Ottoman Authorities Research Articles

Contesting ‘Truth’: A Late Ottoman Response to Protestant Missionary Writings

This study delves into the polemical exchange between the 19th-century Ottoman scholar Harputlu İshak Hoca (d. 1892) and the protestant missionary Karl Gottlieb Pfander (d. 1865). By examining the historical context surrounding their controversy, this research sheds light on the interaction between the Ottoman state and British and American missionaries, particularly during the expansion of missionary activities in Anatolia. This paper also explores the responses of the Ottoman authorities to the missionary printing activities and the impact of the Church Missionary Society’s work on societal and governmental levels. Furthermore, it provides an analysis of Pfander’s Mizan ul-haqq (The Balance of Truth) and Harputlu’s Şemsü’l-hakîkat (The Sun of Truth) and Ziyâü’l-kulûb (The Light of Hearts), portraying them as not only engaging in interreligious polemics but also as creators of textual products that reflect the complex historical realities of their time. This research underscores the Ottoman scholars’ close attention and prompt responses to missionary literature.

The View of Christian Authors on the Practice of Devshirme in the 16th Century Ottoman Empire

The paper examines how various 16th century Christian sources (the vitae of the Balkan martyrs and the notes of Western travelers) reflect one of the cruelest practices of the Ottoman Empire: It is the so-called devshirme or «blood tax» – a system of forced recruitment of Christian boys for their conversion to Islam, upbringing in Turkish culture and subsequent transformation into faithful servants of sultan – soldiers of the Janissary corps or civil servants. Author of the South Slavic vitae of St. George the New of Sophia warns his Christian readers against the dangers of devshirme, as the main character of the vitae even had to leave his native home in order not to become a janissary and to keep his faith. The South Slavic scribe is echoed by the author of the Russian vitae of St. George the New: he conveys a frightening description of devshirme as the most terrible atrocity of the «Hagaren tsars» – for the sake of the sultan’s «honors» Christian children forget their faith and turn into faithful servants of a foreign religion. More detailed descriptions of devshirme are found in the writings left by Western travelers and diplomats who visited the Ottoman empire in the 16th century. They also talk about the horrors of the «blood tax», but more focus on how the Christians of the Ottoman Empire tried to avoid this heavy levy, as well as on the fact that some Christians themselves were ready to give their children to the Ottoman sultans in order to provide them with better social standing in the future. Western authors do not ignore some of the abuses of the Ottoman authorities in collecting the «blood tax» in the second half of the 16th century, that can be explained by negative trends in the development of the Ottoman state in this period. Despite all of this, many European travelers and diplomats talk about the meritocratic approach of the Ottoman authorities to the formation of the state elite, which is partly expressed in devshirme. The Western authors find this approach as one of the main reasons for the success of the 16th-century Ottoman expansion.

When Emmanuel Carasso Turned Italian: A Biography of Extraterritoriality and Questions of Nationality in the Ottoman Empire

Emmanuel Carasso (Turkified as Emanuel Karasu) (1863-1934) was a lawyer who hailed from a Sephardic Jewish family in Salonica, where he became instrumental after the turn of the century in the establishment of Macedonia Risorta, the local branch of the Italian masonic lodge Grande Oriente. The Salonica lodge quickly became an important center of Young Turk revolutionary activity in the following years, as privileges offered by capitulations enabled secrecy for lodge members. After the Constitutional Revolution of 1908, Karasu applied for Ottoman nationality and then became a member of the parliament representing Salonica and later Istanbul. During the course of his political career, he is best known for being a member of a delegation of four who went to Abdulhamid II to relay to him the news of his dethronement in the aftermath of the Counterrevolution (April 1909). Using his strong positions within the Committee of Union and Progress, Karasu managed to amass considerable wealth during the First World War, when his name also got popularly involved with corruption. Unlike other Unionists who left the imperial capital as the war came to an end, Karasu remained in Istanbul, where a number of court cases were brought against him. This is when he applied for Italian nationality, a request that started a lengthy bureaucratic paper trail that sheds light on an interesting nexus of political influence, capital, and extraterritorial privileges. This paper seeks to trace available Ottoman records in a bid to reconstruct the post-WWI odyssey of Karasu and trace the ways in which litigations were worked out in occupied Istanbul, how Al- lied Powers interacted with Ottoman authorities when it came to questions of nationality, and what these episodes imply in the transition to a post-Ottoman Middle East.

