File 3136/1914 Pt 2 ‘German War. Situation in Turkish Arabia & Persian Gulf’ [‎10v] (27/504)

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clearer what would be the result of the European war; and he may well have been
anxious to gain time and to secure in exchange for Turkey’s adhesion to the German
cause something more solid than promises. These were tendered, indeed, on a lavish scale,
but I am not aware that they were given in a form which could be considered binding.
It is certain in any case that Talaat Bey’s hesitations were overcome, and that he had
definitely joined the conspiracy to bring about war this autumn some three weeks before
the crisis was precipitated.
Whatever the views of individual Ministers or others may have been, the
Turkish Government made no effort to emancipate themselves from German influence
or to stem the tide of its progress. The material hold established by the introduction
of the two German ships was on the contrary allowed to be strengthened. Not only
did these ships remain under effective German control, but a strong German element was
imported into the remainder of the fleet, even before the British naval mission, which
had been reduced to impotence by order of the Minister of Marine, had been recalled by
His Majesty’s Government. Large numbers of Germans were imported from Germany
as unostentatiously as possible, to be employed in the forts of the Dardanelles and
Bosphorus and at other crucial points. Numerous German merchant vessels, of which
the most important were the “ Corcovado ” and the “ General,” served as bases of
communication and as auxiliaries to what had become, in effect, a German Black Sea
Eleet. Secret communications with the German General Staff were established at the
outbreak of the war by means of the wireless apparatus of the “ Oorcovado,” which was
anchored opposite the German Embassy at Therapia, and which was continuously used
for this among other purposes throughout the whole period under review, in spite of
my urgent representations and those of my French and Russian colleagues. Other
German ships played with the Turkish flag as they pleased, in order to facilitate their
voyages or cloak their real character while in port, and a department was constituted
at the German Embassy for the purpose of requisitioning supplies for the use of the
German Government and their ships. All these things were tolerated by a complaisant
lurkish Government, who appeared to be indifferent to the incessant encroachments on
their sovereignty if not to welcome them.
. ( ^ )n * an d’ t ^ ie oncers of the German military mission displayed a ubiquitous activity,
iheir supremacy at the Ministry of ^War, combined with the close co-operation which
existed between them and the Militarist party, made it easy to fortify an already strong
position Acting in conjunction with other less accredited agents of their own
nationality, they were the mam organisers of those military preparations in Syria
which so directly menaced Egypt, and which became a serious source of preoccupation
and a constant theme of my remonstrances.
y'denoe of these preparations became daily more convincing-. Emissaries
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. were present on the frontier, bribing- and organising the Bedouins.
BafV 6 frnrt 6 ' e,SJ ’ atCl '; 1 , so “ th > ari 'l battalions of regular troops were posted at
stort Cice The T an eorps were held fn readiness to movekAh at
short notice. The Syrian towns were full of German officers, who were provided with
arge sums of money for suborning the local chiefs. As an illustration of the
thoroughness of tne German preparations, I was credibly informed that orders were
given to obtain estimates for the making of Indian military costumes at Alenno in
order to simulate the appearance of British Indian troops. Under directions from the
Central Government the civil authorities of the Syrian coast tokis removed aTtheffi
archives and ready money to the interior, and Moslem families were iTrned to it “
to avoid the consequences of bombardment by the British fleet The KlA' ^ re
was a party to the conspiracy, and arrangements were actutfly mlde S thWeT
control over the armed forces of the State after the aTrivafoTThTt-GoXn“ the d
prt tht’ AUTs rk^uerZ" the'pamnhf t encou . ra S e ™ ent by meatt of the
powerful members were in sympathy with thLothB^h mtvTmenT IhV* 8 T?
actual proof of the inspiration by Talaat Bev and i r> i er !v ^ ln deed,
against Great Britain. Every agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. which could be m^d t Pa ? a f articIes directed
in favour of Germany and to inflame it ao-ainst the 11 t0 St """ late pubhc opinion
connivance, and often with the co-operationtof the TurkishauTb 8 V* ^ A W u rk witb the
newspapers in Constantinople became German oro-ans • a I Uthon ‘ le ®' A 11 the Turkish
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