 Because of his extensive diplomatic service, the liberal Skouloudis was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in the conservative government of Dimitrios Rallis in 1897.In this position, he found himself overseeing Greece's diplomatic response to its first military defeat in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, which despite the fairly complete defeat of Greece's army, resulted in a relatively small loss of Greek territory, partly because of Skouloudis' diplomatic efforts.In 1905, Skouloudis was again elected to parliament from Thebes, but he did not serve in the government.