In the beginning of 1881, unexpectedly for the Bulgarian diplomatic agent in Istanbul, the question of the way the official correspondence between the Bulgarian agency and the Sublime Porte should be handled was raised again. On February 17, 1881, Marko Balabanov talked at length with Said Pasha on the renewal of the practice established during the time of his predecessor Dragan Tsankov, but His Serene Highness ardently assured him that there was no harm in corresponding with the relevant office rather than directly with the foreign ministry. On March 7, 1881, the Bulgarian diplomatic agent Balabanov delivered a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey stating that for some time there had been an “innovation” in the way of correspondence between the ministry and the Principality agency which surprised all, because since its establishment, almost twenty months ago, the Bulgarian agency had maintained its regular correspondence with the Sublime Porte through the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the example of the other principalities, which were once in the same position towards the Sublime Porte as was the Principality of Bulgaria now. By the note handed to Asim Pasha, Balabanov conveyed the standpoint of the Bulgarian government that by this way of correspondence the Sublime Porte treated the Principality of Bulgaria as a privileged Turkish province. The Principality government went on sending notes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although it did not receive any answers. In order to make the Turkish government renew the prior order, the Bulgarian side refused to recognize the papers of Turkish refugees unless they were endorsed by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Bulgarian government also sought international support for the settlement of this dispute with its neighbour and on March 11, 1881, sent out a circular letter to all foreign country representatives in Sofia, requesting them to acquaint their governments with this “abnormal state of affairs, which offends the dignity of the government of His Highness the Bulgarian Prince” and was not conducive to development of the relations between Turkey and Bulgaria.

Two months later events in Bulgaria added fuel to this tension between the two ministries. During the crisis in Bulgaria after the coup of April 27, 1881, the Turkish delegate in the vakif commission, acting on instructions from Istanbul, stood by Alexander Battenberg and the Bulgarian conservatives. Under his influence the Muslim population in the Principality supported the Prince in the Svishtov Grand National Assembly, which voted the Prince’s powers. In a coded telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Bulgarian agent in Istanbul received orders to express gratitude to the Turkish government and the Sultan for their favour to the Bulgarian Prince during the crisis. “Ask him to inform the Sultan of these feelings of gratitude of His Highness,” was the closing sentence of the coded telegram to Marko Balabanov, signed personally by Minister Stoilov.

In his report of September 23, Marko Balabanov stated his good impressions from his latest talks with Asim Pasha at his home on the old dispute of the way of correspondence between the agency and the ministry. Asim Pasha made it clear that “sooner or later the Sublime Porte would go back to the former order, but for the time being the situation is such”. Balabanov reminded his minister that this issue was of paramount importance because it showed to the world “what our Principality is in the international relations with the Sublime Porte”. Among the Bulgarian diplomatic circles the possibility was discussed of the Bulgarian Prince personally taking the initiative on this issue by writing directly to the Sultan, provided the latter responds accordingly. Balabanov was of the opinion that such an experiment would have more negative than positive effect in case no adequate response came.

This delicate issue in the relations between the two countries went towards its favourable resolution. On April 20, 1882, the Bulgarian diplomatic agent in Istanbul informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sofia that the Porte accepted the following compromise: “The Bulgarian agency will have direct relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on all political affairs, and for all current matters it will refer to the relevant departments of the Porte.” Several months later he received a draft verbal note to inform the foreign embassies in Istanbul that “the existing dispute between the Sublime Porte and the Principality of Bulgaria on the way of correspondence has been resolved ‘successfully by mutual accord’”.

In early December 1882, Minister G. Valkovich had a meeting with the Grand Vizir to settle with the Turkish government another issue that came up – the Bulgarian medal for public service and war decoration, established by Prince Alexander Battenberg under article 59 of the Constitution of the Principality of Bulgaria. Istanbul interpreted this act as a blow on the sovereignty and prerogatives of the Sultan. To avoid strain in the relations with Turkey, the Principality government requested recognition of the decoration on the part of the Sublime Porte. In his telegram Valkovich wrote that the Grand Vizir charged him with the task to express before the Bulgarian government “desire for friendly relations” and assure it that “the Suzerain Court is most favourably disposed towards the government of His Highness, it celebrates its successes and will support it in its efforts for prosperity of the country”.

Negotiations on this issue protracted till mid-1883. In the spring of 1883, Prince Alexander Battenberg undertook a large tour of the Middle East. On April 6 he visited Istanbul and was cordially received by the Sultan. The Bulgarian Prince and his suite, comprising General Lesovoy, Baron Riedezel, Valkovich, Baron Korvin, Mussolov, Uvaliev, Prince Ludwig and Tapchileshtov, were decorated with Turkish orders. These high distinctions did not eliminate the issue of recognizing the medals given out by Battenberg. Only a month later, on May 18, 1883, the Bulgarian agent in Istanbul informed concerning the St. Alexander Order conferred by the Bulgarian Prince in Athens and Cetina that the Sublime Porte did not recognize this Bulgarian decoration and “considers it null”, because such conduct of the Bulgarian Prince infringed the rights of the Suzerain. From his personal conversation with the Turkish foreign minister, however, the Bulgarian diplomat was convinced that the Sublime Porte would recognize the Bulgarian order if advised so by the Great Powers.

