FIGHTING FOR FINANCIAL INFLUENCE IN OTTOMAN LANDS ON THE EVE OF WORLD WAR I: SMYRNA-AIDIN RAILWAY NEGOTIATIONS

Abstract

The Smyrna-Aidin Railway Company was the only British railway company in Asia Minor before the outbreak of World War I. The railway was essential to the British Empire to carry agricultural products and mines to the Smyrna Port. On 2 November 1912, the Smyrna-Aidin Railway Company’s agent at Constantinople submitted an application for a concession to the chief of the Railway Department of the Ministry of Public Works, and a copy was handed to the Grand Vizierate. The concession applied for was to construct and operate a line of approximately 80 km. starting from a point on the eastern shore of the lake of Eğirdir at a distance of about 20 kilometers from the city of Eğirdir, and ending at the shore of the lake of Beyşehir. The Ottoman Government tried to use the extension of the line as leverage to have economical gains such as creating new monopolies or imposing consumption duties on petroleum, spirits, sugar, matches, tinder, cigarette paper, and playing cards. However, a year later, the Italian Government signed a contract to study the construction of a railway from Adalia to Burdur. The negotiations over Smyrna-Aidin Railway exposes power dynamics between the two Great Powers on the eve of World War I.