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] at the Second Cairo Conference, which was held between December 4–6, 1943.]]

The '''Second Cairo Conference''' of December 4–6, 1943, held in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]], addressed [[Turkey]]'s possible contribution to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in [[World War II]].<ref name=Matloff>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080228072649/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/sp1943-44/chapter16.htm U.S. Army: "Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943-1944" by Maurice Matloff, Chapter XVI, pp. 379-380.] Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1990. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 53-61477. First Printed 1959-CMH Pub 1-4.</ref> The meeting was attended by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] of the [[United States]], Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] of the [[United Kingdom]], and President [[İsmet İnönü]] of the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]].<ref name=Matloff/>

Until 1941, both Roosevelt and Churchill maintained the opinion that Turkey's continuing neutrality would serve the interests of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] by blocking the [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the [[Middle East]]. But the early victories of the Axis until the end of 1942 caused Roosevelt and Churchill to re-evaluate a possible Turkish participation in the war on the side of the Allies.<ref name=Matloff/> Turkey had maintained a sizeable Army and Air Force throughout the war, and especially Churchill wanted the Turks to open a new front in the [[Balkans]].<ref name=Matloff/> Prior to the conference in Cairo, on January 30, 1943, Churchill had secretly met with İnönü inside a train wagon at the Yenice station, 23 kilometers outside of [[Adana]] in [[Turkey]], to discuss the issue (see [[Adana Conference]]).<ref name=Matloff/>

Roosevelt, on the other hand, still believed that a Turkish attack would be too risky and an eventual Turkish failure would have disastrous effects for the Allies.<ref name=Matloff/>

İnönü knew very well the hardships and losses of territory, population and wealth which his country had to suffer during 11 years of incessant war between 1911 and 1922 (the [[Italo-Turkish War]], the [[Balkan Wars]], the [[World War I|First World War]], and the [[Turkish War of Independence]]), and was determined to keep Turkey out of another war as long as he could. İnönü also wanted assurances on financial and military aid for Turkey, as well as a guarantee that the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]] would stand beside Turkey in case of a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] invasion of the [[Turkish straits]] after the war, as [[Joseph Stalin]] had openly expressed.<ref name=Matloff/> The fear of a Soviet invasion and Stalin's unconcealed desire to control the Turkish straits eventually caused Turkey to give up its principle of [[neutrality (international relations)|neutrality in foreign relations]] and join [[NATO]] in 1952.

[[File:Second Cairo Conference.jpg|thumb|240px|Roosevelt and İnönü got what they wanted, while Churchill was disappointed with the result.]]

Perhaps the biggest reason for Turkey's hesitation to immediately join the war on the side of the Allies was the eventual reduction of the amount of financial and military aid which Churchill had promised in Adana.<ref name=Matloff/> By December 1943 the Anglo-American authorities felt the overall situation had changed so fundamentally that a much smaller scale of assistance than that provided in the Hardihood Agreement of the spring of 1943 would be necessary.<ref name=Matloff/> The British proposed a reduced scale of Aid Plan Saturn.<ref name=Matloff/> The Turks, on the other hand, wished to make certain that upon their entry into the war they would be strong enough to defend their homeland and they doubted that the new plan would fully meet their security needs.<ref name=Matloff/> Churchill, faced with [[Operation Overlord]] only six months away, reluctantly concluded that the resources demanded and the time required for strengthening Turkey could not be conceded.<ref name=Matloff/> The U.S. Chiefs of Staff and their planners, on the other hand, felt relieved that this possible threat to concentration on Operation Overlord had at last been removed.<ref name=Matloff/>

At the end of the conference, it was decided that Turkey's neutrality should be maintained.<ref name=Matloff/> It was also decided to build the [[Incirlik Air Base]] near Adana for possible [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] air operations in the region, but construction works began after the end of the Second World War.<ref name=Matloff/> Incirlik Air Base later played an important role for [[NATO]] during the [[Cold War]]. Another decision was to postpone Operation Anakim against [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] in [[Burma]].<ref name=Matloff/>

Roosevelt and İnönü got what they wanted, while Churchill was disappointed with the result, because he believed that an active Turkish participation in the war would quicken the German defeat by hitting their ''"soft underbelly"'' in the southeast.

Turkey eventually [[Turkish declaration of war on Germany and Japan|joined the war on the side of the Allies]] on 23 February 1945, after it was announced at the [[Yalta Conference]] that only the states which were formally at war with [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] by 1 March 1945 would be admitted to the [[United Nations]].<ref>Mustafa Aydın, SAM, "Turkish Foreign Policy: Framework and Analysis", Center for Strategic Research, 2004, p. 47.</ref> However, Turkey didn't directly participate in a military conflict; limiting its participation to providing materials and supplies for the Allies, and imposing political and economic sanctions on the Axis states.

Another discussed issue was the independence of [[French Indochina in World War II|Indochina]] from the [[French colonial empire|French Colonial Empire]], as documented briefly by the [[Pentagon Papers]].<ref>"Pentagon Papers Part 1". ''U.S. National Archives'', U.S. Government, 8 June 2011, www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Adana Conference]] of January 30–31, 1943, attended by President [[İsmet İnönü]] of Turkey and Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] of the United Kingdom.
* [[Cairo Conference|First Cairo Conference]] of November 22–26, 1943, attended by President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] of the United States, Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] of the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo [[Chiang Kai-shek]] of the Republic of China.
* [[List of Allied World War II conferences]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080228072649/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/sp1943-44/chapter16.htm U.S. Army: "Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943–1944" by Maurice Matloff, Chapter XVI, pp. 379-380.] Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1990. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 53-61477. First Printed 1959-CMH Pub 1-4.
*{{cite book| title = Command Decisions| editor = Kent Roberts Greenfield| url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_0.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071230145455/http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_0.htm| url-status = dead| archive-date = December 30, 2007| publisher = [[United States Army Center of Military History]]| year = 2000 | id = CMH Pub 70-7| chapter = Chapter 10: Overlord Versus the Mediterranean at the Cairo-Tehran Conferences |first = Richard M. | last = Leighton| chapter-url =http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_10.htm|orig-year = 1960}}
* [http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=142 World War II Database: Second Cairo Conference (December 4–6, 1943)]
* [https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/munitions-of-the-mind/2018/12/04/keeping-the-pot-boiling-british-propaganda-in-neutral-turkey-during-the-second-world-war/ Keeping the Pot Boiling: British Propaganda in Neutral Turkey during the Second World War]

{{Diplomatic history of World War II|state=expanded}}
{{Winston Churchill}}
{{Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{Turkey–United States relations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conference, Second Cairo}}
[[Category:History of the Republic of Turkey]]
[[Category:World War II conferences|Second Cairo Conference]]
[[Category:Diplomatic conferences in Egypt]]
[[Category:1943 conferences]]
[[Category:1943 in Egypt]]
[[Category:1943 in international relations]]
[[Category:İsmet İnönü]]
[[Category:Turkey–United Kingdom relations]]
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[[Category:Conferences in Cairo]]
[[Category:Cairo in World War II]]
[[Category:1943 in military history]]
[[Category:Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:December 1943 in Africa]]
[[Category:Turkey in World War II]]