The Condolence Message of the Ottoman Black Sea Fleet in 1906: Critique of a Russian Red Archive Document.

According to a document kept in the Russian Red Archives, 28 officers of the Ottoman Black Sea Fleet sent a letter of condolence and support to the parents of Lieutenant Schmidt who was executed in 1906 for rioting in Odesa and in the fleet. The subject document has been used in literature for many years without question. However, contextual, formatting, and logical errors and inconsistencies in the content of the above-mentioned document are remarkable. Besides this, when conditions and documents of the period are examined, it seems probable that the document was fabricated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]