Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Might be possible the Japanese reached a power sharing agreement with the Koreans like the Helleno-Turkism-ish thing the Ottomans have with their Christian minorities. Even with the Ottoman system providing an alternative to the flat imperialist model, I’m not too sure that’s what Japan went with though.
By 'fully integrated,' you mean 'the Chinese population will have had their culture and language abandoned, and the indigenous population will be reduced to an even worse state of poverty and deprivation than they suffer in our own timeline,' at least if the Ainu are anything to go by.
The Japanese were never going to adopt a policy of equality for their colonial subjects. The only serious figure who flattered himself of that was Itō Hirobumi, and he noticeably failed to convince the Koreans of it, put it that way.
The Ottomans or Danubians can extend rights to their subjects because they are doing so from the position of having governed their respective regions for centuries- that's an entirely different thing from colonial conquest at the turn of the twentieth century, after the rise of nationalism was already a thing.
It's like people talking on this board about how 'Italy could have kept Libya!'
Yes, with genocide- cultural or otherwise. The twentieth century wasn't a Paradox game where you take territory and wait long enough to core it.
I'm not saying a surviving Japanese empire is impossible, but let's talk about what we're talking about here.
The Ottomans or Danubians can extend rights to their subjects because they are doing so from the position of having governed their respective regions for centuries- that's an entirely different thing from colonial conquest at the turn of the twentieth century, after the rise of nationalism was already a thing.
It's like people talking on this board about how 'Italy could have kept Libya!'
Yes, with genocide- cultural or otherwise. The twentieth century wasn't a Paradox game where you take territory and wait long enough to core it.
I'm not saying a surviving Japanese empire is impossible, but let's talk about what we're talking about here.
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the ottoman model does provide some inspiration to other countries
it actually does pretty good in the mid to late 1900s but kinda falls apart in an economic bubble sadly
CAR has an interesting future forward that's for sure
the great war being shorter ittl with smaller casualties has led to several political effects throughout the countries yes
Thanks! I had to read a lot of Islamic Theology to back up my arguments there. Nice to see its appreciated.
well certainly not as bad as the heyday of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan from 1895 - 1930, but its certainly grim in Taiwan. Consider it........a Puerto Rico like situation where things went wrong......
its a possibility
the Koreans are out, they will not be staying with Japan, too much bad blood for that to happen
yeah the Ainu unfortunately show what a Japanese taiwan would look like, though with the situation adapted due to the higher population of han and aborigines in taiwan
Well, the Koreans were so dissatisfied they shot bullets into the man's chest. Yeah the Koreans arent staying, the moment Japan fumbles, they leave.
Plus the ottomans and austrians/danubians have the added bonus of having their ruling dynasties being extremely popular among the common folk throughout their empires. The Yamato Dynasty in Korea was to put it mildly........very very very unpopular.
^^^^^Pretty much this
very true. Empires could have survived - but bringing with them both the good and bad luggage of being an empire.
let's just say they use the native name for the region (no more spoilers over that though)
Honestly my favorite aspect of this timeline. It's a trope that either Greece must destroy the Ottomans or be destroyed in turn; a timeline exploring what happens when they reconcile and Greece and the Ottomans are able to accept that there will be Greek populations within the Ottoman state is such a unique take that I am genuinely excited to see how it develops.
Also, not just Greeks remaining within the Ottomans but Muslim Greeks within Cyprus and Mainland Greece remaining a part of Greece will totally change Greek cultural development as well.
Chapter 53: The Johnson Incident
Osman Reborn
Chapter 53: The Johnson Incident
“The moment Cyprus was directly integrated into the Kingdom of Greece with a devolved parliament, Prime Minister Venizelos of Greece began to prepare the island for its first devolved elections. On the 4th of April, 1923, he created the ministerial position of Chief Minister for Cypriot Affairs, which would act as the head of the devolved Cypriot government. This was again met with some resistance from the United Opposition, who favored a more direct and unitary tie with the Cypriots, however, with the Liberal majority in the Hellenic Parliament, the ministerial position was established with governmental support. The next day, Venizelos announced that on the 28th of June, 1923, the first devolved elections of Cyprus would take place. This inevitably led to political alliances within the island cropping up.
A statue of Christodoulos Sozos
The most prominent and by far the most powerful and influential politician in Cyprus at the time was Christodoulos Sozos. Sozos had been born to a Cretan freedom fighter, who had fought in the Cretan Revolt of 1866 – 69. He studied law in Athens and worked as a lawyer before moving back to the Ottoman Empire and starting his political career in the Cypriot legislature in 1901. He was in favor of union with Greece, however he recognized that the rights of the large Turkish, and visible Arab, Maronite and Armenian minorities also needed to be respected, and in 1903, he proclaimed that union with Greece needed to happen with the rights and autonomy of the island respected. At the time, this declaration had brought with it significant criticism, however time proved Sozos correct, as the 1923 Accords affirmed Cypriot autonomy, even as a part of Greece. Sozos’s influence in Cyprus only grew during the Balkan War of 1915, when he volunteered as a part of the Cypriot Volunteers, a group of two regiments who volunteered to fight on part of the Ottoman Empire. Sozos and the Ottomans had no little love lost between them, however Sozos quickly recognized that gaining the support of a resurgent Ottoman Empire was within his best interests. Commanding the second regiment, he distinguished himself in the Bulgarian Theatre, and was instrumental in the small yet significant Battle of Pirdop against the Bulgarian Redshirts. Sozos, having affirmed his nominal loyalty to the Sultan, receiving state pensions from Constantinople, which he used to further his political ambitions in Cyprus. During the negotiations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, Sozos had fervently supported the accords and its solution.
With this powerful political history behind him, on the 9th of April, 1923, he called for a meeting of his political allies in Limassol. While the vast majority of his allies were Greek Cypriots, he had a good number of Turkish, Arab and Armenian supporters as well. Within this meeting, he proclaimed the foundation and establishment of the Cypriot Democratic Party. The CDP, which is the precursor to the modern Cypriot Rally Party, was a fundamentally center-left political party, and followed most center-left foundations. The party most especially presented itself as a cross-ethnic party that declared that it would work in the interests of all Cypriots, regardless of ethnicity. They also regarded the autonomy of the island as something that was essential and needed to be guarded. Though despite this cross-ethnic rhetoric, the majority of the party’s supporters would remain to be Greek Cypriots, though Armenians largely voted in favor of the party as well.
