"سكة حديد بغداد" [و‎‎٢‎١] (١٢٩/٤١)

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II
APPENDIX.
History of the Baghdad Railway Scheme to the end of 1901.
The first attempt to open up Asia Minor from Constantinople by railways
was made in 1871, when the Turkish Government constructed a line from
Haidar Pasha to the head of Ismid Bay, on the Asiatic shore of the Sea of
Marmora.
This line was leased in 1880 to a British Company on a twenty years'
lease, the Turkish Government reserving to itself the right of determining the
lease at any moment, subject to the payment of compensation. In 1888 two
Imperial Iradds were issued, the first conveying to the nominee of the Deutsche
Bank the right of working this line, and the second granting a ninety-nine
years' concession for the extension of the line to Angora, with a kilometric
guarantee by the Turkish Government of 10,300 fr. for the original line and
15,000 fr. for the extension.
The extension to Angora was completed in 1892.
At this time the only two other railway lines of any importance in Asia
Minor were the English Smyrna-Aidin Bailway, for which a concession had
been granted in 1856, and the Smyrna-Kassaba Railway, which was also at
that time in the hands of an English Company, under a concession granted in
1863.
In 1893 another Imperial Irade granted to the German Company two
further concessions, one for the construction of a branch line from Eski-Shehir
to Konia, and another for the extension of the Angora line to Kaisarieh, with
the right to prolong it eventually through Sivas to Diarbekr and down through
the valley of the Tigris to Baghdad.
The latter concession was abandoned, obstensibly because a careful survey
of the country between Angora and Kaisarieh revealed physical difficulties
which would render the cost of construction prohibitive, but really, it is believed,
in deference to Russian opposition to the scheme.
In 1893 the Turkish Government bought back the Smyrna-Kassaba Rail
way from the English Company, and immediately transferred it to a French
Company, which extended the line to Afium Kara Hissar. The German line
to Konia, which was completed in 1896, passes through this place, and, had
the French line been allowed to make a junction with it, much of the traffic
of the latter line would have been deflected to Smyrna.
The Ottoman Company of the Anatolian Railways, supported by the
Turkish Government, however, refused to allow this junction to be made, and
eventually the French line was forced to accept the terms offered by the
German Company, and passed practically under the control of the Anatolian
Rail wav Company. No sooner was this arrangement effected than the Porte
reversed its former decision and allowed the junction to be made.
The British Smyrna-Aidin Railway is now the only one in Asia Minor
which remains outside the control of the Anatolian Railway Company. German
influence at Constantinople has successfully defeated all the efforts of the
former Company to penetrate further into the interior of Asia Minor, although
no kilometric guarantee from the Turkish Government was asked for.
In 1899 the Porte formally conceded to the German Anatolian Company
the right to extend their railway to the Persian Gulf from Konia, instead of
by Sivas and Diarbekr, as originally arranged under the concession of 1893;
and on the 16th January 1902, an Imperial trade was issued, approving the
final Convention. As a counterpoise to the development of German enterprise