The Union of Eastern Rumelia and the Principality of Bulgaria, which took place on September 6, 1885, placed Bulgaria-Turkey relations before new, much more serious trials than the long disputes on the way of correspondence or the Prince’s right to award medals.

On September 9, 1885, Prince Alexander Battenberg sent a telegram to the Sultan, informing him of his promulgation as Prince of Eastern Rumelia with assurances of his sincere wish to promote the friendly relations between the two countries. “I state most categorically before Your Imperial Majesty,” the telegram read, “that the union of the two Bulgarias is done without any hostile intentions towards the government of Your Majesty and that I fully recognize the sovereignty of Your Majesty… I request Your Majesty to prove once again his boundless kindness to his peoples and confirm the Union, done without infringement of the sovereignty of Your Imperial Majesty.”

On September 23, the charge d’affaires of the Bulgarian diplomatic agency in Istanbul Genovich telegraphed the Bulgarian foreign ministry that the Sultan was inclined to accept the proposal of the Great Powers the Bulgarian Prince to be titled Prince of the Principality of Bulgaria and Governor of Eastern Rumelia. On September 24, Alexander Battenberg sent a telegram to the Grand Vizir, informing him that led by the desire “the unnatural position of Bulgaria to the suzerain power to be settled directly and without delay” he had commissioned a personal delegation to present to Sultan Abdul Hamid a letter, and a letter to the Grand Vizir.

In the months and years after the Union and the Serbo-Bulgarian War that followed, the political dialogue between Turkey and Bulgaria continued in search of mutually acceptable solutions in view of the new realities.

By a note of May 9, 1892, the Bulgarian government consented to the opening of Turkish agencies in Bulgaria, on reciprocal basis. Immediately after this note, the Turkish government opened its agencies in Varna, Vidin, Plovdiv and Rousse, and determined their exact status by the interstate agreement of May 9, 1892. The Turkish trade agents in Bulgaria were to be accredited to the district governors in the respective cities, and the Bulgarian ones in Turkey – to the valis. At the close of 1896, Turkey opened its trade agency in Burgas, the largest port city on the Bulgarian Black Sea southern coast.

The following years were favourable for the development of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Bulgarian government responded positively to the note by the Turkish government stating that in accord with the growing trade relations between Bulgaria and Turkey it has decided to open a trade agency in Sofia and appoint as its trade agent Maxim effendi. The Bulgarian government gave its consent on the condition that the opening of Bulgarian trade agencies in Istanbul, Ksanti and Seres was allowed. The Turkish side gave its consent for the opening of Bulgarian agencies in Istanbul and Seres, and the Bulgarian government consented to a Turkish agency in Sofia.

Meanwhile, as a result of negotiations and the good relations maintained between the Turkish and Bulgarian governments, a number of agreements were concluded:

• Telegraph Convention between Bulgaria and Turkey, signed in Istanbul on January 10, 1883, endorsed on February 17, 1883.
• Convention between Bulgaria and Turkey for submission of convicts, signed through an exchange of notes on October 21 and November 12, 1891.
• Convention, signed in Istanbul on March 26, 1904, under which the Bulgarian government undertook to obstruct in its territory and in Eastern Rumelia the formation of revolutionary committees and armed bands and any actions aimed at perturbing the Empire, and the Turkish government to apply the reforms in the districts of Thessalonike, Bitolya and Kosovo, as well as the general amnesty for all political convicts, prisoners and exiles and people under investigation for revolutionary activity.
• Telegraph and Postal Convention between Bulgaria and Turkey, signed in Istanbul on August 13, 1905.
• Trade and Customs Convention, signed on December 31, 1906.
• Agreement between Turkey and Bulgaria for mutual treatment of sick people, concluded in 1908 by an exchange of notes, etc.

After the declaration of Bulgaria’s independence in 1908, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ecclesiastical Matters commissioned the head of the legation in Istanbul M. Nestorov with a letter dated August 22, 1909, to take steps before the Turkish government and request the upgrading of the Bulgarian trade agencies in Istanbul, Edirne, Bitolya, Skopje and Seres into consulates, and the one in Thessalonike into general consulate, declaring that it agrees the existing Turkish trade agencies in Bulgaria to be upgraded into consulates. Very soon, on September 2, 1909, the Turkish government gave its consent and by decree of December 26 the same year the Bulgarian trade agencies in Istanbul and Thessalonike became general consulates, and those in Edirne, Bitolya and Skopje became consulates. The trade agencies of Turkey in Bulgaria were transformed as follows: the one in Plovdiv became general consulate, and the ones in Burgas, Rousse and Vidin became consulates.

The establishment and development of normal diplomatic relations between the two states was instrumental for the solution of some unsettled issues and for the conclusion of a number of new bilateral agreements and conventions of mutual interest.

Stoyan Raichevsky