1914 - 1915: Mekertich Portukalian (Armenakan)
Mekertich Portukalian
14 October 1914 – 17 July 1915
Մկրտիչ Փորթուգալեան
ميكيرتيجهپورتوكاليان
(Armenekan Party – Supported by the Democratic Alliance)
In early 1914, the Ottoman Empire finally managed to get some breathing room for itself. Victory in the Second Balkan War and the recovery of the old capital of Erdine/Adrianople had restored national confidence, and for the first time since 1911, the Ottoman Empire could boast a peaceful nation. The fruits of peace were bountiful. As soldiers were demobilized, they returned to the workforce, and the Anatolian and Arabian Vilayets produced astounding numbers for the harvest and a small baby boom proved to be around the corner. Construction and trade boomed as the professionalization of occupations in the Ottoman Empire continued and previously suspended foreign trade flowed back into the Empire. And indeed, even in other matters, the Ottoman Empire had a lot to be proud of. The students they had sent to Europe for pilot training in 1911 had returned and after conducting several air shows, they showed the Empire that aerial travel was now at the forefront of human ingenuity and innovation. Ottoman planes flying from Constantinople to Alexandria became a regular sight in early 1914. Ottoman diplomats also brought forth another victory, securing a loan worth $100 million from France for such low-interest rates it was as if the loan had no interest at all.
National patriotism was through the roof. When the Ottoman government opened their orders for two battleships from the British to public subscription, Turkish, Arab, Kurdish, and even Greek and Armenian donations shot through the roof. Even schoolchildren donated parts of their pocket money to this endeavor. As conflict became ever so likely between the Ottomans and the Greeks over the Aegean Question, the prospect of renewed war was welcomed by loyal citizens, who saw it as a chance for the Ottomans to redeem themselves for the losses of 1912 during the First Balkan War. The Ottomans had every reason to be confident about a new war with Greece. Though even the Russians were worried about the new battleships ordered by the Ottomans, they were more preoccupied with keeping the Ottoman sea lanes open, as Russia depended on these sea lanes for 50% of its exports and 90% of its grain imports.
But underneath the veneer of growing success, the Ottomans had far more problems than the general public realized. To stave off a new conflict with Russia in the same fashion as that of Crete two decades prior, the Ottomans signed the proposed Armenian Reform Package on 8 February 1914. While this reduced tensions between Constantinople and St. Petersburg, it only complicated the already strained relationship between the ruling Young Turks and the Armenians of eastern Anatolia. The Ottomans also recognized that they were severely isolated diplomatically during negotiations with Russia. Previously, the British and French were always behind the Ottomans in order to keep Russian ambitions in check, but as the Triple Entente formed, only France maintained the stance that Ottoman sovereignty couldn’t be impeded by the Russians, and this stance was growing weaker every day. The governing Triumvirate of the Ottoman Empire pulled itself ever closer to the Germans in order to maintain itself in the geopolitical arena of Europe. This German-Ottoman relationship was furthered by the arrival of Otto Liman von Sanders, who was sent by Kaiser Wilhelm II to assist in the reformation of the organization of the Ottoman Army after the Second Balkan War.
The ruling Triumvirate of Talaat Pasha, Cemal Pasha, and Enver Pasha were also dictators, no matter how much they maintained the illusion of continuing the democracy of the Second Constitutional Era. What they wanted, they got, and many times, they got what they wanted at a cost to the state. When Sultan Mehmed V voiced his concerns in early 1914 about Enver Pasha forcibly making himself the Minister of War, the Triumvirate simply reminded Mehmed V who was in charge by drifting their hands to their pistols. As haram, as it was to threaten the Caliph of All Islam, to the Triumvirate, all decorum of religion had been thrown out of the window the moment they became dictators of the nation.