The largest opposition to this massive political party was Mehmet Aziz’s Turkish Cypriot Democratic Union (TCDU). Mehmet Aziz was a young man of only 31 in 1923, and he was mostly known throughout Cyprus for his medical and health activities, which had uplifted the health situation of the island under British rule. He was charismatic, knew how to speak Turkish, Greek, English and French and was a polymath by all measures of the word. The TCDU was established for the sole purpose of safeguarding the autonomy of the Turkish Cypriots on the island. Other than that, it largely followed a center-right ideological foundation, and despite their differences, Aziz affirmed that it was pro-Sozos in its outlook regarding Cypriot autonomy, stating that Cypriot autonomy was going to be the very enshrining factor of Cypriot politics. Aziz likewise stated that in time, the party would have to evolve into cross-ethnic lines, but for the moment affirmed the Turkish nature of the political party. While a group of Islamic politicians on the island largely agreed with Aziz and his outlook, they disagreed with him regarding the entire situation of Cyprus, and they broke with the party early on, forming the Islamic Nationalist Party. The INP was founded on the basis that the union with Greece was illegitimate and that either a return to Ottoman/British rule or total independence would be preferred. Their outlook, led by the moderation islamist Aras Pasha, son of former Ottoman Grand Vizier Kamil Pasha (who was of Cypriot origins), was based on Islamic democracy, and remained firm in their belief that islam and democracy could co-exist with one another.
Another party that was somewhat similar to the INP was the National Front, founded by Nikaloas Katalanos, Sozos’s most fervent rival. Katalanos was supportive of Enosis with Greece, however denounced the autonomy of the island, and demanded that the island’s autonomy be abolished, without devolution having taken place. The National Front, like its name implied, was also a proponent and follower of Hellenic Nationalism. The party though led through by democratic principles, managed to alienate basically every single ethnic minority in the island with their greek nationalist rhetoric and found little to no support from the other minorities. The only main political party that was represented in the Hellenic Parliament that managed to come onto Cypriot ballots was the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party opened their own branch on the island, and Greek military leader and war hero Stylianos Gonatas, who had some distant links with Cypriot Greeks through his mother, became its leader within the island. Other than being a regional party, and supporting the autonomy of the island, the party was basically the same as that of its larger sister party in Athens.
Greco-Turkish victims of Ethnic riots during the elections
Despite the best efforts of both the populace and the Greek government in trying to maintain the peace on the island, the election campaign was however wrought with ethnic tensions and ethnic lynches taking place. The Turkish minority, mostly aided by the Arabs, believed that the Greek Cypriots wanted to rob the newly found autonomy of the island, whilst the Greek Cypriots believed that it was the ‘added baggage’ of the Turkish Cypriots that prevented them from ‘true’ union with Greece. Most civilians kept these feelings to themselves, however for the radical populace, they had no qualms about showing their dissatisfaction, often in violent ways. Greek sectors of Turkish majority towns were attacked, and the same was the case for Turkish sectors of Greek majority towns. The Greek Government and the Greek Police managed to mostly bring the situation under control, however there were still incidents in which the violence reached tipping points.
The most famous example would be the assassination of independent MP Emre Avagyan, a Turko-Armenian Cypriot who managed to win a seat from Nicosia. After the election results were published, the supporters of his rival during the election within the constituency had the man assassinated in broad daylight when the man was eating in a small French owned café in Nicosia. The result was public outrage in the Turkish community of the island, and within the Ottoman Empire as well, where the ottoman press had a field day regarding the assassination. The assassins were duly captured and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Greeks fortunately, which staved off any Ottoman intervention regarding the elections.
As for the elections themselves, Sozos’s party managed to win 64 of the 120 contestable seats, and he was as such elected the first Chief Minister of Cypriot Affairs and he quickly formed a devolved cabinet for Cyprus. The Greek Government recognized the legitimacy of the elections confirmed his position as Chief Minister. This bloody yet democratic process of elections would set the precedent for 25 years’ worth of bloody and deadly politics within Cyprus, and heralded the beginning of the Cypriot Political Troubles.” – Pg 89 – 93 of The Cypriot Troubles: The Political War of Ethnicities
“As the Ottoman Economy grew at significant strides, trying to overcome their previous economic capitulations to European powers, a much-overshadowed part of Ottoman Economic History would be the influence of the Ottoman Economy beyond Ottoman borders. In particular, the growing economies of Latin America intrigued the Ottoman Nation as it entered the third decade of the 20th century.
Ottoman interest in Latin America began in the Spanish War of Succession, when the Ottomans finally managed to wrangle Spanish rights to trade in their empire’s ports. Blockaded as the Spanish were in the war, they had been forced to turn the Ottomans as an alternative for trade. For religious reasons, Ottoman trade in Latin America within Spain’s empire was still limited, but despite that, it had started nonetheless. Amazonian wood was a luxurious item in the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans in return for high quality wood and wool from Spanish colonies, have them ample supplies of tobacco and diamonds. This system collapsed in the early 1800s, when the Spanish Empire collapsed in Latin America, however said collapse was beneficial to the ottomans, as the religious limits and quotas on Ottoman trade put in place by Madrid was lifted by most of the successor states. However due to the century of decline in the 1800s, the Ottomans did not manage to fully exploit this newfound advantage that they could have used to further their own economic advances. But that situation was changing by the 1920s, and the Ottomans were a recovering power. They dared not challenge any of the highest great powers such as Russia, Britain, or France, but they were a resurgent great power, and they had their eyes on Latin American economies as a result.
