themilitarymission,Germanyhadmademajormistakes:“Therebyastatewithin
thestateoftheTurkishmilitaryaffairswascreated.UponTurkeyanew‘capitu-
lation’wasenforcedinafieldwhereitssovereigntyhadnotyetbeencompro-
mised.[...]TheTurkhadnochoice,forhimitwasa‘takeitorleaveit’deci-
sion.”⁷⁵
Thiswasonlyonesideofthecoin.GermanofficersinOttomanservice,like
Lossow,hadcalledforastrongGermanmilitarymissionbackin 1913 andhad
insistedonthisparticular‘statewithinthestate.’⁷⁶Fromthefollowingstatement
italsobecomesevidentwhytheReichsarchivdidnotuseLossow’sanswerfor
themonographontheDardanellescampaign.ForLossow,theOttomanshad
beenexperiencedinshowingpassiveresistanceagainstEuropeanclaims.The
Germanofficersanddiplomatshadignoredthosesentiments,whichthreatened
thesovereigntyoftheOttomanState:
“[...][T]odayweunderstandthementalityoftheTurksbetterasbefore,sincewesufferfrom
thosemanyCapitulationsimposedonusbytheTreatyofVersailles,whichmightbeex-
pandedbythedettepubliqueallemande.”⁷⁷InadditiontowartimeterritorialclaimsandthegrowingTurkishnationalism,
theOttoman-GermanrelationswerestrainedbyLiman’sdifficultcharacter.Los-
sowratedthechoiceofthePrussiangeneralasa“sin”ofthepeacetimemilitary
cabinetin 1913 :
“BasedonsomeremarkbytheKaiserduringthefarewellreceptionforthemilitarymission,
GeneralLimanconsideredhimselfan‘emissaryoftheemperor’(directaccesstotheemper-
oretc.)Suchpurelyemotionalthingsmightbeunderstandablefortheofficerwhohad
grownupintheOld-Prussiantradition.Yetabroadthosethingsarenotunderstood.On
thecontrary,ifsomeoneappearstherewithanattitudeandwordslike‘myfatherParcival
wearsitscrown,I–amcalledLohengrin’ateveryopportunitythisappearsbothannoying
andridiculous.ThishasalsoexcerbatedGeneralLiman’spositiontowardstheTurks,the
foreignersandtowardstheGermanembassy.”⁷⁸ForLossow,thedecisionforLimanasheadofthemilitarymissionandthecon-
tractuallycommittedrightsofhispositionhadbeenamistake.Insteadofhisdis-
LossowtoReichsarchiv, 25 November 1921 .BayHStAHS3158,2.
SeeLossows 1913 report:“TheheadofthemissionshouldgetthehighestTurkishrank.His
positionmustbesostrong,thathecancausethechangeoftheMinisterofWarortheheadof
theGeneralStaff,ifitisneededintheinterestsofthereformagenda.”GedankenüberReformen
inderTürkei,6.BayHStAIVHS 157 1.
LossowtoReichsarchiv, 25 November 1921 .BayHStAHS3158,3.
LossowtoReichsarchiv, 25 November 1921 .BayHStAHS3158,4.
Ina‘StormofPaper’II:AnswerstotheReichsarchivQuestionnaire 177