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 — Thessaloniki — held particular significance for the CUP, as the city was its organizational birthplace and the personal hometown of Mustafa Kemal. Coins struck there carried an implicit political charge that those from Constantinople did not.
Selanik would fall to Greek forces in November 1912 during the First Balkan War, ending its function as an Ottoman mint 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 — Thessaloniki — held particular significance for the CUP, as the city was its organizational birthplace and the personal hometown of Mustafa Kemal. Coins struck there carried an implicit political charge that those from Constantinople did not.
Selanik would fall to Greek forces in November 1912 during the First Balkan War, ending its function as an Ottoman mint permanently.