On August 19 and 20 and September 24, 25, 26, 1913, a series of important meetings was held in Berlin to ascertain upon what terms French and German investments in Turkey might be apportioned with the least possibility of conflict. German interests were represented by Dr. von Gwinner and Dr. Helfferich; the chief of the French negotiators were Baron de Neuflize, a Regent of the Bank of France, and M. de Klapka, Secretary-General of the Imperial Ottoman Bank. Supposedly the conferences were conducted only between the interested financiers, but the discussions were participated in by representatives of the French, German, and Ottoman foreign offices. Obstacles which, at the start, seemed insurmountable were overcome at the Berlin meetings and a series of minor conferences which followed. The result was one of the most important international agreements of the years immediately preceding the Great War—the secret Franco-German convention of February 15, 1914. The terms of this agreement, heretofore unpublished, may be summarized as follows:[14] 1. Northern Anatolia was recognized as a sphere of French influence for purposes of railway development. Arrangements were concluded for linking the Anatolian and Bagdad systems with the proposed Black Sea Railways, and traffic agreements satisfactory to all of the companies were ratified and appended to the convention. It was agreed that the port and terminal facilities at Heraclea should be constructed by a Franco-German company. 2. Syria, likewise, was recognized as a French sphere of influence. In particular, the right of the Syrian Railways to construct a line from Tripoli-in-Syria to Deir es Zor, on the Euphrates, was confirmed. A traffic agreement between the Bagdad and Syrian companies was ratified and appended to the convention. 3. The regions traversed by the Anatolian and Bagdad Railways were defined as a German sphere of influence. A neutral zone was established in Northern Syria to avoid infringement upon German or French rights in that region. 4. The _Deutsche Bank_ and the Imperial Ottoman Bank each pledged itself to respect the concessions of the other, to seek no railway concessions within the sphere of influence of the other, and to do nothing, directly or indirectly, to hinder the construction or exploitation of the railway lines of the other in Asiatic Turkey. 5. It was agreed that appropriate diplomatic and financial measures should be taken to bring about an increase in the revenues of the Ottoman Empire, sufficient, at least, to finance all of the projected railways, both French and German. Construction of the lines already authorized, or to be authorized, should be pursued, as far as possible, _pari passu_, each group to receive subsidies from the Ottoman Treasury in about the same proportion.