Abstract:

Abstract enThe Ottoman Government - taking advantage of the outbreak of the World War I- declared the complete abolition of the capitulary regime, which had impeded the judicial, administrative and financial sovereignty of the Empire since the19th century, to be put into force by the 1st of October 1914. Following the decree, the Government issued complementary laws and regulations in order to consolidate the new capitulation-free regime. As all the other beneficiary states, Spain also objected the unilateral abolition of the capitulations and announced particularly reserving its rights over the consulates’ judicial privileges. At a time when the Spanish diplomatic organization avoided any action that could result in Spain’s direct or indirect recognition of the abolition decree, a discord between the Consulate and the Governorship of Smyrna in the summer of 1915, jeopardized that very Spanish policy. Therefore, the Spanish Government come across with the dilemma of de facto recognition of the decree or shutting its diplomatic mission in the Ottoman territory. In this period, while the Spanish diplomacy took measures against these possible consequences, the Ottoman Government and local authorities forced the Spanish diplomatic organization to comply with the new laws and regulations. Thus, the Ottoman Empire intended to attain the recognition of the abolition decree by Spain. This paper targets to study the cited incident, as addressed in the diplomatic reports of the Archive of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to support with the documents available of the Ottoman Period of the State Archives of the Prime Ministry. Examining the cited diplomatic documents, the paper aims to reflect how Spanish Government and diplomacy assessed the abolition decree and following new regulations. The paper particularly aims to exemplify the situations engendered by the issue of the judicial capitulations, between the Ottoman authorities and the foreign representatives as well as the policies and initiatives developed by the both parties.

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