_On Oct. 29, 1914, the attack of the Turkish forces upon Russia and
England was delivered. Following is the official Turkish version of
the events leading to the rupture of diplomatic relations between
Turkey and the Triple Entente, contained in the first Turkish
communiqué of the war, appearing in the Turkish press on Oct. 31,
1914:_
While on the 27th of October a small part of the Turkish fleet was
manoeuvring in the Black Sea, the Russian fleet, which at first
confined its activities to following and hindering every one of our
movements, finally, on the 29th, unexpectedly began hostilities by
attacking the Ottoman fleet.
During the naval battle which ensued the Turkish fleet, with the help
of the Almighty, sank the mine-layer Pruth, displacing 5,000 tons and
having a cargo of 700 mines; inflicted severe damage on one of the
Russian torpedo boats, and captured a collier.
A torpedo from the Turkish torpedo boat Gairet-i-Millet sank the
Russian destroyer Koubanietz, and another from the Turkish torpedo
boat Mouavenet-i-Millet inflicted serious damage on a Russian
coastguard ship.
Three officers and seventy-two sailors, rescued by our men and
belonging to the crews of the damaged and sunken vessels of the
Russian fleet, have been made prisoners. The Ottoman imperial fleet,
glory be given to the Almighty, escaped injury, and the battle is
progressing favorably for us.
The Imperial Government will no doubt protest most energetically
against this hostile action of the Russian fleet against a small part
of our fleet.
Information received from our fleet now in the Black Sea is as
follows: From accounts of Russian sailors taken prisoners and from the
presence of a mine-layer among the Russian fleet, evidence is gathered
that the Russian fleet intended closing the entrance to the Bosphorus
with mines and destroying entirely the imperial Ottoman fleet after
having split it in two. Our fleet, believing that it had to face an
unexpected attack, and supposing that the Russians had begun
hostilities without a formal declaration of war, pursued the scattered
Russian fleet, bombarded the port of Sebastopol, destroyed in the city
of Novorosiysk fifty petroleum depots, fourteen military transports,
some granaries, and the wireless telegraph station.
In addition to the above, our fleet has sunk in Odessa a Russian
cruiser and damaged severely another. It is believed that this second
boat was likewise sunk. Five other steamers full of cargoes lying in
the same port were seriously damaged. A steamship belonging to the
Russian volunteer fleet was also sunk, and five petroleum depots were
destroyed.
In Odessa and Sebastopol, the Russians from the shore opened fire
against our fleet.
The officers and crews of the mine-layer Pruth were subjected to a
rigid examination.
Eight or ten days ago the Pruth, lying in the roadstead of Sebastopol,
received a cargo of mines and was put under the command of officers
who for a number of years past had been training on board the Russian
depot ship in Constantinople and therefore had become familiar with
the ins and outs of the Bosphorus.
As soon as it became known that a small part of the Turkish fleet went
out to the Black Sea, the Russian fleet sailed from Sebastopol,
leaving only an adequate squadron for the protection of the city, and
on Oct. 27 put to sea, taking a southerly direction with the rest of
its forces. On the next day the mine-layer Pruth left Sebastopol and
steamed southward.
The Russian fleet, acting in different ways, intended to fill with
mines the entrance of the Bosphorus, attack the weak squadron of the
Ottoman fleet, at that time on the high seas, and cause the
destruction of the rest of the Turkish fleet, which, being left in the
Bosphorus, would rush to the assistance of the light flotilla, and,
encountering the mines, would be destroyed.
Our warships manoeuvring on the high seas met the mine-layer Pruth as
well as the torpedo boats accompanying her, and thus took place the
events already known from previous communications.
The rescued Russian officers are five in number, one of them a
Lieutenant Commander. The prisoners have been sent to Ismid.
This successful action on the part of our squadron, which only by
chance came to be on the high seas at the time of the naval battle, is
itself one of the utmost importance for us, as it assures the future
of our fleet.