Latin America, however would prove to be a profitable, yet tough nut for the Ottoman Political Economic influence in the region. Though the Ottomans made good advances into Latin American economies, it was clear that Britain and the United States of America dominated the political economies of Latin America. Britain through their Informal Empire, and America through its Monroe Doctrine had virtually monopolized Latin American markets without room for any outside competitor. This was good for London and Washington, but bad for Constantinople, as they had little to no room to maneuver in that setting. This state of affairs however changed when the Anglo-Ottoman Alliance was signed, as now, the Ottomans had a clear entry point into the Latin American political economies. Despite the unsavory behavior of the Brazilian dictatorship led by Hermes de Fonseca, the Brazilians proved to be reconciliatory with the Ottomans economically and with rubber prices returning to normal standards in Brazil, the Ottomans opened their market to the Brazilians once again. Brazil, which had been slowly shunned for their over exuberant oligarchy by both Washington and London found a new investor in the Ottoman Empire. [1]
This was beneficial to Constantinople, and with a fresh investment friendly nation supporting them, Ottoman business’s in Latin America began to disperse into the continent to find new opportunities of investment and economic development. Like the British, the Ottomans found themselves most used in Latin America as the profitable international banker. Starting from 1921, the Ottoman government began to project itself as an up and coming economic power that could be trusted more so than the old imperialistic powers of the USA and Europe. While of course most latin American businesses were wary of this claim, considering the Ottomans put their interest rate much lower than said other powers, the Ottomans began to become one of the most sought after loaners for the Latin American Economies. The first country to take an Ottoman loan was none other than Mexico, who had been aided by the Ottomans during the last stages of the Mexican Revolution. Following Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru all soon began to loan heavily from the Ottoman government and economy, giving the Ottomans a mildly influential say in all of these country’s political apparatus. And while Ottoman immigration into South America had been extremely limited compared to Europe, a small yet noticeable community of Ottoman immigrants was present in countries such as Argentina and Chile [2] which furthered Ottoman interests in said countries.
Cars parked next to an Ottoman Bank in Buenos Aires, Argentina c. 1922
Ottoman investments in Latin America by the end of 1923 was lackluster in comparison to the British Empire, which controlled 138 railway companies, 61 shipping and port companies, 41 nitrate companies, 29 petroleum companies, 93 farming companies, 35 commercial banks, 53 manufacturing companies by the start of 1924 [3]. However, whilst the Ottomans liked to compare themselves with British in Latin America, they were not a second, America was the only comparable investor in Latin America with Great Britain. Following the Americans were the French and subsequently the Russians. It was the Ottomans who held the fifth position, and though their economical position in Latin America would grow extremely strong in the following decades, in 1923, they were a distant fifth and only starting to get off the ground. It was in this manner, that the so-called Ottoman Sphere in Latin America began to grow and develop in the 1920s.” – Pg 189-192 of Ottoman Latin America: A Social, Economic, Political History.
“Though Rene Viviani is today thought off as one of France’s best Prime Ministers and called the Father of Modern French Society, in 1923, his political position, which had been powerful for nine years, was crumbling and crumbling fast. His indecision regarding the German default on the reparations and the subsequent Russo-Belgian occupation of parts of Germany had given the opposition, filled with rightist’s ample ammunition against him. Even his own political party – the Radical Party (PRRRS) was outraged at the lackluster showing by the French Prime Minister in the German Crisis. Of course, Viviani had his own reasons for being more focused on other events; such as labor issues in Bordeaux, and strengthening the French economy (in particular his New Economic Directive of 1922 would be hailed as an economic masterpiece), however despite his successes in the economy and the social issues of France, they were all ignored in favor of his foreign policy failure against the German Crisis. Viviani was resolute in his belief that the Germans would pay their reparations, however he was unwilling to send the army in unlike both Belgium and Russia.
Rene Viviani, the French Prime Minister
Viviani did not wish for another continental war, and though Germany was weak and a shadow of its former Imperial self, it could still put up a bloody fight if they needed. Viviani had no intention of allowing another 800,000 Frenchmen die and he did not wish for a general worldwide crisis over the issue to develop. As a result, he obstinately refused to use military action to receive German reparations. On the 5th of April, 1923 he successfully negotiated with the new German President, Ernst Scholz, regarding the reparations. The reparations were reduced by 3% (small in hindsight, but a massive breather of the Germans in 1923), and managed to lower interest rates in the reparations, allowing the Germans to pay the reparations in a much better and efficient manner. This was an economic achievement and had Viviani been able to capitalize on this diplomatic and economic victory it was likely that he would have remained in power. However, a personal loss, the death of his son-in-law in a train accident in Picardy the same day hit him hard. His daughter had died in 1914, and he had been close with his son-in-law. And now he was the only family left for his grandson and granddaughter. Taking advantage of this emotional attack against him, Viviani’s enemies began to coalesce against him as well.
Viviani was a centrist socialist, and the left within the PRRRS itself was angered by Viviani’s positions, and began to conspire against him by allying themselves with the Miscellaneous Right and the other leftist political parties. In particular, Ludovic-Oscar Frossard, the leader of SFIO rose to the occasion and used his considerable influence in denouncing and attacking Viviani politically in the French Chamber of Deputies. Xavier de Magallon, the leader of the new moderate Action Francaise was even more voracious in his political attacks against the French Prime Minister and on the 23rd of April, 1923, he finally managed to open a vote of no confidence against the French Premier. The vote was a foregone conclusion. With 53 deputies abstaining in their vote, Viviani was ousted 349 – 201 during the vote of no confidence. However, as his party held an overall majority in the Chamber of Deputies after the 1921 Legislative Elections, he managed to make sure that a new election did not happen, as he rightly believed that a new election would not be conductive to the political stability of the nation.
Xavier de Magallon, the man who ousted Viviani from power.
Unfortunately, Viviani, the moment he found out who his successor would be, could not manage to stop the transfer of power. In the contingent election that followed within the PRRRS, Viviani’s faction crumbled, and Francois Albert’s faction within the party came out victorious as a result. Albert was by all rights, a perfect minister of labor, and he had been instrumental in the labor reforms that France had been undergoing ever since 1921. However, his social, foreign and economic positions were dangerous for the stability of the Third French Republic. He was an affirmed anti-clerical, and he had resigned as Senator in 1920, when France had re-established its embassy in the Vatican. This was a dangerous position to hold within a country where the Vatican was extremely popular and extremely tired of anti-clericalism. And while Albert was unwilling to intervene militarily in Germany like Viviani, he was more than willing to use the military to spook and intimidate the Germans. Furthermore, he was also slightly pro-Italian, which irritated the populace that lived alongside the Franco-Italian border, and his nationalization schemes weren’t popular with the rightist segment of society at all. The stage for political discourse and political instability was ripe.