As the Ottomans dealt with the schizophrenic episode of its booming economy and growing diplomatic isolation, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 provided great discomfort to the Ottomans. They were outside the workings of the alliances in Europe, and the looming threat of a war in Europe raised the concerns of a Russian intervention in Constantinople. Enver and Talat sought to align themselves with Germany whilst Cemal sought to pre-empt a Russian pre-emptio by allying with France. Despite his best efforts, on 18 July 1914 Cemal Pasha returned to the Ottoman Empire empty-handed and without an alliance with France. It was not as if France detested an alliance with the Ottomans. They were interested, however could not commit to an alliance without the approval of the reluctant British and hostile Russians. The British could potentially be persuaded but the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had less hope for the Russians. As war erupted on 28 July 1914, the Ottomans still held onto the hope that perhaps, an alliance could be struck with their old 19th century ally, the British. This came crashing down when their ordered battleships were requisitioned for war in the Royal Navy by the British on 1 August 1914. On 2 August 1914, Enver signed a secret pact with the Germans in response.
As Enver Pasha called for mobilization, the Empire’s booming economy came to a stagnant crawl as laborers on the field enlisted in the army once again, and businesses closed down knowing that the ports would close in the inevitable coming conflict. With the straits being closed on 3 August 1914, the political class in the Ottoman Empire roused itself. After the Coup of 1913 most political parties in the Ottoman Empire had been banned with many of its leaders exiled to Europe and Egypt. As news of the SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau and their journey toward the Ottoman Empire became public knowledge, several underground political leaders in the Ottoman Empire realized what the Triumvirate was planning. Sultan Mehmed V himself was visibly angered by the idea of entering a general European war on such contradictory and foolish terms. Ahmet Riza, one of the founders of the Committee of Union & Progress, the ruling party of the Empire, denounced the foolishness in the Ottoman Parliament only to be escorted out. Recognizing that this was the best time to overcome the ruling dictatorship in the Empire, Ibrahim Temo spoke with Riza about the possibility of an overthrow.
A coup with only the support of Riza and Temo would never even come out of the woodworks, but both sent telegrams throughout Europe and Egypt, asking for the exiled political leaders to come together in a moment of unity. Abdullah Cevdet in France, Serif Pasha in Egypt, Ali Kemal in Switzerland, Lufti Fikri Bey in Italy, etc. were all addressed in this great calling. But these Ottoman liberals and democrats were scattered and if Temo and Riza had any hope of salvaging the situation, then they needed to be banded together. It was ironically, an Armenian Nationalist who banded these scattered politicians together. Mekertich Portukalian, the leader of the Armenekan Party was a known Armenian Nationalist, even if he was a more moderate one, and had operated from Marseille ever since his exile in 1885. On the evening of 2 August 1914, Riza extended an invitation to Mekertich, promising a democratic Ottoman Empire, one that would respect the rights of the Ottoman Armenians. It was too tempting of an idea to refuse, especially in light of growing confrontations between the Kurds and Armenians in Anatolia. Mekertich agreed, and on 7 August 1914, he hosted all of the exiled political refugees of the Ottoman Empire in his home in Marseille. A general plan for a coup was made but the support of Sultan Mehmed V was necessary. Temo’s cousin was a retainer to the Sultan and that day asked Mehmed V in whispered tones about the brewing conspiracy.
Mehmed V, who had never liked the Triumvirate, deriding them for betraying the democratic ideals of the 1908 Revolution was in favor. With the Sultan on board, Portukalian and the exiles left Marseille the next day. They reached Constantinople on 10 August 1914, where agents loyal to Sultan Mehmed V secreted them away from the ports before they could be stopped by lackeys of the Triumvirate. Mahmud Muhtar Pasha, who commanded the Ottoman 2nd Infantry Division in the 1st Army veered away from its routine war games in Thrace and instead started to march towards Constantinople. Mahmud Muhtar Pasha supported the goals of the democrats and had always been known to be a critic of the Three Pashas and was only allowed to walk free due to his highborn status. His troops knew nothing other than that an arrest and search drill was being planned in Constantinople which was evidently a lie told by Mahmud Muhtar Pasha. On the 14th of August 1914, as his troops neared Constantinople, he stopped, as all the plotters turned to Mehmed V to give the final go-ahead.
