Mehmed V was a largely ceremonial figure by 1911, with real power held by the Committee of Union and Progress following the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. The Selanik mint — operating in what is now Thessaloniki, Greece — had been the CUP's own organizational heartland, making its role in striking coinage for the restored constitutional monarchy something of a political irony. The mint would lose its city entirely within two years: Thessaloniki fell to Greek forces in October 1912 during the First Balkan War, ending Ottoman minting operations there permanently.
Mehmed V was a largely ceremonial figure by 1911, with real power held by the Committee of Union and Progress following the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. The Selanik mint — operating in what is now Thessaloniki, Greece — had been the CUP's own organizational heartland, making its role in striking coinage for the restored constitutional monarchy something of a political irony. The mint would lose its city entirely within two years: Thessaloniki fell to Greek forces in October 1912 during the First Balkan War, ending Ottoman minting operations there permanently.