Francois Albert, Viviani's successor
On April 29, 1923, Albert ascended to the premiership of France, and began to recreate the government as per he and his allies’ goals. He was extremely gifted in the art of administration and labor issues, but he quickly showed a stubbornness that was a dangerous precedent in politics. He brought forward a bill that would basically cut off ties between the Papacy and France once again on the 10th of May, however this was met with fierce resistance from the French populace, with hundreds and thousands, especially in Brittany and Southern France coming out to protest against the bill. With the support of Christian Republicans and the Right, the bill was shot down. However, the damage was done. The Christian Communists of Italy were far from amused, and considering that the Vice-Premier of Italy, Giacomo Matteotti was a Christian Communist, relation between Rome and Paris was harmed. Britain was also far warier of a Prime Minister that willing to intimidate the Germans, and issued soft and subtle diplomatic warnings to Paris. The Premiership of Francois Albert would signal the beginning of the Era of Impermanence in French history.” – Pg 34 – 38 of French Impermanence: Its Origins and Beginnings
“On the 2nd of June, 1923, the Ottoman government announced that itss gendarmerie had raided a depot in Salonika Harbor, where 38 American smugglers were captured with illegal prostitutes, and exotic luxuries that were illegal smuggled by the group. Amidst this group of American smugglers was none other than the infamous Enoch Lewis ‘Nucky’ Johnson. Johnson was a New Jersey citizen, and he was infamous within Atlantic City, New Jersey. His rise to power started in 1909 when he became the Atlantic County Republican Executive Secretary. He was quick to start corrupt deals and was routinely viewed with cases such as nepotism and corruption being charged at him. In 1911, he was nearly imprisoned, however, Johnson managed to slip between the authority’s fingers by using his political connections. However, at the same time, the small ring of corrupt bureaucrats that Johnson was a part of was leaderless when Louis Kuehnle was arrested, and Johnson took advantage of the absent leadership to become the ring’s leader. Johnson quickly took advantage of the touristic value of Atlantic City, supplying customers with Prostitutes, gambling, drink, and luxurious debauchery. During the same time, he continued to remain a powerful member of New Jersey’s Republican Party, and during the 1916 and 1920 Presidential Elections, he was instrumental in the local campaigns. As a result, he cultivated several political ties that granted him and his ring near immunity from the police and authorities.
Enoch Johnson in 1940
Johnson reached his zenith when in 1918, under the Republican government, a policy of soft prohibition was adopted by the government. Though the soft nature of the prohibition system stunted any larger exploitations, Johnson was still able to use his considerable criminal experience to bootleg, smuggle, and distribute illegal alcohol to customers in addition to the normal goods he provided his customers. Johnson was also instrumental in making Atlantic City a virtual gambler’s dream, with Johnson owned gambling houses and casinos in every crook and cranny of the city. In early 1923 however Johnson received an opportunity that had the capability of filling his pockets with even more money. Middle Eastern goods had long been seen as ‘exotic’ in the United States of America, and as such, the elite of America sought after them repeatedly. With the aid of an Albanian immigrant within his ring, Johnson came into contact with a ring of Ottoman smugglers in Salonika. These smugglers promised Johnson with extra prostitutes from the middle east, and smuggled goods such as Ottoman Diamonds and Ottoman Tobacco for extremely lowered costs than normal. This was a golden opportunity for Johnson. [4]
Accepting another offer to negotiate directly with the Ottoman smugglers, led by an infamous Arab smuggler Mehmed Al-Badawi in Salonika, Johnson left Atlantic City for what he deemed to be a temporary journey to the Ottoman Empire. When he arrived in Salonika with a small group of his trusted subordinates, he began to send more and more smuggled goods from the Ottoman Empire back to Atlantic City. For a month, the man managed to dodge suspicious Ottoman police and gendarmerie officers, however he was finally caught in the early days of June when a governmental spy within the Al-Badawi ring managed to bring the gendarmerie to Johnson’s depot. The Ottoman gendarmerie hauled Johnson and his subordinates into a waiting cell within Salonika Gendarmerie Headquarters and this sparked off what became known as the Johnson Incident.
Senator Walter Edge
Johnson had two powerful political allies, Senator Walter Edge from New Jersey and Frank Hague, the Mayor of Jersey City. Both of these political figures had powerful economic ties with the smuggling rings that Johnson operated, and as a result, both of them raised massive complaints regarding the issue within the American government. While suspicion regarding Johnson’s legality of business remained, without a proper criminal record against him, for the American government this was an innocent American staying in Ottoman prisons. Previous actions such as the Johnson Incident had taken place before, which had strained Ottoman-American relations, however none of those previous smugglers had such powerful allies like the ones Johnson had. This precipitated a small diplomatic crisis when the American government sent a dispatch to the Ottoman Embassy asking that Johnson be deported back to the United States. The Ottoman Ambassador in the USA, Mohammad Ali Bey Al-Abed was told by Constantinople to tell the American government that as Johnson was caught on Ottoman soil, smuggling Ottoman goods and humans (in particular human trafficking was punishable by death in the Ottoman Empire), the Ottomans would not be returning the man and that he would face the full extent of Ottoman Law.
This was not an option for the American government. Though the American government had little love for Johnson, they could not be seen condemning an ‘innocent’ American into foreign imprisonment. The Democrats and Progressives would impeach Hughes if such an event came to pass. The American government offered to create a joint Ottoman-American tribunal against the ring and judge them through a combination of American and Ottoman Law. Whilst to most of the European world this was a sensible compromise, for the Ottoman Empire, it was an affront. Ottoman Law had ruled supreme in the Empire for 600 years without question and without foreign intervention, and trying to intervene in the Ottoman Law was unconsciously on part of America, an insult to Sultan Osman I, who had formulated Ottoman Law. And an insult of Sultan Osman I meant that his direct descendant, Sultan Abdulmejid II was indirectly insulted. That simply deepened the diplomatic spat between Washington and Constantinople as the Ottoman government rejected the idea resolutely. On the 24th of June, Johnson was tried in Ottoman court in Adrianople and was found guilty of human trafficking, illegal smuggling, and illegal procuration of goods. The Ottomans not willing to escalate the matter, did not sentence Johnson to death (which was customary for human trafficking), and instead sentenced the man to life imprisonment. A small concession was allowed when the Ottoman court decreed that visiting family members would have their expenses covered by the ottoman government.
A Sketch of Johnson's Trial.