Mehmed V gave the go-ahead that evening the 2nd Infantry Division entered Constantinople to the surprise and astonishment of the gendarme based in Constantinople. Troops filed into the residences of the Three Pashas, arresting them on the orders of the Sultan, Mahmud Muhtar Pasha, and Portukalian, who had become the de facto spokesperson of the democratic opposition. Pro-Triumvirate militias were disarmed by the 2nd Infantry Division and Mehmed V gave a radio address to the entire nation. Mehmed V declared the end of the Triumvirate, denouncing them publically for betraying the democratic ideals of the 1908 Election and announced that a new government would be formed the next morning with Mehmed V invoking a temporary provisional clause in the Constitution to take absolute power for 72 hours. The next, however, none of the democratic opposition could agree on who should take power as Grand Vizier. The Coup of 1914 was intended to restore democracy and knew that anyone who would take power would inevitably be a temporary provisional leader until a new election could take place. And not many were willing to be provisionary leaders.
In the end, it was a surprised Portukalian who was offered the title of Grand Vizier. There were several doubts of course, as a Christian becoming Grand Vizier was unheard of. Though a few Christians and Jews had accumulated enough influence to have rivaled the post of Grand Vizier in the Ottoman Empire historically none had held the actual title. It was a bold move. It held symbolism. After all, the idea of Ottomanism was that every Ottoman citizen regardless of their background could reach the top in the new Ottoman Empire. The fact that Portukalian was an Armenian, the main ethnicity who were targets of the arrested Triumvirate made the symbolism even greater. For Portukalian, this was a tumultuous decision to take. An Armenian Nationalist at heart, he had been fighting the Ottoman Empire since 1879 ever since Abdulhamid II had taken absolute power. Though he had high hopes for the Empire during 1908-13, he had become disappointed by the Coup of 1913. To be suddenly offered its highest non-royal title was both an honor and a dishonor to him. It was fellow Armenian nationalist Panos Terlemezian who allowed him to make the decision to take the post. Terlemezian, though also an Armenian Nationalist, was popular in eastern Anatolia even among the Turkish and Kurdish populace for having protected their civilians during the Armenian uprisings in 1896. Terlemezian saw the opportunity that this provided for not just Armenians, but everyone in the Ottoman Empire.
At 11 a.m. on 15 August 1914, Mekertich Portukalian became the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman, replacing the arrested pro-Triumvirate Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha. The first order the first Christian Grand Vizier gave was to imprison several members of the Committee of Union and Progress involved with the Young Turks, including the Triumvirate and their cabinet for life. Portukalian appointed Mahmud Muhtar Pasha to become Minister of War, Ahmet Riza as Minister of the Interior, Arif Ahmed Bey as Minister of the Navy, Ibrahim Temo as Minister of Public Works, Ali Kemal as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Serif Pasha as Minister of Justice, and other democrats from various political parties now un-banned into the cabinet. Mehmed V immediately returned power back to the government, citing the constitution and returning back to a constitutional monarch. For Portukalian and the new cabinet, they had to deal with the headache of two German warships SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau sitting on their docks. The French, British, and Russian ambassadors were all raising hell about the issue whilst the German ambassador, Hans von Wagenheim pragmatically simply waited for a response from the newly restored democratic government.
On 11 August 1914, three days before the Restoration of 1914 – as it became known – Cemal Pasha had ‘bought’ the two warships under fictitious circumstances from Germany to the Ottoman Empire renaming the two warships. For Portukalian, this was a headache as everyone knew that the circumstances of the new Ottoman warships were entirely fictitious and the British and French saw right through them. Furthermore, the secret alliance that Enver Pasha had signed two weeks prior with Germany bound the Ottomans to Germany under a military alliance that the new government had no wish to honor. Hans von Wagenheim, nicknamed ‘The Fighting Diplomat’ by the other diplomats in Constantinople ardently demanded the new government to honor the secret alliance. Portukalian on the other hand, sought to fight for rapprochement and a deal to ensure that his government could possibly withdraw from the precipitous situation properly. And there was also the matter of the ongoing talks with Russia about a possible rapprochement and alliance. Despite their open Germanophile view, the Triumvirate had opened secret talks with Russia regarding a potential defensive pact in secret back in August 5. Though Sazonov, the Russian Foreign Minister remained incredibly negative towards the idea, Russian diplomats were taking the talks extremely seriously.