Vasil Levski, the Committees and the Trial in Sofia in the Light of an Unknown Report of March 1873 of the Special Judicial Commission

The article deals with a hitherto unknown report of the Special Judicial Commission, which in late 1872 and early 1873 conducted the trial in Sofia against Vasil Levski and his companions. The paper is preserved in the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul. The author analyses its contents with reference to three topics: 1) the creation of a revolutionary network in the Bulgarian lands and the activities of Vasil Levski, Dimitar Obshti and Angel Kanchev; 2) the organisation of the Arabakonak robbery, the search for its perpetrators, the disclosure of the revolutionary activists and the conduct of the trial; 3) an analysis of the situation in the Bulgarian lands and the internal and external political reasons that led to the creation of such a revolutionary structure. The report is a valuable document, revealing the view of the Ottoman authorities not only on the trial, but also on the social, political and structural reasons that led to the emergence and activity of a revolutionary organization aiming to achieve autonomy or complete independence for the Bulgarian people.

Building a Protestant Church on Ottoman Armenian Soil

The presence of American missionaries in late Ottoman territory, exemplified by figures like Smith and Dwight, marked a significant chapter in the region's history. Their legacy, spanning a century, left indelible marks on Turkey's cultural and educational landscape, including the establishment of institutions like Robert College and the Redhouse press. However, their engagement was not without complexities, as they found themselves embroiled in the intricate interplay between the Ottoman government and the burgeoning nationalist movements among its Christian populace. This paper examines the missionaries' dual roles as contributors to Turkey's development and intermediaries in the dialogue between nationalist aspirations and Western sympathizers, such as James Bryce. Delving into their initial harmonious coexistence with Ottoman authorities and subsequent entanglements, it sheds light on the missionaries' confrontations not with the government but with the Armenian Gregorian patriarchate, as they navigated the delicate terrain of religion and politics in Ottoman Armenian soil.

Jewish attempts to penetrate the Arab states during the Ottoman era (1517-1920)

The relationship between the Jews and the Ottoman Turks went through various phases and stages from its inception until the recognition of their state by modern Turkey in 1949. Harmony prevailed when the Jews were mere subjects in the Ottoman Empire, similar to other communities. However, there were instances of firmness by the Ottoman state when Jewish ambitions emerged, especially in the periods preceding World War I. Despite the Ottoman's generally positive treatment of the Jews and their warm welcome, the Ottomans faced challenges in the lands from which the Jews came to the Ottoman territories. To explore these dynamics and the extent of the relationship between the two parties, a study titled "Jewish Attempts to Infiltrate Arab States during the Ottoman Era 1517-1920" was conducted. To understand these aspirations and Ottoman reactions, the study is divided into two axes. The first axis examines the general conditions of Jews in the state from its establishment until the end of the 18th century. The second axis explores Jewish efforts to settle and secure promises from the Ottoman authorities to realize their dreams through global Zionism, particularly active in the second half of the 19th century—a period marked by the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the loss of its properties in various places. Additionally, the study delves into how the Ottomans dealt with these aspirations and focuses on the official stance of the state regarding Zionist colonial alliances and interactions in the early 20th century

Panagiotis Lefakis (?-1940). The blind majestic obstetrician who had been loved by the Ottomans

Sometimes, during an era of clashes, appears a man to promote humanism. Such a man was Panagiotis Lefakis who dedicated his life to treat the helpless inhabitants of Dedeagats (later Alexandroupolis) regardless of nationality and religion. With studies in Constantinople and Paris he practiced general medicine and obstetrics in Thrace. Lefakis, completely lost his eyesight by cause of retinal detachment but continued his work. With the help of his daughter Elli, he was the most preferable physician among the Muslims, as his blindness was an advantage due to cultural reasons. Muslim families felt secure as a blind man could not offend a Muslim female patient or a pregnant woman. His skills and temper helped Lefakis to achieve greatness and although he had been accused by his countrymen, the Ottoman authorities recognized his contribution.

“The Spanish Adventurer”: Ottoman Surveillance of Aladro Kastrioti, the Pretender for the Albanian Throne

This article delves into the intriguing case of Juan Pedro Antonio Aladro, a Spanish individual whose claims of being rightful heir to the throne of Albania captivated European newspapers in 1902. Through an analysis of historical sources and contemporaneous newspaper articles, this paper explores Aladro’s background, his alleged aristocratic connections, and his self-proclaimed lineage as a descendant of George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. This work investigates the response from the Ottoman Empire, specifically the surveillance conducted by the Ottoman Foreign Ministry in light of Aladro’s claims, and highlights the dismissive view the ministry held towards Aladro’s ambitions, characterizing him as an adventurer driven by personal gain rather than as a credible contender for the Albanian throne. The Ottoman authorities closely monitored Aladro’s movements, from his travels to Corfu where he held meetings with associates to his subsequent journey to Naples, which created a state of uncertainty regarding his exact whereabouts. By examining historical records and newspaper accounts, this article attempts to shed light on the perception of Aladro and the broader context of the Albanian situation at the time. It also explores the intricate interplay between European diplomacy and Aladro’s quest for an independent Albania, as well as the skepticism foreign powers expressed towards his claims.

