Article IV left open the possibility of Ottoman troops traversing Bulgarian soil to attack another power.
[5] After the signing, the Ottomans continued to press for an expanded offensive alliance directed at Russia, but to no avail.
), Grand Vizier Sait Halim rejected the interpretation of the Ottoman–German alliance whereby Turkey was bound to go to war when Germany did.
He ordered the government ministers to pursue negotiations in different directions: with Romania, Russia, Greece and France.
The Germans objected, but the Ottomans sent a colonel to Sofia to begin negotiations with the Bulgarian general staff anyway.