OTTOMAN BANK ARCHIVES obarsiv/english/as-salonica-branch.html The Salonica Branch of Ottoman Bank at the beginning of the twentieth century The Jewish majority, together with Orthodox Greeks, Turkish Muslims, dönme (Jews converted to Islam), Serbs, Bulgarians, Armenians, Albanians and Francs were the main elements in the population of the city. At the end of the 19th century, these different ethnic groups maintained in the city numerous schools by which they sought above all to strengthen their presence in the region. The nationalist movements which were growing up at the time made the cohabitation of these communities more and more difficult. At Salonica, as well as in Turkish Macedonia, during the last decades of the 19th century, violence reigned in an endemic way. Terrorist incidents which began with the formation of bands of insurgent Bulgarians sowed a general panic. In April 1903, the Bulgarian comitadjis whose aim was to arouse the attention and the intervention of European opinion, multiplied their attacks. The development of these events led to the realisation of this aim and the Ottoman powers were obliged to accept certain reforms under pressure from the Great Powers. The explosion on 15 April aboard the Guadalquivir, a French vessel anchored in the port of Salonica, is only an episode in the incidents which followed. Half an hour later, the railway station was blown up. In the evening of 29 April, the main gas pipe was destroyed and the entire city was immediately plunged into darkness. What remains of the Imperial Ottoman Bank after the attack of April 29th, 1903The archive documents of 30 April on the attack against the Ottoman Bank report that the Bulgarian revolutionaries came in three cars and killed the guards, entered the premises, turned off the gas, then turned on the gas taps and threw bombs, causing an explosion which led to a fierce fire. Those responsible were arrested. A large part of the premises was burned. It was hoped that the strong-room had not been damaged but it was initially impossible to enter the debris. In fact, apart from the strong-room and Cash Department, everything was lost...
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 14:33:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015