This still outraged the American public however. Though the government had a good idea of Johnson’s illegal activities and had only protested as a formality, to the public Johnson was a beloved businessman and public figure. Attacks against the Ottoman Empire through speeches took place, and anti-Ottoman Senators and Congressmen in the US Congress began to level heavy criticisms to the Ottoman Empire. In retaliation the Ottoman Government suspended the Ottoman-American Company’s public branch in the USA. This was a heavy attack, as the Ottoman-American Company had been running since 1819 and the temporary suspension of the public branch was a visible attack. Some bellicose and belligerent congressmen even began entertaining far-right anti-islamic positions on the Ottoman Empire fueled by Christian fundamentalism. This was somewhat curtailed by the fact that every American politician knew that the Ottomans were allied with the British Empire, and though London had adopted a neutral stance (until a war broke out), no American, knowing of the economic influence of Britain in America, had any intention of actually creating conflict with the Ottomans. After a few weeks, the Johnson Incident died down in the public mind and the American government allowed itself to forget the issue as well. However, the Johnson Incident would simply a small incident in a history of bad relations between Washington and Constantinople.
As for Johnson, the man was released in 1949 by the Ottoman government and deported back to the USA after the Second Great War. Johnson who would never gain the same amount of monetary resources that he had before his imprisonment died in 1965 in relative poverty, his gang of criminals and smugglers having died a quiet and strangling death without their capable leader.” – Pg 176 – 180 of American Gangsters in Europe: The Unseen Crime Syndicate of America
Footnotes:-
[1] – The Ottomans remember, are an empire. To further their own interests, they will not blink in supporting dictatorships.
[2] – True fact
[3] – OTL numbers slightly heightened due to better british economy ittl
[4] – Johnson was given such an offer from Albania otl as well, but he didn’t accept due to the unstable nature of interwar Albania. With a stable Ottoman Empire, that situation changes a lot ittl.
A/N: All images other than wikibox are from public google images source. All rights reserved.
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Chapter 53: The Johnson Incident
“The moment Cyprus was directly integrated into the Kingdom of Greece with a devolved parliament, Prime Minister Venizelos of Greece began to prepare the island for its first devolved elections. On the 4th of April, 1923, he created the ministerial position of Chief Minister for Cypriot Affairs, which would act as the head of the devolved Cypriot government. This was again met with some resistance from the United Opposition, who favored a more direct and unitary tie with the Cypriots, however, with the Liberal majority in the Hellenic Parliament, the ministerial position was established with governmental support. The next day, Venizelos announced that on the 28th of June, 1923, the first devolved elections of Cyprus would take place. This inevitably led to political alliances within the island cropping up.
A statue of Christodoulos Sozos
The most prominent and by far the most powerful and influential politician in Cyprus at the time was Christodoulos Sozos. Sozos had been born to a Cretan freedom fighter, who had fought in the Cretan Revolt of 1866 – 69. He studied law in Athens and worked as a lawyer before moving back to the Ottoman Empire and starting his political career in the Cypriot legislature in 1901. He was in favor of union with Greece, however he recognized that the rights of the large Turkish, and visible Arab, Maronite and Armenian minorities also needed to be respected, and in 1903, he proclaimed that union with Greece needed to happen with the rights and autonomy of the island respected. At the time, this declaration had brought with it significant criticism, however time proved Sozos correct, as the 1923 Accords affirmed Cypriot autonomy, even as a part of Greece. Sozos’s influence in Cyprus only grew during the Balkan War of 1915, when he volunteered as a part of the Cypriot Volunteers, a group of two regiments who volunteered to fight on part of the Ottoman Empire. Sozos and the Ottomans had no little love lost between them, however Sozos quickly recognized that gaining the support of a resurgent Ottoman Empire was within his best interests. Commanding the second regiment, he distinguished himself in the Bulgarian Theatre, and was instrumental in the small yet significant Battle of Pirdop against the Bulgarian Redshirts. Sozos, having affirmed his nominal loyalty to the Sultan, receiving state pensions from Constantinople, which he used to further his political ambitions in Cyprus. During the negotiations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, Sozos had fervently supported the accords and its solution.
With this powerful political history behind him, on the 9th of April, 1923, he called for a meeting of his political allies in Limassol. While the vast majority of his allies were Greek Cypriots, he had a good number of Turkish, Arab and Armenian supporters as well. Within this meeting, he proclaimed the foundation and establishment of the Cypriot Democratic Party. The CDP, which is the precursor to the modern Cypriot Rally Party, was a fundamentally center-left political party, and followed most center-left foundations. The party most especially presented itself as a cross-ethnic party that declared that it would work in the interests of all Cypriots, regardless of ethnicity. They also regarded the autonomy of the island as something that was essential and needed to be guarded. Though despite this cross-ethnic rhetoric, the majority of the party’s supporters would remain to be Greek Cypriots, though Armenians largely voted in favor of the party as well.
The largest opposition to this massive political party was Mehmet Aziz’s Turkish Cypriot Democratic Union (TCDU). Mehmet Aziz was a young man of only 31 in 1923, and he was mostly known throughout Cyprus for his medical and health activities, which had uplifted the health situation of the island under British rule. He was charismatic, knew how to speak Turkish, Greek, English and French and was a polymath by all measures of the word. The TCDU was established for the sole purpose of safeguarding the autonomy of the Turkish Cypriots on the island. Other than that, it largely followed a center-right ideological foundation, and despite their differences, Aziz affirmed that it was pro-Sozos in its outlook regarding Cypriot autonomy, stating that Cypriot autonomy was going to be the very enshrining factor of Cypriot politics. Aziz likewise stated that in time, the party would have to evolve into cross-ethnic lines, but for the moment affirmed the Turkish nature of the political party. While a group of Islamic politicians on the island largely agreed with Aziz and his outlook, they disagreed with him regarding the entire situation of Cyprus, and they broke with the party early on, forming the Islamic Nationalist Party. The INP was founded on the basis that the union with Greece was illegitimate and that either a return to Ottoman/British rule or total independence would be preferred. Their outlook, led by the moderation islamist Aras Pasha, son of former Ottoman Grand Vizier Kamil Pasha (who was of Cypriot origins), was based on Islamic democracy, and remained firm in their belief that islam and democracy could co-exist with one another.
Another party that was somewhat similar to the INP was the National Front, founded by Nikaloas Katalanos, Sozos’s most fervent rival. Katalanos was supportive of Enosis with Greece, however denounced the autonomy of the island, and demanded that the island’s autonomy be abolished, without devolution having taken place. The National Front, like its name implied, was also a proponent and follower of Hellenic Nationalism. The party though led through by democratic principles, managed to alienate basically every single ethnic minority in the island with their greek nationalist rhetoric and found little to no support from the other minorities. The only main political party that was represented in the Hellenic Parliament that managed to come onto Cypriot ballots was the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party opened their own branch on the island, and Greek military leader and war hero Stylianos Gonatas, who had some distant links with Cypriot Greeks through his mother, became its leader within the island. Other than being a regional party, and supporting the autonomy of the island, the party was basically the same as that of its larger sister party in Athens.
