The September 6, 1917 Explosion at Haydarpaşa Port and Railway Station

The study deals comprehensively with the explosion at the station and its effects on the course of the First World War. The main focus of the study, the explosion at the Haydarpaşa harbor and railway station, is examined within its historical context on the basis of archival documents and elaborated upon in the light of eyewitness accounts, memoirs, and contemporary sources. In the correspondence of Ottoman military and administrative officials, the explosion was evaluated as an accident. The Ottoman government’s characterization of the Haydarpaşa explosion as an accident during wartime is a strategic issue that deserves attention. First, by labeling the enemy’s successful sabotage at the capital’s most important logistical hub—the Haydarpaşa harbor and station—as an accident, the government sought to minimize the psychological impact that sabotage would have created. On the other hand, the ability of the Ottoman–Anatolian Railway Company to obtain compensation from insurance companies depended on the explosion being classified as an accident. Although archival records consistently treat the explosion as an accident, historical evidence suggests that the likelihood of it being sabotage is considerably higher.