[GERMAN WARTIME PROPAGANDA IN OTTOMAN TURKISH DURING WW1 / BERLIN IMPRINT] Almanya - Sark münâsebâti düveliyesinin safahât-i... [i.e., Germany and the East: The past and present phases of their international relations, and their future developments

COMPLETE TITLE: [GERMAN WARTIME PROPAGANDA IN OTTOMAN TURKISH DURING WW1 / BERLIN IMPRINT] آلمانیا - شرق مناسبات دولیه سنڭ صفحات ماضیه و حاضره سیله انکشافات مستقبلسی / Almanya - Sark münâsebâti düveliyesinin safahât-i mâzîye ve hâzirasiyla inkisâfât-i müstakbelesi (Sark-i Cedîd Kitabhânesinin Türkçe Külliyât-i Asâri Aded 1. [Deutschland und der Orient: Ihre Beziehungen in Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft]. [i.e., Germany and the East: The past and present phases of their international relations, and their future developments.]. Translated to Ottoman Turkish by Selâhaddin.

N. A.

Almanya Hükümet Matbaasi, Berlin, February 1917.

Original yellowish wrappers, German title on the rear cover. 4to. (26 x 19 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 72 p., 12 unnumbered b/w photographic and drawn plates. Sporadic spotting on the covers. Overall, a very good copy.

Extremely rare first and only Turkish edition of this propaganda book printed in Berlin during WW1, emphasizing the shared financial and economic interests of Germany and the Ottoman Empire, while aiming to place Germany's Eastern policy within a historical and political framework. This richly illustrated propaganda work, aimed at the Ottoman intelligentsia, reflects the idea that Germany and the Ottoman Empire have shared parallel paths and common interests since the seventeenth century. Through numerous visual materials related to its subject, it seeks to substantiate this notion, from the relations between the Prussian King Frederick and the Ottoman court during the reign of Sultan Mustafa III, to the Young Turks, the dispatch of Moltke to Ottoman lands by King Frederick William, ultimately the Berlin - Baghdad railways (Bagdadbahn), started in 1903 to connect Berlin with the then Ottoman city of Baghdad, from where the Germans wanted to establish a port on the Persian Gulf, and the alliance formed during the First World War.

As of February 1917, the strategic situation of the war, viewed from the perspective of the Central Powers, particularly Germany and its Ottoman ally, could still be regarded with cautious optimism. On the Eastern Front, Russia was visibly weakened by military losses, logistical strain, and mounting internal unrest that would soon culminate in revolution, encouraging expectations in Berlin and Constantinople of a decisive collapse. The Western Front, though costly and stagnant after Verdun and the Somme, remained defensible, and the German High Command believed that strengthened positions and renewed unrestricted submarine warfare might yet compel Britain to negotiate before American intervention could become decisive. Within Ottoman territories, however, the outlook was more mixed: while fronts in Arabia and Mesopotamia were under increasing British pressure and recent Russian advances in eastern Anatolia had been serious setbacks, the overall alliance leadership in early 1917 could still plausibly hope that Russian disintegration, submarine success, and war-weariness among the Entente might produce a favourable or at least negotiated outcome.

At a time when propaganda activities between the opposing powers were at their most intense, and under these conditions, this book, printed in Ottoman Turkish in Berlin, appears to have been intended for a Turkish intelligentsia and readership in Germany.

Özege 522., TBTK 4203., As of February 2026, OCLC records only five institutional copies, all located in Germany and Switzerland; none are held by libraries in the US (OCLC 72495091 & 7249509)., Propaganda and War: The Allied Front during the First World War, The Ömer M. Koç Collection.