In order to make sure that any move against either belligerent side, Portukalian requested the German Embassy to stop the transfer of officers involved in the German military reform commission in Constantinople from Germany at the moment. Whilst Wagenheim, recognizing the delicacy of the situation ultimately agreed to the first Christian Grand Vizier’s thoughts, the stubborn Admiral Souchon was angered by what he deemed to be Turkish duplicity. Portukalian and the new Ottoman Cabinet could only massage their headaches as the very first day of their new jobs had been forced to be done with foreign relations in mind. None of the government officials knew what to do domestically as the entire Empire waited with bated breath regarding the new government whilst said the government was tangled up in European great power politics. Ahmet Riza, as the Minister of the Interior addressed the nation 2 days later by asking for calm and asking every civil official to go about their day as per the rules and regulations of the revised 1908 Ottoman Constitution.
For Portukalian and the cabinet, the goal was clear. Until the Empire could deal with its internal affairs on a pragmatic and proper basis, the Ottomans were not going to be involved in this new European war. Portukalian had so much he wished – such as restoring the Ottoman Armenian Parliament of 1863 – and did not wish to be tangled up in what he deemed to be harmful politics from Europe. Russian Ambassador, Mikhail von Giers was ecstatic when on 21 August 1914, after a week of dawdling, Ali Kemal, in his role as Foreign Minister, under directives from Portukalian offered the Russians a deal. Goeben and Breslau would remain in port in the Sea of Marmara and would not be allowed to enter the Black Sea, whilst the Ottomans also extracted a promise from Giers to at least talk with Sazonov about a neutrality pact. Souchon was ordered to take his two ships to port at Bandirma. Souchon was furious. This move made it clear that the ships would remain under the ostensible command of the Ottomans – they hadn’t forgotten nor forgiven the British for the requisitioning of their ships into the Royal Navy – whilst also delaying any sort of belligerence against the Entente. This was made clear when Enver’s mobilization order was repealed to only a partial mobilization. Despite the tone of rapprochement that Portukalian’s government was giving out, Portukalian needed to make it clear that he would not let the European war affect the Ottoman’s own decision-making process. As a Christian head of government in a conservative Islamic nation, he already had many opponents in the Ottoman Senate and Parliament and needed to make this clear to all.
The British Ambassador, Louis Mallet was summoned to Portukalian, and he made it clear that if the British Fleet, which was still in the Aegean, waiting for Souchon’s fleet to come out and enter Ottoman waters, then they would be fired upon and attacked as if ‘our two nations are at war.’ Mallet, who was an ally of Churchill and supported his moves, wrote back to London angered by the interaction. Whilst Mallet had given off belligerent tones, Asquith was more moderate. British ships had come into viewing distance from Ottoman shores – though still not breaching the 6-mile limit of neutrality – and the Ottomans were understandably angry. The Admiralty had previously acquiesced to the idea of a 15-million-pound compensation to the Ottoman Empire for the warships and Asquith, eager to at least stave off an Ottoman entry into the war asked the cabinet, and Churchill to consider it seriously. Meanwhile, the Germans too became furious at the new Ottoman government for their open and loose interpretations of the document signed by Enver. Portukalian explicitly told Wagenheim that the document did not mention anything about the Ottomans entering the conflict when the Germans did and that only if necessary and only if needed would his government enter the conflict.
The Germans, recognizing the futility of trying to do anything underhanded with the new government, lest they destroy the good relationship with Constantinople, decided to play ball for the moment and agreed to the loose interpretation and asked Souchon to stay put and not anger anyone important. The Germans refocused their diplomatic might onto the Bulgarians. And the Ottomans finally turned back to their domestic affairs. 10 July 1915 was announced as the new date for democratic elections in the Ottoman Empire, keeping under the universal male suffrage and direct vote for Assembly members as advised by the 1908 Constitution. Portukalian decided to move ahead with his pet project of restoring the 1863 Ottoman Armenian Parliament which had autonomous democratic powers over Ottoman Armenian citizens during the height of the Tanzimat Era. On 17 September 1914, under the authority of the Ottoman Senate, the Ottoman Armenian Parliament was asked to reconvene in December 1914 after an election. A great victory for Portukalian personally, the news of the Ottoman Armenian Parliament reconvening was met with celebrations among the Armenian populace of the Ottoman Empire.
