TURKEY: Agent

Turkey, drifting dangerously close to the reefs of bankruptcy, has been beaming a steady distress call to Washington. The Turkish appeal: a $300 million loan, without strings. The U.S. has repeatedly refused to come through, insists that first the government of Premier Adnan Menderes must 1) take reefs in the inflationary Turkish economy and 2) agree to conditions for putting further U.S. aid to lasting use instead of frittering it away.

Apparently convinced that the U.S. can be persuaded to give in to so valued an ally, the Menderes government has acquired the services of an influential advocate to push its case in Washington. Newly hired as "general counsel . . . in connection with the affairs of the Republic of Turkey in the U.S.": Manhattan Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, sometime (1942-54) governor of New York and Republican candidate (1944, '48) for President of the U.S.

Duly registering with the Justice Department as the agent of a foreign government, Dewey agreed to "render such legal and counseling services as registrant may be in a position to render which are required by the affairs of the Republic of Turkey in the U.S." Last week, after a seven-day visit to get acquainted with his clients and the outlines of his assignment, Lawyer Dewey flew off on a round-the-world tour, planned to be back by Oct. 27 to talk Turkey in the U.S. The retainer to the law firm of Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer and Wood: $150,000 a year, with expenses to be paid out of the fee.