[FONT="]It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.[/FONT]
[FONT="](Thomas Jefferson)[/FONT]
[FONT="]On Saturday, March 10th, 1934, Mehmet Cavid Pasha, the ambassador of the Sublime Porte in Berlin, asked for an interview with German foreign minister Julius Leber in order to discuss the case of Aslan Düşünür sahip. The request was granted immediately, and an appointment was fixed for 15:15 hours.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Russian request for extradition of Leon Trotsky had been received on March 9th, but had not yet been answered, despite Russian ambassador Mikhail Markovich Borodin’s pressure to get a quick and positive decision. After all, a treaty of extradition existed between the empires of Germany and the Russia, and the identity of Leon Trotsky had been established without doubt. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Julius Leber received Cavid Pasha in his office in the Wilhelmstraße. He was eager to hear what the Ottoman minister had to tell. Leber, who had finished the Great War as lieutenant of infantry – and had gone on to serve as a volunteer in the Russian Civil War for two years, had quite an opinion of his own about the Trotsky case, but held back and let the Turk explain his concerns.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Cavid Pasha, a renowned advocate of democracy in the Ottoman Empire, started off by stating that Düşünür sahip’s passport was genuine. It had been issued rightfully by the passport office in Lefkoşa on Kıbrıs; and Düşünür sahip was a registered tax payer living in Mağusa on the east coast of said island. His profession was that of a private scholar, making his living with columns and articles published under various pen names in the Ottoman Empire, continental Europe and Great Britain. – However, when applying for Ottoman citizenship in 1927, Düşünür sahip obviously had made misstatements. [/FONT]
[FONT="]He had declared to be an Argentine citizen named Pyotr Pavlovich Dzubenko, an immigrant from the Russian Empire before the Great War and successful merchant of canned beef during the Great War. – This was obviously deceitful; therefore, the Sublime Porte requested the extradition of its citizen Aslan Düşünür sahip under the treaty of extradition concluded between the German Empire and the Sublime Porte in 1921, in order to indict Düşünür in court for subreption of official documents by making deceitful statements.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Leber thanked Cavid Pasha for his explanations and accepted the pertaining Ottoman documents. After the Turk had left, he called for his chief legal advisor. The man required only short time to arrive at a verdict: Because Düşünür was undoubtedly a citizen and resident of the Ottoman Empire, the request of the Sublime Porte had precedence over the request of the Russian Empire, even if the charges made by Russia were far more severe. This then would be a matter to be resolved between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Next, Leber called for an extraordinary meeting of the cabinet, which was fixed for 19:30 hours. Until then, he made further inquiries with Abteilung V and tasked them to get into contact with Abwehr and Außendienst for getting a comprehensive picture of the situation.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Chancellor Otto Wels opened the extraordinary cabinet session at 19.33 hours, after the minister of the interior, Kurt Schumacher, had arrived behind schedule.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, Julius has requested this meeting, so I leave it to him to explain what’s up.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]Leber expounded the essence of his meeting with the Ottoman ambassador and the advice of the legal advisor.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think legally the issue is clear: the Ottomans get Trotsky. – The question, however, is: what do they intend with this manoeuvre? – From what I gather, they must have known very well who Düşünür really was. So, what bargain do they want to strike with Savinkov? – And should we just let it happen without impinging upon it?”[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Tannu Tuva, they want it to become independent and part of the Pan-Turan Commonwealth – when Russia reconquers Mongolia!” injected Theodor Heuß, minister of war.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“May be, but that’s a very remote matter.” answered Leber. “Even if the Russians should go for a war with China, that will not be possible to be launched prior to 1938 or 1939. And whether they’ll decide for war at all isn’t quite plain yet. – There are many rumours, but few hard facts. What we know right now rather points towards a defensive stance taken by Russia.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]“But what else might the Turks want from Russia?”[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Frankly, I don’t know. – There’s no treaty of extradition between Istanbul and Moscow, so, if they want, the Turks can piss off the Russians. – But again, why should they do that?”[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Well,” remarked Ruth Fischer, minister of justice and chief representative of the PDS left wing after Luxemburg’s death “one thing is for sure: If we hand over Trotsky to the Turks, the Russians will be peeved – thus, whatever else, the manoeuvre will cause a cooling down of Russo-German relations. – I’m not an advocate of extraditing Trotsky to Savinkov, the latter character is far more criminal than the former, but we must understand that not giving Trotsky to Russia will deteriorate relations between our two countries...” [/FONT]