Abstract
According to German Consular Reports Bulgarian and Greek Atrocities in Thessaloniki in the First Balkan War
Thessaloniki was seen as a very strategic place politically and economically for many states, and the capture of Thessaloniki gave that state power and prestige in the context of the Aegean Sea and the Balkans. Although Thessaloniki remained under Turkish rule for many years, the extraordinary conditions brought about by the First Balkan War prevented the Ottoman Empire from transferring enough power there. Our study deals with the attacks on Muslim Turks in the city by Greek and Bulgarian soldiers after the capture of Thessaloniki by the Greeks, through the German consulate in the city. Our study, which also reflects the diplomatic power of Germany in the twentieth century, also showed the Turkish-German alliance before the First World War. These reports, which we obtained from the 1912-1913 catalog in the archive of the German foreign ministry, include the events such as looting, pillaging and killing of Muslim Turks in the city, but also in a sense, why the Greeks and Bulgarians resorted to such a way.
Keywords
Balkan Wars, Thessaloniki, Venizelos