The Transformation of the Ottoman State’s Relationship with the Nusayri/ʿAlawi Community in the Nineteenth Century

ABSTRACT This article aims to examine the changing nature of the Ottoman central administration’s policies towards Nusayris in the nineteenth century. In different contexts of space and time, the Ottoman authorities employed different measures of collaboration, oppression and persecution, while the Nusayris responded to these policies by either resistance or accommodation. Drawing on various sources from the Ottoman archives, the article singles out various contexts in time and space, in which the Ottoman state – both centrally and locally – condemned them as ‘heretics’ or, alternatively within this fluid continuum, accommodated them to local political and administrative practice and needs. A close analysis of the practices and the terminology brought to bear in dealing with the Nusayris suggests an adaptive, ever changing and dynamic relationship of the state to these parts of the population. The findings presented here thus urge the historicization of instances of persecution and marginalization in order to come to terms with complex religio-political entanglements and, finally, to delineate a more nuanced perspective on the history of this community in the late Ottoman Empire.

Between Empires: Women’s Resistance and Domestic Slavery in the Libyan Territories in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

In 1854, Fekiriyeh and Renghi Sefa, two enslaved girls from the Sudan, fled their enslaver, Ahmed Pasha, and sought refuge in the house of the British Consul in Salonica. Their ordeal had begun weeks earlier when they were loaded onto a ship and transported from the Ottoman Tripoli to the Greek port city. To evade the Ottoman prohibition on slave trafficking within the Empire, the Pasha furnished them with manumission papers. On arrival in Salonica, the Pasha confiscated the documents and destroyed them. After Ahmed Pasha revoked their freedom, the two girls absconded, showing up at the door of the British Consul.This article examines historical cases of enslaved women and girls, like Fekiriyeh and Renghi Sefa, who escaped their enslavers and sought refuge or help from various political authorities in Ottoman and post-Ottoman Libya or connected territories. These cases were often marked by trafficking, enslavement, abuse, sale, and an eventual quest for emancipation, By analyzing the interactions between enslaved individuals, European and Ottoman authorities, and Muslim households, this study highlights the gendered nature of slavery in North Africa.Contrary to conventional top-down perspectives, this research emphasizes the importance of the individual actions of enslaved women in seeking alternative authorities, such as foreign consulates, to adjudicate their claims. Despite opposition to the trans-Saharan slave trade and the slave trade within the Ottoman Empire before its disintegration after the First World War, British representatives avoided getting involved in cases of domestic slavery in Libya. Italian authorities would continue a similar policy after annexing the territory in 1911. Notwithstanding this reluctance, enslaved girls and women learned through various networks how to find sympathetic forums for their grievances. Evaluating the policies of British Consuls, Italian abolitionists, and the Italian colonial government, this paper argues that the actions of enslaved women, rather than male policymakers, were central to changing the status of enslaved individuals and eventually contributing to abolition.The focus on the experiences of girls like Fekiriyeh and Renghi Sefa exemplifies the importance of documenting enslaved girls' and women's lives and experiences. While the ultimate fate of these women and girls post-manumission remains unknown, their courageous efforts to resist enslavement contribute to a broader understanding of the intricacies of abolition in Libya and the larger Ottoman World in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

War, Women, and Sex Work in Occupied Istanbul, 1918–1923

Abstract The occupation of Istanbul by British, French, and Italian forces and the broader political upheavals between 1918 and 1923 radically altered the lives of women selling sex in the Ottoman capital. Increased demand brought by Allied soldiers and increases in supply as waves of migration brought new and financially precarious women to the city led to an expansion in the scale of the sex trade, which soon became a major concern of Allied and Ottoman authorities, servicemen, and the wider public. British, French, and Italian soldiers not only visited brothels as paying customers, but also enforced new regulations on prostitution, making women sex workers particularly vulnerable to violence perpetrated by them. The end of occupation in 1923 posed further challenges, as shifts in the political and judicial framework and reductions in clientele instigated new outward flows of sex workers from the city, emigrations that were complicated by financial and legal restrictions. The article uses French, British, Turkish, and League of Nations sources to uncover the challenges that women faced while working in Istanbul’s brothels in this period and the ways in which they navigated occupation. In doing so, it hopes to contribute to the investigation of the occupation’s impact on subaltern Istanbulites, something that has been hitherto neglected in research centered on the political contest between imperialist, Ottoman, and Turkish nationalist cadres during these years.

Chistians and Ottomans in 16th Century Timișoara

The city of Timişoara was one of the most important urban settlements in the southern parts of the Hungarian medieval kingdom. In 1552, following a brutal military campaign, Timişoara and its surroundings were occupied by Ottomans and integrated in the Empire. Although in the beginning was a real shock for the Christian communities inside the city (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox), the religious life continued under Turkish rule. A lot of documents from the second half of the 16th century offer information about the cohabitation between different Christian denominations and, of course, the Christian-Muslim relation. The Ottoman authorities had established the best relations with Serbian Orthodox church, recognizing many of its privileges, even allowing the foundation of a Serbian Orthodox bishopric inside the city. The Catholic and Protestant communities felt much stronger Ottoman pressure, because the two Christian denominations tried to get support from Turkish authorities in their dispute over faith.

The Natural Limits to Extraterritoriality: Contested Sovereignty in a Periphery of Ottoman Istanbul

This article examines a dispute between a French missionary hospital and Ottoman state officials over water and cultivated fields in Şişli, a periphery of Istanbul. It uses micro-history to illuminate the spatial and material implications of extraterritoriality and to reveal the role this legal privilege played in the urbanization of Ottoman cities. While European residents within Ottoman territory conceived of extraterritoriality as allowing geographic enclaves, Ottoman authorities resisted the legal fragmentation of the city and considered that all natural resources remained under the sultan’s sovereignty. These diverging understandings of extraterritoriality, in the context of asymmetric relations between European powers and the Ottoman empire, framed an urban dispute that resulted in sanitation reforms, the construction of walled enclosures, and negotiations to clarify the property rights of foreigners. In the process, Şişli became incorporated as an urbanized neighborhood of Istanbul.

From War Crimes to Crimes against Humanity and Genocide: Turkish Responsibility after World War I

On 24 May 1915, the Triple Entente powers of Britain, France, and Russia issued a joint declaration that qualified the massacres, imprisonments and violence inflicted on the peaceful Armenian population as “crimes against humanity and civilization.” The concept of crimes against humanity was further developed and explained by the Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties (hereinafter: Commission), which was formed during the Paris Peace Conference to investigate violations of the laws and customs of war and prosecute war criminals. This article traces the evolution of discussions held within the Commission regarding the atrocities committed by the Ottoman Turkish government against its Armenian population, which technically fell outside the jurisdiction of the crimes specified in these talks, as the atrocities were committed not against the population of a belligerent state but, rather, against their own nationals. These discussions played a major part in the development of international criminal law; particularly of the concept of crimes against humanity. The Armenian Memorandum and the list of perpetrators of the Armenian atrocities were also presented to the Commission, which (together with other data and information collected) identified the crimes committed against the Armenian population by the Ottoman authorities, thus defining the concept of crimes against humanity and the acts that fell within its scope. Although post-World War I efforts for justice are generally assessed as a failed effort, crimes against humanity first materialized as a term in international law during this period and its development was based on the Armenian atrocities, which provided a critical basis for the International Military Tribunal's later convictions and contributed to the concept's evolution into its present-day significance.

Captain Botsis’ Odyssey: On the Biography of the Russian Naval Commander

Referring to archival data of the RGADA (Relations with Venice Fund), this article provides new information about the little-known period of life (1700–1703) of Ivan Botsis related to his transition to the Russian service and directly preceding it. Until now, there is no full-fledged biography of the outstanding associate of Peter the Great, and this study supplements the information about his life full of dangers. Botsis played a significant role in Russia’s success in the Baltic Sea during the Northern War, so filling the gap in his biography is of particular interest. Based on the information introduced into scholarly circulation, the author draws information about his activities immediately after the Morean War (1684–1699). Although he is primarily known as a Russian naval commander, based on the data studied, one may conclude that in his homeland, he proved himself to be a loyal subject of his new homeland, the Venetian Republic, in military affairs. And after the end of the conflict and the conquest of the Peloponnese by Venice, showered with honors, he tried to succeed in a peaceful profession, trading business, and not so much as a merchant but as a coordinator of the commercial activity of his compatriots for private and public benefit. At the peak of his career, the enterprising and even adventurous nature of the Greek captain led him to a conflict with the Venetian and Ottoman authorities, and the hope for the Russian tsar as the deliverer of the Greeks from Turkish rule and sympathy for his military enterprises during the Northern War made him abandon a privileged position in his homeland and embark on a perilous journey to Russia to serve Peter I. The details of his risky escape, described in a petition addressed to the tsar, resemble an excerpt from an adventure novel. The appendix of the article contains previously unpublished documents, i. e. a petition of Captain Botsis and an excerpt of a decree of Tsar Peter on the allocation of his salary.

