United States and Turkey Claims Commission

United States and Turkey Claims Commission. (ca. 1923 - ca. 1937) 


Related to 3 catalog description(s) Created 3 series Administrative History Note: By an exchange of notes dated December 24, 1923, the United States and Turkey entered into an agreement that provided for a four-member commission (two from each country) to recommend solutions to outstanding claims bteween them. In subsequent communications, the governments agreed that the Commission should undertake a summary examination of the cases to recommend a lump-sum settlement. The U.S. commissoners were Fred K. Nielsen [1] and John W. Connelly, Jr.[2] The commissioners for Turkey were A. Sevki and Mehmet Esat. The Commission met in Istanbul, where the United States presented 898 dossiers; no claims of Turkish citizens against the United States were presented. The records of the Commission are those presented by claimants and include no pleadings by the United States. The Turkish Government did not present rebutting evidence. Cases were discussed by the Commission on the basis of records submitted. 


On October 13, 1934, the Commission recommended that Turkey pay the United States $1,300,00. This recommendation was confirmed by an agreement signed on October 25, 1934. The United States was free to distribute that sum among American claimants as deemed proper.

Mavi Boncuk |


See also : American-Turkish claims settlement : under the Agreement of December 24,1923, and supplemental agreements between the United States and Turkey Author: Fred Kenelm Nielsen; American-Turkish Commission. Publisher: Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 1937.


[1] Fred Kenelm Nielsen (April 22, 1879 – January 12, 1963) was a Danish-American lawyer, diplomatic official, and college football coach. In 1913, Nielsen was named the Assistant Solicitor of the Department of Department. In 1914, he was assigned as a plenipotentiary during discussions in Christiania, Norway of a Spitsbergen government. As the assistant solicitor. Nielsen served in the United States Army until Armistice and attained the rank of major. He represented the United States at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.