the beginnings of ottoman-german partnership - Bilkent University

assessed the value of Ottoman military power realistically, and concluded that the
Ottoman Empire lacked the strength to supply the force needed from a real ally. The
memoirs of Ali İhsan Sabis and Kazım Karabekir who held important positions in the
Ottoman Army before and during the First World War reveal that the Ottomans did
not sincerely regard the missions as useful for the Empire. In addition to the reforms
they applied to the Ottoman Army, the missions mostly served to introduce German
discipline and punctuality to the Ottomans. The young officers who were trained in
German ways acquired the German militarist approach and later served as the core
cadres of the Ottoman general staff during the First World War and the Turkish War
for Independence. The presence of the von Sanders mission in the Ottoman Empire
served as a deterrent factor against the Entente powers before the war, but it was far
from being an effective tool to drag the Ottomans into the war. Germany never
considered the German missions as the indispensable tools for persuading the Turks
to agree on an alliance. After signature of the secret treaty of Alliance and the arrival
of the Goeben and Breslau, however, Germany tried to use the German officers as
leverage against the Turks and the Entente Powers. 265
To sum up, German-Ottoman diplomatic relations were mostly cordial
following the first interaction at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The
Ottoman-German Defensive Alliance of 1790, the arrival of the Kaehler Reform
Mission in Turkey in 1883, the Baghdad Railroad Concession of 1904, Germany's
supply of a state loan to Turkey in 1910, and the arrival of the von Sanders Military
Mission in December 1913 were the peak points in developing relations between the
two states. Although there was a regression in their relations in the first months of
1914, the secret treaty of August 2, 1914, which was designed as a defensive treaty
265 Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire: 1914-1918, p. 368.
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