Chapter 267: Trip to Constantinople

On June 28, Prime Minister Venizelos took the cruiser Esmeralda, escorted by two destroyers along the way, across the Aegean Sea and arrived at Constantinople.

After arriving on the evening of the 29th, Venizelos stayed at the Greek Embassy in Constantinople.

"Ambassador Amansperger, can you tell me about the current situation of the Ottoman Empire? Especially in terms of politics, what is the current situation of the High Gate (the name for the Ottoman government)?" Venizelos asked the Greek Ambassador to Constantinople Amansperger said.

The poor Ottoman Empire, in just five years, experienced a revolution and three large-scale foreign wars, each of which was defeated miserably. Such tragic results triggered a series of internal chaos.

This long-established empire is now in turmoil.

Venizelos thinks that the current situation of the Ottoman Empire should be at its extreme.

With a visit scheduled for tomorrow, Venizelos wanted to learn more about the situation in the Ottoman Empire from the Greek ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

"The current high school is very chaotic. Unionists and liberals are fighting against each other." Ammannsperger thought for a while, organized his words, and said carefully.

"Not long ago, when the news of the Ottoman Empire's army losing Edirne in Thrace spread to Constantinople, it shocked Gaomen greatly. The Bulgarian army cut off Edirne's food supplies, causing the defenders to The Ottoman soldiers finally surrendered"

"After the failure of the last war (referring to the First Balkan War), the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its Balkan territory"

"Compared to losing remote desert provinces like Libya, losing Albania, Macedonia, and Thrace is a much more serious loss."

"Ever since the Ottoman Empire captured these European territories from Byzantium five centuries ago, they have been the administrative and economic center of the empire since then, and they are the most prosperous and developed place in the entire Ottoman Empire."

"After losing the revenue turned over by these places, the Ottoman Empire's fiscal revenue received a heavy blow."

Venizelos listened carefully to Ambassador Ammannsperger's introduction, and thought about how this information could be used in the subsequent meeting with Ottoman officials.

"In addition, continuous wars have produced thousands of refugees. Along with the refugees, there are lingering infectious diseases."

"Not long ago, shortly after the signing of the Treaty of London ceding Edirne, Mehmud Surfkot Pasha was assassinated outside the High Gate."

"The Young Turks should take advantage of the murder of the Grand Vizier and turn it into their political advantage. Using this as an excuse, they began to eliminate dissidents and carry out purges. Now the Unionists have already established themselves in the political arena of the Ottoman Empire. "Stand firm on the ground"

Hearing this, Venizelos asked curiously: "So who is the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire now?"

“A few days ago, the Sultan just appointed royal member Said Halim Pasha as the new Grand Vizier (Prime Minister).”

Venizelos couldn't help but frowned when he heard that the person he would meet with tomorrow would be a member of the royal family.

The purpose of this diplomacy is to encourage the Ottoman Empire to attack from the flanks and contain the Bulgarian army. According to the current situation of the Ottoman Empire as stated by Amans Gebe, a grand vizier who was born in the royal family may not have the courage to take decisive military measures.

After all, the Ottoman Empire suffered disastrous defeats in three wars in a short period of time. One can imagine how low the morale of the people within the Ottoman Empire is now!

At this juncture, it would be too difficult to persuade the leaders of the Ottoman Empire to send troops again.

As far as the Ottoman Empire is concerned at this time, it is too late to seize the time to take a breath and repair. How can it still have the courage to start a war again?

A grand vizier born in a royal family would naturally not have much responsibility without the torturous training of his manager.

Having said this, Amansgeber seemed to have noticed the Prime Minister's dull expression and said: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, if you want to achieve the purpose of persuading the Ottoman Empire to send troops, it is best not to meet the trusted Grand Vizier."

"You should directly visit the three giants of the current Ottoman Empire. In my opinion, these three should be the real leaders of the high gate," Amansgebe said.

"They are Enver, Talat, and Cemal. They are the top leaders of the Young Turks."

"Talat Pasha was appointed Minister of the Interior, Enver Pasha, the most popular general in the army, was appointed Minister of War, and Cemal Pasha was Governor of Constantinople"

Venizelos asked: "Your Excellency Ambassador, based on your experience, which pasha has the strongest will to fight?"

Amansgeber was silent for a moment, and after thinking carefully in his mind, he slowly said: "War Minister Enver Pasha"

"What's the reason?" Venizelos said cautiously.