Greco-Turkish victims of Ethnic riots during the elections
Despite the best efforts of both the populace and the Greek government in trying to maintain the peace on the island, the election campaign was however wrought with ethnic tensions and ethnic lynches taking place. The Turkish minority, mostly aided by the Arabs, believed that the Greek Cypriots wanted to rob the newly found autonomy of the island, whilst the Greek Cypriots believed that it was the ‘added baggage’ of the Turkish Cypriots that prevented them from ‘true’ union with Greece. Most civilians kept these feelings to themselves, however for the radical populace, they had no qualms about showing their dissatisfaction, often in violent ways. Greek sectors of Turkish majority towns were attacked, and the same was the case for Turkish sectors of Greek majority towns. The Greek Government and the Greek Police managed to mostly bring the situation under control, however there were still incidents in which the violence reached tipping points.
The most famous example would be the assassination of independent MP Emre Avagyan, a Turko-Armenian Cypriot who managed to win a seat from Nicosia. After the election results were published, the supporters of his rival during the election within the constituency had the man assassinated in broad daylight when the man was eating in a small French owned café in Nicosia. The result was public outrage in the Turkish community of the island, and within the Ottoman Empire as well, where the ottoman press had a field day regarding the assassination. The assassins were duly captured and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Greeks fortunately, which staved off any Ottoman intervention regarding the elections.
As for the elections themselves, Sozos’s party managed to win 64 of the 120 contestable seats, and he was as such elected the first Chief Minister of Cypriot Affairs and he quickly formed a devolved cabinet for Cyprus. The Greek Government recognized the legitimacy of the elections confirmed his position as Chief Minister. This bloody yet democratic process of elections would set the precedent for 25 years’ worth of bloody and deadly politics within Cyprus, and heralded the beginning of the Cypriot Political Troubles.” – Pg 89 – 93 of The Cypriot Troubles: The Political War of Ethnicities
“As the Ottoman Economy grew at significant strides, trying to overcome their previous economic capitulations to European powers, a much-overshadowed part of Ottoman Economic History would be the influence of the Ottoman Economy beyond Ottoman borders. In particular, the growing economies of Latin America intrigued the Ottoman Nation as it entered the third decade of the 20th century.
Ottoman interest in Latin America began in the Spanish War of Succession, when the Ottomans finally managed to wrangle Spanish rights to trade in their empire’s ports. Blockaded as the Spanish were in the war, they had been forced to turn the Ottomans as an alternative for trade. For religious reasons, Ottoman trade in Latin America within Spain’s empire was still limited, but despite that, it had started nonetheless. Amazonian wood was a luxurious item in the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans in return for high quality wood and wool from Spanish colonies, have them ample supplies of tobacco and diamonds. This system collapsed in the early 1800s, when the Spanish Empire collapsed in Latin America, however said collapse was beneficial to the ottomans, as the religious limits and quotas on Ottoman trade put in place by Madrid was lifted by most of the successor states. However due to the century of decline in the 1800s, the Ottomans did not manage to fully exploit this newfound advantage that they could have used to further their own economic advances. But that situation was changing by the 1920s, and the Ottomans were a recovering power. They dared not challenge any of the highest great powers such as Russia, Britain, or France, but they were a resurgent great power, and they had their eyes on Latin American economies as a result.
Latin America, however would prove to be a profitable, yet tough nut for the Ottoman Political Economic influence in the region. Though the Ottomans made good advances into Latin American economies, it was clear that Britain and the United States of America dominated the political economies of Latin America. Britain through their Informal Empire, and America through its Monroe Doctrine had virtually monopolized Latin American markets without room for any outside competitor. This was good for London and Washington, but bad for Constantinople, as they had little to no room to maneuver in that setting. This state of affairs however changed when the Anglo-Ottoman Alliance was signed, as now, the Ottomans had a clear entry point into the Latin American political economies. Despite the unsavory behavior of the Brazilian dictatorship led by Hermes de Fonseca, the Brazilians proved to be reconciliatory with the Ottomans economically and with rubber prices returning to normal standards in Brazil, the Ottomans opened their market to the Brazilians once again. Brazil, which had been slowly shunned for their over exuberant oligarchy by both Washington and London found a new investor in the Ottoman Empire. [1]
This was beneficial to Constantinople, and with a fresh investment friendly nation supporting them, Ottoman business’s in Latin America began to disperse into the continent to find new opportunities of investment and economic development. Like the British, the Ottomans found themselves most used in Latin America as the profitable international banker. Starting from 1921, the Ottoman government began to project itself as an up and coming economic power that could be trusted more so than the old imperialistic powers of the USA and Europe. While of course most latin American businesses were wary of this claim, considering the Ottomans put their interest rate much lower than said other powers, the Ottomans began to become one of the most sought after loaners for the Latin American Economies. The first country to take an Ottoman loan was none other than Mexico, who had been aided by the Ottomans during the last stages of the Mexican Revolution. Following Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru all soon began to loan heavily from the Ottoman government and economy, giving the Ottomans a mildly influential say in all of these country’s political apparatus. And while Ottoman immigration into South America had been extremely limited compared to Europe, a small yet noticeable community of Ottoman immigrants was present in countries such as Argentina and Chile [2] which furthered Ottoman interests in said countries.
Cars parked next to an Ottoman Bank in Buenos Aires, Argentina c. 1922
Ottoman investments in Latin America by the end of 1923 was lackluster in comparison to the British Empire, which controlled 138 railway companies, 61 shipping and port companies, 41 nitrate companies, 29 petroleum companies, 93 farming companies, 35 commercial banks, 53 manufacturing companies by the start of 1924 [3]. However, whilst the Ottomans liked to compare themselves with British in Latin America, they were not a second, America was the only comparable investor in Latin America with Great Britain. Following the Americans were the French and subsequently the Russians. It was the Ottomans who held the fifth position, and though their economical position in Latin America would grow extremely strong in the following decades, in 1923, they were a distant fifth and only starting to get off the ground. It was in this manner, that the so-called Ottoman Sphere in Latin America began to grow and develop in the 1920s.” – Pg 189-192 of Ottoman Latin America: A Social, Economic, Political History.