Whilst the possibility of a state-sponsored violent spree against Armenians had disappeared with the new government, the reinstatement of the Ottoman Armenian Parliament was met with disdain by the local Kurdish tribes living alongside the Armenians. The Kocusagi Kurdish Tribe involved itself in heavy-handed intimidation and banditry against the Armenian peasantry and was met with support from the conservative Ottoman civil officials in the region, who were still unsure about their loyalty to the new government in Constantinople. The Armenians did not take these insults lying down either, and sporadic outbursts of violence began to grow. The honor killing of 2 Armenians in broad daylight in Bitlis by 3 members of the Ferhatusagi tribe caught even the attention of the Ottoman government. Minister of the Interior, Ahmet Riza had the officials who were neglecting the matter exiled to govern the Asir – a virtual death sentence to a long political career in the Ottoman Empire at the time. But while it was an appropriate gesture, the Kurdish tribes in the region, who had long targeted Armenians with the blessings of Abdulhamid II and then the Triumvirate were not dissuaded to stop with the removal of a few officials from the region. The Armenians, in response, began to take up arms, not against the government, as many had once feared but against marauding members of various Kurdish tribes.
Minister of the Interior, Ahmet Riza, and Portukalian himself recognized that if the Third Democratic Restoration in the Ottoman Empire was to be successful, then the very first elections it was going to hold needed to be as fair and clean-cut as possible. In addition, something needed to be done about the powerful tribes in eastern Anatolia who did as they pleased regardless of what the government ordered them to. The government was however being challenged by the ghosts of the Triumvirate. In the Ottoman Parliament, the Committee of Union & Progress (CUP) still had most of its members adhere to the idea of Turkish nationalism at the expense of other ethnicities in the Empire, most especially in the non-Muslim minorities following the ideologies of the Three Pashas. When the government attempted to pass a bill that would employ 7000 new Ottoman gendarmes and policemen in eastern Anatolia to prevent the growing specter of violence, members of the CUP led by Halil Mentese Bey decided to stall the bill’s approach to the Senate. The CUP, which had been a frequent backer of a Turkification policy believed the Armenians to be third-columnists within the Ottoman Empire, and wanted to end the Armenian Question at all costs, even if the Kurds did the dirty deed for them. Mentese was successful for two weeks, but after a third hearing, the support of the other political parties, now unbanned in the Empire, saw the bill pass into the Senate, where it was made into law.
7000 new paramilitaries were soon deployed in early November 1914 to Sivas, Bitlis, Van, and Muradiye to protect the election for the Ottoman Armenian Parliament coming up in December. The surge of Ottoman paramilitary present on the streets provided an ironical twist as for the first time in decades these members of the Ottoman military apparatus were there to protect the Armenians. New Ottoman government officials who had replaced the pro-CUP ones in the regions made it clear that any attempt to intimidate, force, raid, and undo the process of the election would see the reaction of the government forces. Kurdish tribes, who were already belligerent against the Ottomans because of their pro-CUP attitudes, thought that this was a provocation. Three Kurdish tribes rose up in rebellion in November 1914, marauding the countryside villages and the more remote roads and passageways on horseback.
With the Ottoman Armenian election coming up soon, this new uprising needed to be dealt with fast. But even as new numbers of paramilitary forces surged into eastern Anatolia to put down the uprising, the Turkish nationalists of the CUP continued their agitation against the government, halting, stalling, and conducting several disruptive means of attacking the new current ruling government of Portukalian. The fact that they were being governed by a Christian, an Armenian at that was like a personal insult to several members of the CUP, and despite the support that Sultan Mehmed V had shown to the government, many members of the CUP continued to ignore the constitutional supporting building behind Portukalian. And there was also the fact of Russia. Fearing an Ottoman entry into the war, the Russians had kept two armies in the Caucasus at full alert since August 1914 and whilst war between the two nations hadn’t started at all, the surge of Ottoman paramilitary into eastern Anatolia needed to be treaded carefully lest a spark start between Constantinople and St. Petersburg. Ottoman paramilitary was thus ordered to avoid the Russian border by at least 35 km to prevent any excuse from the Russian side of the border.
