From British Archives on Enver Pasha: Proof of Bribe? Old Suggestions Surface Again
Güncelleme Tarihi:
An interesting piece of news came out yesterday in the British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph." Newly opened secret files, according to the newspaper, seem to suggest that during World War I, Britain paid $1.5 million dollars to Enver Pasha in order to have the Ottoman Empire withdraw its forces from fighting, but that when peace did not persist, part of this money was paid back to the British.
As conjectured in the story published in the "Telegraph," Britain offered $5 million to the Ottomans to allow them to cross the straits of Cannakale, and another $2 million to the Ottomans to get them to pull their troops out of Palestine. The story also says that an international arms dealer by the name of Basil Zaharoff was responsible for the talks between the two sides. The Telegraph story also says that Enver Pasha was contacted by a civil servant by the name of Kerim Bey in Vienna, who was working for the Ottoman Empire's Loan Bureau there, and that the suggested bribe later went up to the astonishing figure of $10 million dollars.
The "newly found" documents that the "Daily Telegraph" based its story on are however taken from historian H.V.F. Winston's 1982 book "The Illicit Adventure," a book in which the documents are treated much differently than the abovementioned newspaper article. In Winston's book, the money offered by the British is for two ships belonging to the Germans to be given to them by the Ottomans, and not for the opening of the Canakkale straits to their forces. In neither the book nor the newspaper article is there documented proof of Enver Pasha ever having received any cash for anything-there is only a letter by arms dealer Basil Zaharoff regarding Enver Pasha not returning money after the so-called deal. Should the owners of The daily Telegraph be given an award for ignorance for the surfacing of these 87 year old accusations in their paper?