“Though Rene Viviani is today thought off as one of France’s best Prime Ministers and called the Father of Modern French Society, in 1923, his political position, which had been powerful for nine years, was crumbling and crumbling fast. His indecision regarding the German default on the reparations and the subsequent Russo-Belgian occupation of parts of Germany had given the opposition, filled with rightist’s ample ammunition against him. Even his own political party – the Radical Party (PRRRS) was outraged at the lackluster showing by the French Prime Minister in the German Crisis. Of course, Viviani had his own reasons for being more focused on other events; such as labor issues in Bordeaux, and strengthening the French economy (in particular his New Economic Directive of 1922 would be hailed as an economic masterpiece), however despite his successes in the economy and the social issues of France, they were all ignored in favor of his foreign policy failure against the German Crisis. Viviani was resolute in his belief that the Germans would pay their reparations, however he was unwilling to send the army in unlike both Belgium and Russia.
Rene Viviani, the French Prime Minister
Viviani did not wish for another continental war, and though Germany was weak and a shadow of its former Imperial self, it could still put up a bloody fight if they needed. Viviani had no intention of allowing another 800,000 Frenchmen die and he did not wish for a general worldwide crisis over the issue to develop. As a result, he obstinately refused to use military action to receive German reparations. On the 5th of April, 1923 he successfully negotiated with the new German President, Ernst Scholz, regarding the reparations. The reparations were reduced by 3% (small in hindsight, but a massive breather of the Germans in 1923), and managed to lower interest rates in the reparations, allowing the Germans to pay the reparations in a much better and efficient manner. This was an economic achievement and had Viviani been able to capitalize on this diplomatic and economic victory it was likely that he would have remained in power. However, a personal loss, the death of his son-in-law in a train accident in Picardy the same day hit him hard. His daughter had died in 1914, and he had been close with his son-in-law. And now he was the only family left for his grandson and granddaughter. Taking advantage of this emotional attack against him, Viviani’s enemies began to coalesce against him as well.
Viviani was a centrist socialist, and the left within the PRRRS itself was angered by Viviani’s positions, and began to conspire against him by allying themselves with the Miscellaneous Right and the other leftist political parties. In particular, Ludovic-Oscar Frossard, the leader of SFIO rose to the occasion and used his considerable influence in denouncing and attacking Viviani politically in the French Chamber of Deputies. Xavier de Magallon, the leader of the new moderate Action Francaise was even more voracious in his political attacks against the French Prime Minister and on the 23rd of April, 1923, he finally managed to open a vote of no confidence against the French Premier. The vote was a foregone conclusion. With 53 deputies abstaining in their vote, Viviani was ousted 349 – 201 during the vote of no confidence. However, as his party held an overall majority in the Chamber of Deputies after the 1921 Legislative Elections, he managed to make sure that a new election did not happen, as he rightly believed that a new election would not be conductive to the political stability of the nation.
Xavier de Magallon, the man who ousted Viviani from power.
Unfortunately, Viviani, the moment he found out who his successor would be, could not manage to stop the transfer of power. In the contingent election that followed within the PRRRS, Viviani’s faction crumbled, and Francois Albert’s faction within the party came out victorious as a result. Albert was by all rights, a perfect minister of labor, and he had been instrumental in the labor reforms that France had been undergoing ever since 1921. However, his social, foreign and economic positions were dangerous for the stability of the Third French Republic. He was an affirmed anti-clerical, and he had resigned as Senator in 1920, when France had re-established its embassy in the Vatican. This was a dangerous position to hold within a country where the Vatican was extremely popular and extremely tired of anti-clericalism. And while Albert was unwilling to intervene militarily in Germany like Viviani, he was more than willing to use the military to spook and intimidate the Germans. Furthermore, he was also slightly pro-Italian, which irritated the populace that lived alongside the Franco-Italian border, and his nationalization schemes weren’t popular with the rightist segment of society at all. The stage for political discourse and political instability was ripe.
Francois Albert, Viviani's successor
On April 29, 1923, Albert ascended to the premiership of France, and began to recreate the government as per he and his allies’ goals. He was extremely gifted in the art of administration and labor issues, but he quickly showed a stubbornness that was a dangerous precedent in politics. He brought forward a bill that would basically cut off ties between the Papacy and France once again on the 10th of May, however this was met with fierce resistance from the French populace, with hundreds and thousands, especially in Brittany and Southern France coming out to protest against the bill. With the support of Christian Republicans and the Right, the bill was shot down. However, the damage was done. The Christian Communists of Italy were far from amused, and considering that the Vice-Premier of Italy, Giacomo Matteotti was a Christian Communist, relation between Rome and Paris was harmed. Britain was also far warier of a Prime Minister that willing to intimidate the Germans, and issued soft and subtle diplomatic warnings to Paris. The Premiership of Francois Albert would signal the beginning of the Era of Impermanence in French history.” – Pg 34 – 38 of French Impermanence: Its Origins and Beginnings
“On the 2nd of June, 1923, the Ottoman government announced that itss gendarmerie had raided a depot in Salonika Harbor, where 38 American smugglers were captured with illegal prostitutes, and exotic luxuries that were illegal smuggled by the group. Amidst this group of American smugglers was none other than the infamous Enoch Lewis ‘Nucky’ Johnson. Johnson was a New Jersey citizen, and he was infamous within Atlantic City, New Jersey. His rise to power started in 1909 when he became the Atlantic County Republican Executive Secretary. He was quick to start corrupt deals and was routinely viewed with cases such as nepotism and corruption being charged at him. In 1911, he was nearly imprisoned, however, Johnson managed to slip between the authority’s fingers by using his political connections. However, at the same time, the small ring of corrupt bureaucrats that Johnson was a part of was leaderless when Louis Kuehnle was arrested, and Johnson took advantage of the absent leadership to become the ring’s leader. Johnson quickly took advantage of the touristic value of Atlantic City, supplying customers with Prostitutes, gambling, drink, and luxurious debauchery. During the same time, he continued to remain a powerful member of New Jersey’s Republican Party, and during the 1916 and 1920 Presidential Elections, he was instrumental in the local campaigns. As a result, he cultivated several political ties that granted him and his ring near immunity from the police and authorities.
