Tophane Agreement

The Tophane Treaty ( Bulgarian Топханенски акт / Topchanenski act ) was a treaty between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, on 24 Märzjul. / April 5 1886greg. during a conference of ambassadors in Constantinople Opel ( now Istanbul ) was signed.

Tophane is the name of the district of Istanbul, where the conference was held. With this contract in the fall of 1885, de facto consummated union of the Principality of Bulgaria was recognized internationally with Eastern Rumelia.

The contract was signed by the ambassadors of the Great Powers and the Ottoman Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha Kıbrıslı and the Bulgarian foreign minister Ilija Zanow to Topkapi Palace. According to the convention of Tophane the Prince of Bulgaria was ( at that time still Alexander Battenberg ) sovereignty over Eastern Rumelia. In return, the Ottoman Empire was part of Eastern Rumelia: Kardzhali and the surrounding region, as well as 21 villages in the valley of the River Watscha ( Bulg Въча, a right tributary of the Maritsa ), where mostly Pomaks lived (a total of 1640 km ²). Today these villages are located in the municipalities in Bulgaria Devin and Borino, the village of Mugla ( Bulg Мугла ) in the municipality of Smolyan (all in the Oblast Smolyan ).

Thus Bulgaria enlarged its territory of 64,000 km ² to 94,345 km ².