Building the Network of Bulgarian Trade Agencies in the Ottoman Empire at the End of the 19th Century – Challenges, Problems, Solutions

The article examines the challenges in the construction of the network of Bulgarian trade agencies in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century. Although they officially have consular functions, the Bulgarian representations are an important part of Prime Minister Dr. Konstantin Stoilov’s strategy for solving the Bulgarian national question and the accession of Macedonia to the Principality of Bulgaria. Their task is to counteract the development of foreign propaganda in European Turkey and to become a coordination and management center of Bulgarian legal and illegal organizations. Therefore, the Bulgarian trade agents encountered opposition not only from the Ottoman authorities, but also from the consuls of the neighboring Balkan states and Russia – contenders for the distribution of the Ottoman heritage in the Balkans. The author uses the rich archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Denominations in Sofia to show the solutions of the Prime Minister to the main problems and to analyze the result of their implementation.

Illicit trafficking of cultural objects: the case of Cyprus

Rampant unregulated excavation, at a time when archaeological practice was still unknown, opened the way to massive exportation of cultural objects from Cyprus, in parallel with other countries under the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. As ‘antiquarianism’ was concomitant with the beginnings of tourism, places with a rich cultural heritage became popular destinations or stopovers for the steamships. Collecting ‘antikas’ and ‘exploring’ was a pastime of the affluent, and the objects themselves were tokens of prestige, as, by tradition, they continued to be until the very recent past. The demand, not only by private individuals but also by newly established institutions, in the absence of what may now be termed ‘due diligence’, sustained availability. This dispersal forced the Cypriot Ottoman authorities to pass rudimentary legislation: its non-enforcement, however, allowed the trading of antiquities to continue unabated. During British Rule, while some regulations were in place, concerns of a different kind continued to allow the export and sale of antiquities. Bi-communal strife in the early 1960s, shortly after Independence, created sources of illicitly excavated objects which again, found their way into collections within the island or abroad. A second wave of Cypriot cultural heritage destruction followed the invasion of the island by Turkish troops in 1974: a large part of the island in the north was left unprotected and victim to both well-trained and untrained looters. Given this background, Cyprus is faced with a herculean task in remedying the situation. Despite a series of strict antiquities laws and the application of a number of preventive measures, the battle against illicit trading remains, and the past continues to haunt the present.

The Status of Samaritans in Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Damascus

AbstractIn this article, we explore the status of Samaritans in early modern Ottoman Damascus through a focus on a particular firman—a sultanic legal decree. The firman orders that Samaritans—a religious group that traces its origins to ancient Israel but differs from Jews in several aspects—are not to be employed as clerks by Ottoman authorities. We argue that the firman indicates Ottoman officials engaged in religious status management despite the lack of legal terminology for minority in the document. The significance of the firman regarding conceptualizing status, we suggest, is that it points to an alternative model of minoritization that is not based in modern European legal approaches to religious minority status and law but which accounts for people’s experiences of minority status before modernity.

‘An Oriental Gentlewoman’: Princess Nazlı Fazıl’s interview in The Gentlewoman in 1899

This article analyses an interview given by Princess Nazlı Fazıl (1856–1913) on 3 June 1899 to the British journal The Gentlewoman . Examining this rare instance of the representation of an elite Ottoman woman in the British media, this article demonstrates how Princess Nazlı used the foreign press to advance her own interests both abroad and at home. To her elite British readership, she presented herself as an ardent Anglophile and supporter of colonial interests in Egypt. To her Ottoman readership, in particular the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II with whom Princess Nazlı maintained a strained but dependent relationship, she flaunted these powerful connections to assure herself protection from Ottoman authorities. This case study contributes to the reconsideration of how elite Ottoman women operated within the political sphere, using the press to manage their social image within and beyond Ottoman society to advance their own political agendas.

Pilgrimage, Precarity, and Pandemics

Pilgrimage, Precarity, and Pandemics