Contrary to common belief, which argues that Bismarck was not interested in a friendship with the Ottoman Empire, this paper argues that Bismarck tried to make the Sultan believe that Germany was a friend and supporter of the Sultan and his policy which was at the time attracting sharp criticism from other European Great Powers. As the two Ottoman reports related to Bismarck’s conversations with Ali Nizami Pasha and Re?id Bey, who were sent by Sultan Abdülhamid II to obtain a commitment on the civil and military advisors and to investigate the possibility of an alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire in December 1881, clearly express Bismarck was not indifferent towards the Ottoman affairs nor was he disinterested in the Sultan’s friendship. On December 19, 1881, Re?id Bey was received by Bismarck in an audience of almost two hour’s duration, of which he submitted a detailed summary-report to Sultan Abdülhamid regarding the conversation. In his eleven page comprehensive report, Re?id Bey demonstrated clearly Bismarck’s dramatically changed approach to Ottoman affairs. During the conversation lasting two hours Bismarck had openly shared his thoughts about the British, Russian, and French government and their interest in the Ottoman Empire and gave some advice to prevent foreign interference in Ottoman internal affairs. Furthermore Bismarck had taken a significant step by offering them some very forceful advice in which he categorized the Sultan’s Muslim/Turk subjects as reliable and the Non-Muslim/Non-Turk subjects (mezahib-i sa’ire efrad?) as unreliable. Additionally, Re?id Bey’s report highlights another impressive fact about Bismarck’s suggestion of Turkification of the late Ottoman Empire. Bismarck’s advice to the Ottoman delegation proved to be something akin to assimilation of the Non-Muslim subjects through a method which he formulated as ‘ruling with lion’s claw hidden in a silken glove’ (harirden ma’mul eldiven ile mestûr arslan pençesiyle idâre-i hükûmet). In fact these advices are in view of the Ottoman Empire’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious character very remarkable. This paper argues that the conversation of 1881 might be regarded as the definitive beginning of the change in Germany’s foreign policy towards the Ottoman Empire. Moreover in this paper, Re?id Bey’s report will be examined within the framework of Bismarck’s forceful suggestions. The basic question of the paper is whether Bismarck’s statements can be considered as a policy suggest for a positive discrimination or an assimilation of the Non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire.