The Status of Ottoman Concessions after the Balkan Wars and the Question of Succession

Abstract

The Balkan Wars resulted in numerous political and economic issues. Following the First Balkan War, the Financial Commission for Balkan Affairs was established to address economic problems. The commission, initiated by France, aimed to transfer concessions obtained from the Ottoman Empire to the Balkan states based on the principle of succession. Studies on the legal status of Ottoman concessions in the region, scope of succession and their place in diplomatic relations are limited. The paper aims to evaluate the legal status of concessions in the Balkans during the period from the First Balkan War to WWI based on the Commission documents. The article examined the records of the Commission, periodicals, and archival documents chronologically to analyze the attitudes of related countries towards concessions. France, Germany and Austria-Hungary held most of the concessions in the Balkans and advocated the full implementation of succession and the fulfillment of requirements by the Balkan states. During the commission works, the Balkan states agreed to continue with the concessions. However, political disagreements among the participating countries interrupted the commission’s work. Greece and Serbia accepted succession but later attempted to nationalize the concessions. The problem of concessions remained unsolved until the Treaty of Lausanne due to the outbreak of WWI. As a result, the concept of succession, which was one of the fundamental principles of the Lausanne, was tested for the first time in terms of concessions in the Commission. Therefore, it can be said that the commission’s work served as a rehearsal for Lausanne.