For Greece now, the most important thing is to end this war quickly. Every day of delay costs Greece tens of millions of drachmas.

"Enver was a soldier and a staunch militant in the Ottoman Empire. Enver participated in each of the three recent wars in the Ottoman Empire."

"During the Italian-Turkish War, Enver, as the Sultan's son-in-law, traveled thousands of miles to Libya to command the Ottoman soldiers in the war."

"After returning from Libya, when the Ottoman Empire was fighting fiercely with Bulgaria in Thrace, due to the unfavorable situation, the former Grand Vizier, the liberal Jamil Pasha, had intended to sign an agreement to cede Edirne to foreign rule"

"Enver, who learned the news, took extreme action. He took more than ten soldiers and entered the high gate. They rushed into the cabinet meeting room and directly killed four senior officials including the Minister of War Zinamu Pasha"

"According to what I heard, Enver pointed a pistol at the head of Grand Vizier Kamil and asked the Grand Vizier to resign voluntarily. All this happened within 15 minutes"

"After that, Enver went directly to the Sultan's palace, reported the action, and asked the Sultan to appoint a new Grand Vizier"

Well, Venizelos listened and analyzed at the same time. He had a great reputation in the army and had a strong sense of patriotism. At the same time, he served as the Minister of War and actually controlled the control of the Ottoman Empire's army.

"This Enver Pasha is just 34 years old this year, very young," said Amansegpe.

Hearing this, Venizelos' eyes lit up. Thirty-four years old is very young for a politician. No wonder he is so full of vigor.

"Then let's visit Enver Pasha tomorrow and try to open a breakthrough from him." Venizelos also thought that such a high-ranking official from a military background was indeed a suitable role from Amansperg's introduction.

"Mr. Prime Minister, you..." Amansperg hesitated.

"What's the matter?" Venizelos was surprised.

"Prime Minister, the relationship between Greece and the Ottoman Empire is not good. After all, our war with the Ottoman Empire has just ended for a few months. Greece has also taken a large area of ​​land from the Ottoman Empire. Almost all the islands in the Aegean Sea have been occupied by Greece," Ambassador Amansperg advised.

"You'd better not make a big fuss about tomorrow's trip, otherwise if the news of the Greek Prime Minister's arrival in Constantinople is leaked, then I'm worried that some extremists will be unfavorable to you."

It seems that the Ottomans also have resentment towards Greece, Venizelos said secretly.

For Venizelos, this visit, persuading the Ottoman Empire to send troops to Thrace, is only one of the purposes.

Easing the tense relationship between Greece and the Ottoman Empire is also an important goal of Venizelos.

After all, after the Balkan War, the situation in the Balkans has changed dramatically.

With the Ottoman Empire losing important territories including Thrace and Macedonia, the Greek territory is no longer directly adjacent to the Ottoman Empire, which means that the possibility of direct conflict between Greece and the Ottoman Empire is very small.

Instead, Bulgaria and Serbia, the former allies of Greece, have become the biggest and most direct threats to Greece on land.

Greece and Bulgaria, the armies of the two countries are now fighting bloody battles in Macedonia.

Then Greece and the Ottoman Empire, which were still at war not long ago, can naturally become allies.

For those engaged in diplomatic work, flexible positions are a skill that must be learned, and Venizelos is just an excellent diplomat.

As the saying goes, there are only eternal interests between countries, but no eternal friends.

There are many practical reasons for Greece to ease relations with the Ottoman Empire.

First of all, the Ottoman Empire is still Greece's largest commodity export market so far.

Relying on the advantages of geographical location, although the political relations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire have always been bad, the economic ties between the two countries have always been close.

The Ottoman Empire has always been the largest exporter of Greek goods.

For example, textiles, Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea, produces a large amount of cotton. Every year, Greece's well-developed textile industry needs to import cotton from Asia Minor.

The cotton produced in Asia Minor not only feeds tens of thousands of cotton textile workers in Greece, but also is the main income of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman cotton farmers.

The primary agricultural products such as palm oil and sugarcane produced in the Congolese colony are shipped to Greece for processing, and then support industrial products such as sugar and soap, which are exported to the Ottoman Empire.

Secondly, the Greeks are the most populous Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

For a long time, these Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire have been like some hostages, making the Greek government afraid to take extreme measures to deal with MSL in Greece.

