 Conference delegates | |
| Native name | Tersane Konferansı |
|---|---|
| Date | 23 December 1876 – 20 January 1877 (1876-12-23 –1877-01-20) |
| Venue | Tersane Sarayı (Shipyard Palace) |
| Location | Constantinople (now Istanbul) |
| Type | Conference |
| Theme | Bosnia and the Ottoman territories with a majority Bulgarian population |
| Cause | The Herzegovinian Uprising in 1875 and the Bulgarian April Uprising in 1876 |
| Participants | |
| Outcome | Agreed on a project for political reforms |
The 1876–77Constantinople Conference (Turkish:Tersane Konferansı "Shipyard Conference", after the venueTersane Sarayı "Shipyard Palace") of theGreat Powers (Austria-Hungary,Britain,France,Germany,Italy andRussia) was held inConstantinople (nowIstanbul)[1] from 23 December 1876 until 20 January 1877. Following the beginning of theHerzegovinian Uprising in 1875 and theApril Uprising in April 1876, the Great Powers agreed on a project for political reforms inBosnia and in theOttoman territories with a majority-Bulgarian population.[2] The Ottoman Empire refused the proposed reforms, leading to theRusso-Turkish War a few months later.
The Great Powers were represented at the conference respectively by:[3]
Of these, Lord Salisbury, Count de Chaudordy and Baron von Calice wereAmbassadors Plenipotentiary to the conference, while Count Ignatyev, Sir Henry Elliot, Count de Bourgoing, Baron von Werther, Count Zichy and Count Corti were the resident Ambassadors of their countries in Constantinople.
The USConsul General in Constantinople,Eugene Schuyler also took an active part in drafting the conference decisions.[4][5]
TheOttoman Empire was represented at the conference by:
MidhatPasha was theGrand Vizier (First Minister), and Saffet Pasha the Foreign Minister of theOttoman Empire. Although the Ottoman representatives participated in the plenaries of the conference, they were not invited to the preceding working sessions at which the Great Powers negotiated and elaborated their agreement.
Lord Salisbury and Count Ignatyev played a leading role in the process.Ignatyev was trying to dispel British misgivings about Russia's assumed role of a protector of theEastern OrthodoxSlavs being but a disguise of its drive to take over theBlack Sea Straits and Constantinople itself and thus – as Prime MinisterDisraeli feared – potentially threaten the vitalMediterranean routes toBritish India via theSuez Canal, completed in 1869.[6] On his part, Salisbury saw the conference as a promising opportunity for mapping out a comprehensive deal with Russia over their conflicting territorial ambitions in Central Asia.[7]
The conference envisaged the creation of anautonomous province includingBosnia and most ofHerzegovina, while a southern part of the latter was to be ceded to thePrincipality of Montenegro.[8]
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The Great Powers agreed on a substantial Bulgarian autonomy to take the form of two new Ottoman provinces (vilayets) established for the purpose: Eastern, with capitalTarnovo, and Western, with capitalSofia.[9][10]
The conference determined that, as of the late 19th century, the Bulgarian ethnic territories within the Ottoman Empire extended toTulcea and theDanube Delta in the northeast,Ohrid andKastoria in the southwest,Kirklareli andEdirne in the southeast, andLeskovac andNiš in the northwest. These territories were to be incorporated into the two Bulgarian autonomous provinces as follows:
The Great Powers elaborated in detail the constitutional,legislative, executive,defense andlaw enforcement arrangements,cantonaladministrative system, taxation, international supervision etc. for the proposed autonomous provinces.[9][10]
The agreed decisions of the six Great Powers were formally handed over to theOttoman Government on 23 December 1876,[12] dismissing the opening Ottoman suggestions that the Conference's mission might be unnecessary, given a newOttoman Constitution approved bySultanAbdul Hamid II that same day.[13] In the subsequent conference's plenary sessions, the Ottoman Empire submitted objections and alternative reform proposals that were rejected by the Great Powers, and attempts to bridge the gap did not succeed.[14] Eventually, on 18 January 1877 Grand VizierMidhat Pasha announced the definitive refusal of the Ottoman Empire to accept the conference decisions.[9]
The rejection by the Ottoman Government of the decisions of the Constantinople Conference triggered the 1877–1878Russo-Turkish War, depriving at the same time the Ottoman Empire – in contrast to the preceding 1853–1856Crimean War – of Western support.[9]
Tsarigrad Peak inImeon Range onSmith Island in theSouth Shetland Islands,Antarctica is named after the conference (‘Tsarigrad’ being the old Bulgarian name for Constantinople).[15]
Bulgarian historiography treats the conference as the most reliable international evidence for the Bulgarian character of the local Slavic population ofMacedonia due to the fact that the Ottoman Empire and the 6 European Great Powers, regardless of the differences in theirgeopolitical interests, recognized the majority of the area as such with a predominantlyBulgarian population, although the April Uprising, which drew international attention to the Bulgarian national question, hardly broke out in Macedonia.[16]