Though the paramilitary was able to open the roads and make the cities safe, the rural and remote countryside was still filled with the brim with Kurdish rebels by the time the election date of 5 December 1914 rolled around. The elections were remarkably calm despite the situation around them as Ottoman gendarmes prevented the intervention of anyone with malevolent intentions. Of The ~300,000 eligible Armenian voters in the Ottoman Empire at the time, around ~231,000 of them cast a vote.
Armenakan Party (Autonomist): 16
Armenakan Party (Nationalist): 14
Social Democratic Hunchakian Party: 10
Armenian Revolutionary Federation: 5
Freedom and Accord Party: 4
Portukalian had to watch his party fracture during the 1914 Ottoman Armenian elections. With reconciliation with the Ottoman Empire on the cards, the Armenakan Party in Armenia fractured into two factions, with the Autonomist Faction promoting greater autonomy and freedom of Armenians, but within the purview of the Ottoman Empire and the Nationalist Faction promoting the secession and independence of Armenia. Portukalian himself was neutral on the topic, as he was now the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and found it dangerous to entertain such thoughts if he was to lead the nation properly. The autonomist Social Democratic Hunchakian Party won 10 seats whilst the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation also claimed 5 seats. The only mainstream empire-wide political party to win any seats in the elections was the Ottoman Freedom and Accord Party which was very minority friendly and represented the liberal and centrist segment of Armenian society. Panos Terlemezian became the Speaker of the Ottoman Armenian Parliament representing the overall Armenakan Party which had claimed 30 seats out of 49. With powers over Armenian cultural promotion, consultation with government regarding Armenian affairs, administrative decisions over Armenian vilayets, the education system of Armenians, and land resource management for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the restoration of the Ottoman Armenian Parliament was Portukalian’s greatest achievement. The remainder of the Kurdish rebels melted away with time in the countryside as Portukalian’s government continued to root out pro-Triumvirate civil servants throughout the Empire.
Whilst Portukalian’s government breathed a sigh of relief as things seemed to be becoming more normal, on January 1915, another act threw a spanner into the works of the new democracy in the Empire. Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov of Bulgaria had long delayed the entry of Bulgaria into the Great War, but with mounting German pressure and mounting promises of land and riches from Berlin and Vienna, and with Ottoman neutrality seemingly becoming more and more likely, and with Allied offers to Bulgaria becoming ever vaguer, the Bulgarians declared war on Serbia on 12 January 1915 in support of the Central Powers. Prime Minister Venizelos of Greece offered an entire Greek army corps and the Greek fleet to the Allies to attack Bulgaria at the same time, precipitating a political crisis in neutral Greece at the time. With the Great War approaching both sides of the Ottoman border, it became clearer to the Ottomans that neutrality was becoming less and less of an option, especially if the Ottomans wished to remain safe in the post-war world. With Bulgaria jumping with the Central Powers, Admiral Souchon was starting to make even greater noise in the Sea of Marmara whilst Wagenheim continued to pressure the new government about the idea of joining the war.
Though Portukalian and his government had come to power to avoid any sort of entry into the war, the old diplomatic isolation of the Ottomans was rearing its ugly head. The Ottomans had no illusions about Russian claims on their territory but with Bulgaria aligning with the Germans, Bulgarian claims in eastern Thrace were also not unknown. This put the Ottomans in a deep quandary as it was clear that it was time to pick sides, and unless they did then the post-war world would be extremely unforgiving to the Ottomans. Nevertheless, even though it seemed that the war loomed large among the politicians, they knew that the Ottomans needed to enter the war on their terms. Being at peace for the past 6 months had given the Ottomans much-needed breathing room. Portukalian’s government had hiked up prices for passage through the Straits to extremely high levels that the Allies had paid to send supplies and grain to Russia. As such, the economy was in good condition, and the factories were producing a good amount of products every week. Neutral trade meant that Ottoman chromium sales were increasing throughout Europe as chromium became a vital commodity during wartime. The German and French military missions in the Ottoman Empire had significantly reorganized the Ottoman military and Ottoman military commanders watched the war in Europe with studious eyes.