For example, after Bulgaria and Serbia occupied Macedonia, a large number of MSLs were expelled from Macedonia, and as many as 300,000 refugees flowed into Asia Minor.

Especially Bulgaria, after unifying the Eastern Rumelia Province in 1881 and acquiring Thrace in 1813, Bulgarian soldiers and people expelled almost all MSLs, and all their property and land were directly confiscated.

The Greek government has not intervened to take such extreme and drastic measures, because there may be as many as two million Greeks living in Asia Minor.

As mentioned earlier, Greece and the Ottoman Empire have always maintained close economic ties, and these Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire have contributed to this.

There are many Greeks who still live in the Ottoman Empire who are successful businessmen, small shop owners, and craftsmen, such as tailors.

Due to the extremely backward education in the Ottoman Empire, the MSL illiteracy rate in the Ottoman Empire was extremely high, and the official Arabic letters used by the Ottoman Empire were also particularly complex and difficult to recognize, which exacerbated the difficulty of popularizing the text.

The Greeks living in the Ottoman territory attached great importance to education, so many Greeks were able to work in relatively high-end professions such as teachers, lawyers, doctors, translators, and bankers.

Due to national sentiments, these people also tended to import goods from their fellow Greeks.

The natural sales channels provided great convenience for the circulation and sales of Greek goods in the Ottoman Empire.

For these reasons, Venizelos, who was a diplomat, also visited Constantinople with the purpose of easing the tense political relations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

According to Venizelos, there would be no war between Greece and the Ottomans for a long time after the territories were no longer bordering each other.

That being the case, why not build a good relationship with Greece’s largest commodity export market?

This would also protect the two million Greeks living within the Ottoman Empire.

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In the residence of the Minister of War, the Greek Prime Minister Venizelos quietly visited Enver Pasha together with the Greek Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Amans Gebe.

In the back garden, Venizelos met this upstart on the Ottoman political scene.

Thirty-four-year-old Enver is very young and looks heroic in a khaki military uniform.

"I can't believe that three robbers just joined forces to rob, and then turned around and started fighting over the uneven distribution of the spoils," Enver said to Venizelos in a mocking tone.

Enver, who was deeply worried about the loss of East Thrace, had been paying close attention to the development of the war since the news of the war between Greece and Bulgaria came.

Naturally, Venizelos knew the purpose of his visit.

Thinking of the abominable Greece, which also seized a large amount of territory from the Ottoman Empire, I was very angry.

Venizelos shrugged, took off his black bowler hat, placed it on the table, and said in a deep voice: "Envi Pasha, you are now a politician and need to adapt to the change of status and the relationship between countries. That’s it, revolving around profit.”

"If you are here to want the Ottoman Empire to send troops to help Greece solve its troubles, there is no need to say anything. Greece and the Ottoman Empire do not have such a close relationship," Enver said coldly.

Venizelos didn't care and just said to himself: "How many important Balkan territories did the Ottoman Empire lose in just a few decades? Romania, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia, Thrace, Macedonia."

Venizelos didn't say a name, and Enver's face turned cold.

"These places are the richest and most prosperous places in the Ottoman Empire. They are important food producing areas and have always been the main source of tax revenue for the Ottoman Empire."

"Now these places are all lost."

“Bulgaria’s new border is only 49 kilometers away from Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.”

"In just two years, the Ottoman Empire lost two wars"

Enver's face was ashen, and Venizelos didn't say a word. It was like a knife had been stabbed in the body of this patriotic general.

Armansgeber, who was fighting on the sidelines, was very worried that Prime Minister Venizelos's merciless ridicule of the Ottoman Empire would anger Enver.

"Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, subjects of the Ottomans for five hundred years, you have never taken it seriously, but now you have defeated the Ottoman Empire. I am afraid you never expected this cruel reality in your dreams."

Enver's chest heaved violently.

Venizelos didn't care, and said to himself: "Losing to Italy, a young country in Europe, is already a huge blow, but now we are losing to the small Balkan countries that were once affiliated with the Ottoman Empire. , the Ottoman army and people cannot accept it in any case."

"Envi Pasha, the biggest problem for the Ottoman Empire today is actually public morale, which has dropped to an extreme."

"The Ottoman Empire has never been in such urgent need of a victory to prove itself as it is today."

After that, Venizelos picked up his hat, put it on, turned and left.