Promenade 10 - Mineral resources of all kinds

Fritz Klein, Campaign Memories

"It was obvious to take advantage of this opportunity for the German economic interests. Accordingly, I gave Blumenau the order to thoroughly explore all of Mesopotamia and the border mountains towards Asia Minor for mineral resources of all kinds, coal, petroleum, copper, silver, etc., using the far-reaching powers of attorney and letters of safe conducts issued to him by the Wali and the army commander. It was known to me that this had only been done to a very limited extent, that earlier expeditions sent out for this purpose had been deliberately misled by the authorities and the natives, and that all kinds of difficulties were put in the way of such undertakings by the Turks in peacetime: under the protection of the official mandate and his uniform, it must therefore be possible for Blumenau to obtain extraordinarily valuable documents that could perhaps already be used in the peace negotiations".

Speaker: Aaron Snyder Image: AI