Enoch Johnson in 1940
Johnson reached his zenith when in 1918, under the Republican government, a policy of soft prohibition was adopted by the government. Though the soft nature of the prohibition system stunted any larger exploitations, Johnson was still able to use his considerable criminal experience to bootleg, smuggle, and distribute illegal alcohol to customers in addition to the normal goods he provided his customers. Johnson was also instrumental in making Atlantic City a virtual gambler’s dream, with Johnson owned gambling houses and casinos in every crook and cranny of the city. In early 1923 however Johnson received an opportunity that had the capability of filling his pockets with even more money. Middle Eastern goods had long been seen as ‘exotic’ in the United States of America, and as such, the elite of America sought after them repeatedly. With the aid of an Albanian immigrant within his ring, Johnson came into contact with a ring of Ottoman smugglers in Salonika. These smugglers promised Johnson with extra prostitutes from the middle east, and smuggled goods such as Ottoman Diamonds and Ottoman Tobacco for extremely lowered costs than normal. This was a golden opportunity for Johnson. [4]
Accepting another offer to negotiate directly with the Ottoman smugglers, led by an infamous Arab smuggler Mehmed Al-Badawi in Salonika, Johnson left Atlantic City for what he deemed to be a temporary journey to the Ottoman Empire. When he arrived in Salonika with a small group of his trusted subordinates, he began to send more and more smuggled goods from the Ottoman Empire back to Atlantic City. For a month, the man managed to dodge suspicious Ottoman police and gendarmerie officers, however he was finally caught in the early days of June when a governmental spy within the Al-Badawi ring managed to bring the gendarmerie to Johnson’s depot. The Ottoman gendarmerie hauled Johnson and his subordinates into a waiting cell within Salonika Gendarmerie Headquarters and this sparked off what became known as the Johnson Incident.
Senator Walter Edge
Johnson had two powerful political allies, Senator Walter Edge from New Jersey and Frank Hague, the Mayor of Jersey City. Both of these political figures had powerful economic ties with the smuggling rings that Johnson operated, and as a result, both of them raised massive complaints regarding the issue within the American government. While suspicion regarding Johnson’s legality of business remained, without a proper criminal record against him, for the American government this was an innocent American staying in Ottoman prisons. Previous actions such as the Johnson Incident had taken place before, which had strained Ottoman-American relations, however none of those previous smugglers had such powerful allies like the ones Johnson had. This precipitated a small diplomatic crisis when the American government sent a dispatch to the Ottoman Embassy asking that Johnson be deported back to the United States. The Ottoman Ambassador in the USA, Mohammad Ali Bey Al-Abed was told by Constantinople to tell the American government that as Johnson was caught on Ottoman soil, smuggling Ottoman goods and humans (in particular human trafficking was punishable by death in the Ottoman Empire), the Ottomans would not be returning the man and that he would face the full extent of Ottoman Law.
This was not an option for the American government. Though the American government had little love for Johnson, they could not be seen condemning an ‘innocent’ American into foreign imprisonment. The Democrats and Progressives would impeach Hughes if such an event came to pass. The American government offered to create a joint Ottoman-American tribunal against the ring and judge them through a combination of American and Ottoman Law. Whilst to most of the European world this was a sensible compromise, for the Ottoman Empire, it was an affront. Ottoman Law had ruled supreme in the Empire for 600 years without question and without foreign intervention, and trying to intervene in the Ottoman Law was unconsciously on part of America, an insult to Sultan Osman I, who had formulated Ottoman Law. And an insult of Sultan Osman I meant that his direct descendant, Sultan Abdulmejid II was indirectly insulted. That simply deepened the diplomatic spat between Washington and Constantinople as the Ottoman government rejected the idea resolutely. On the 24th of June, Johnson was tried in Ottoman court in Adrianople and was found guilty of human trafficking, illegal smuggling, and illegal procuration of goods. The Ottomans not willing to escalate the matter, did not sentence Johnson to death (which was customary for human trafficking), and instead sentenced the man to life imprisonment. A small concession was allowed when the Ottoman court decreed that visiting family members would have their expenses covered by the ottoman government.
A Sketch of Johnson's Trial.
This still outraged the American public however. Though the government had a good idea of Johnson’s illegal activities and had only protested as a formality, to the public Johnson was a beloved businessman and public figure. Attacks against the Ottoman Empire through speeches took place, and anti-Ottoman Senators and Congressmen in the US Congress began to level heavy criticisms to the Ottoman Empire. In retaliation the Ottoman Government suspended the Ottoman-American Company’s public branch in the USA. This was a heavy attack, as the Ottoman-American Company had been running since 1819 and the temporary suspension of the public branch was a visible attack. Some bellicose and belligerent congressmen even began entertaining far-right anti-islamic positions on the Ottoman Empire fueled by Christian fundamentalism. This was somewhat curtailed by the fact that every American politician knew that the Ottomans were allied with the British Empire, and though London had adopted a neutral stance (until a war broke out), no American, knowing of the economic influence of Britain in America, had any intention of actually creating conflict with the Ottomans. After a few weeks, the Johnson Incident died down in the public mind and the American government allowed itself to forget the issue as well. However, the Johnson Incident would simply a small incident in a history of bad relations between Washington and Constantinople.
As for Johnson, the man was released in 1949 by the Ottoman government and deported back to the USA after the Second Great War. Johnson who would never gain the same amount of monetary resources that he had before his imprisonment died in 1965 in relative poverty, his gang of criminals and smugglers having died a quiet and strangling death without their capable leader.” – Pg 176 – 180 of American Gangsters in Europe: The Unseen Crime Syndicate of America
Footnotes:-
[1] – The Ottomans remember, are an empire. To further their own interests, they will not blink in supporting dictatorships.
[2] – True fact
[3] – OTL numbers slightly heightened due to better british economy ittl
[4] – Johnson was given such an offer from Albania otl as well, but he didn’t accept due to the unstable nature of interwar Albania. With a stable Ottoman Empire, that situation changes a lot ittl.
A/N: All images other than wikibox are from public google images source. All rights reserved.
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Its a bit odd to see an Islamic power with a Caliph give out loans. Other than that, this was definitely another interesting read
it's not a them and more of a historical precedent. American-Ottoman relations have historically been cold to say the least, starting since the barbary wars, when American ships entered ottoman waters and fired on ottoman ships.