The several unbanned political parties in the Ottoman Empire also had differing views on which side they favored most, but one thing was clear – if the Ottomans wanted to survive the post-war order, it needed to be in the war, and on the winning side. The German and Austrian support for Greece during the Aegean Crisis in early to mid-1914 had neither been forgiven nor forgotten either. For Portukalian, it was essential that the Ottomans be on the winning side, no matter which side. So in secret, the halted negotiations between the Ottomans and the great powers were re-started by the end of January 1915. Compared to 1914, the Ottomans found the Central Powers to be more arrogant whilst the Entente proved to be demurer. Serbia was on the brink of falling with Bulgaria’s entry and Russia was retreating all throughout the Eastern Front. Compared to the offers of 1914, the Entente’s offers to the Ottomans were far more expansive. A border re-draw with Bulgaria in regards to Kardzhali & Haskovo, reduction of loans that the Ottomans owed to the Entente Powers, complete annulment of debts owed to Germany and Austria, new non-interest loans to the Ottoman Empire, a guarantee of Ottoman Empire’s territorial sovereignty and a Russian withdrawal from Sarakamis to Selim, giving up the important fort district to the Ottomans. The Germans stuck to their offer of 1914. Whilst the Entente offer was enticing, the Ottomans had not forgiven the British for their two ships, and Portukalian demanded either the two ships be returned to the Ottomans, or appropriate compensation – 15 million pounds for each ship – be given to the Ottomans. In return, Portukalian agreed that only paramilitary forces would be present in the Ottoman Caucasus and two armies would open up a front in Thrace immediately.
Whilst Portukalian juggled negotiations with his Foreign Minister, Ali Kemal, as the 1915 Ottoman General Elections neared, the political parties banded together to discuss their future. The parties agreed whilst they would all contest the elections, the parties would remain in coalition with one another for the duration of the conflict in Europe and if possible conduct a favorable entry into the conflict for the Ottomans. As the Allies occupied Thessaloniki in a last-ditch attempt to protect Serbia whilst forcing the political intrigues in Greece to escalate, the mood among the Ottoman politicians became even more somber. As it stood, before the elections, the political parties of the Ottoman Empire favored: -
- Freedom & Accord Party: Entente
- Committee of Union & Progress: Central Powers
- Ottoman Socialist Party: Neutrality
- Armenekan Party: Entente
- Social Democrat Hunchakian Party: Entente
- Armenian Revolutionary Foundation: Central Powers
- Al-Fatat: Central Powers
- Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization: Entente
With the various Armenian parties and Arab parties running on a single ticket each, the election resulted in a devastating victory for the Freedom and Accord Party, which managed to snag 42.3% of the vote and 121 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Support for the Committee of Union & Progress had cratered after the Restoration of 1914 and compared to the elections of 1908, 1912, and 1914 where they had won great victories, they only managed to win a measly 38 seats. The social democratic party led by Huseyin Hilmi managed to come in at second place. A week later, Portukalian respected the results of the election and allowed Mehmed V to call Prince Sabahaddin the leader of the Freedom & Accord Party to become the new Grand Vizier.
Though Portukalian only served as Grand Vizier for 11 months, he is remembered fondly in modern Ottoman memory. He is, after all, the first Christian Grand Vizier, and he also deftly maneuvered the July Crisis and its aftermath in the Ottoman Empire whilst also restoring the Ottoman Armenian Parliament at the same time. And now, as the Ottomans were on the brink of entering the conflict, Portukalian had done his job. The administrative and military reforms of 1913 had been completed and now the Ottomans could enter the conflict on their own terms.
