Page 243 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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ActA
Foreign Minister Agenor Gołuchowski in June 1896, failed because of a British veto.
The London Cabinet was only willing to hand over a collective note to the Sublime Porte
obliging it once again to carry out the reforms promised in the Haleppa Convention of
1878: the appointment of an Ottoman Christian as governor general, the convening of
the Cretan General Assembly (the date was fixed with 14 July) and the grant of an am-
12
nesty to the rebels.
Under the pressure of the great powers Sultan Abdul Hamid II finally promised to
13
observe the Convention on 3 July but the situation remained unstable, as the sultan also
promoted Abdullah Pasha, a hardliner and now military governor of Crete, to the rank of
marshal, and Abdullah Pasha started to operate on his own without the knowledge of the
new governor general. He engaged in an offensive action against the rebel troops on the
first day of the General Assembly taking revenge for a bloody incident which had taken
place the day before. 14
The situation on the island remained precarious as an incident at Canea on 18 July
showed where, according to the report of the command of “Kaiserin und Königin Ma-
ria Theresia”, a “meaning-
less misunderstanding” –
Consul Pinter wrote in his
report to Foreign Minister
Gołuchowski that a Muslim
was severely wounded in a
shooting probably provoked
by the Muslim community
of Canea itself – resulted in
a panic and riots in the town.
Armed boats with soldiers
had to be sent to the Austro-
Hungarian consulate, the
post office and the Lloyd of-
fice for protection only to be
recalled two hours later af-
SMS “Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia” - Wikipedia ter the situation had calmed

12 For the diplomatic correspondence between Gołuchowski and his ambassadors see HHStA, PA XII 277,
passim. See e.g. ibid., Deym to Gołuchowski, London, 11.6.1896. Count Franz Deym, Austro-Hungarian
ambassador in London, speaks of “a great indifference of the prime minister concerning the uprising in
Crete”.
13 HHStA, PA XII 278, Liasse XXXVIII Kretensische Frage 1896 VII, unfol.: telegram Calice, Büyükdere,
4.7.1896. See also Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (AMAE), Turquie, t. 528 (15 and 16 June
1896) and Russie, t. 310 (15 June 1896). Quoted by Zürrer, Die Nahostpolitik Frankreichs und Rußlands, p.
341; Verosta, Kollektivaktionen der Mächte des Europäischen Konzerts, p. 46.
14 HHStA, PA XII 278, unfol.: Calice to Gołuchowski, Büyükdere, 16.7.1896. See also Verosta, Kollektivaktionen
der Mächte des Europäischen Konzerts, p. 43.