Salonika Incident

The Salonika Incident was a major diplomatic incident that broke out on 6 May 1876 after a mob murdered the consuls of France and German Empire in the Ottoman city of Salonica, Jules Moulin and Henry Abbott. After a young Orthodox Christian woman of Bulgarian origin attempted to convert to Islam to marry a Turk against the will of her family, she was detained by the US Consul at Thessaloniki. An enraged mob attempted to retrieve the woman, and murdered Moulin and Abbott when it failed to find her. A diplomatic backlash ensued, leading to displays of force and to reforms in the Ottoman Empire.

Background

In the 1820s, a number of incidents leading to the death of Christians occurred in the Ottoman Empire, notably the Constantinople massacre of 1821, marking the European opinion. The exactions of the bashi-bazouk compounded this sentiment in the following decades. On 15 June 1858, rioting in Jeddah, believed to have been instigated by a former police chief in reaction to British policy in the Red Sea, led to the massacre of 25 Christians, including the British and French consuls, members of their families, and wealthy Greek merchants, yielding a two-day retaliation bombardment from the British frigate HMS Cyclops. The declining Ottoman Empire was also relying more and more on European investment and loans even for daily expenditure, which the European public opinion resented as it was perceived that the funds were squandered in inefficient projects and in corruption, contributing to the poor image of the Empire. Finally, the Sublime Porte was entering a period of such political instability that 1876 would become known as the "Year of Three Sultans".

At that time, a Bulgarian notable, Pericles Hajji Lazzaro, acted as US Consul in Thessaloniki (Salonika).