The Ottoman Special Organization
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THE OTTOMAN SPECIAL ORGANIZATION - TE ŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA : A HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ITS OPERATIONS AGAINST BRITISH OCCUPIED EGYPT (1914-1916) A Master’s Thesis by POLAT SAF İ THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA September 2006 To my family THE OTTOMAN SPECIAL ORGANIZATION - TE ŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA : A HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ITS OPERATIONS AGAINST BRITISH OCCUPIED EGYPT (1914-1916) The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by POLAT SAFİ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA September 2006 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in History. Assist. Prof. Oktay Özel Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in History. Prof. Dr. Stanford J. Shaw Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in History. Assist. Prof. Nur Bilge Criss Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT THE OTTOMAN SPECIAL ORGANIZATION - TE ŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA : A HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ITS OPERATIONS AGAINST BRITISH OCCUPIED EGYPT (1914-1916) Safi, Polat M.A., Department of History Supervisor: Ass. Prof. Oktay Özel September 2006 The present level of the knowledge about the plans and operations of the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa forces against Egypt during World War I is very poor in terms of the analysis of this phenomenon at a micro level in different localities. This study, in this context, is an attempt through the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa concentration, nourished mainly from Sinai, Libya, and to a lesser extent Sudan, against Egypt between 1914 and 1916 to further our understanding of not only the details of the Te şkilat ’s activities in these regions but also its administrative and operational characteristics. Keywords: Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa, Umur-i Şarkiye Dairesi, Sinai, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Süleyman Askeri, Mümtaz Bey, Hasan Efendi, E şref Ku şçuba şı, Nuri Pa şa, Cafer el-Askeri, Afrika Grupları Kumandanlı ğı. iii ÖZET TE ŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA : İNG İLİZ İŞ GAL İ ALTINDAK İ MISIR’A KAR ŞI YÜRÜTTÜ ĞÜ EYLEMLERE MAHSUS ATIFLA TAR İHİ B İR DE ĞERLEND İRME (1914-1916) Safi, Polat Yüksek Lisans, Tarih Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Oktay Özel Eylül 2006 1. Dünya Sava şı esnasında, Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa kuvvetlerinin Mısır’a kar şı planları ve operasyonları hakkındaki mevcut bilgi düzeyi bu hadisenin de ğişik mahallerde mikro bir seviyede analiz edilmesi bakımından oldukça fakirdir. Bu çalı şma, bu ba ğlamda, Mısır’a kar şı ba şlıca Sina, Libya ve daha az ölçüde Sudan’dan beslenen Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa konsantrasyonu yoluyla yalnızca Te şkilat ’ın bu bölgelerdeki faaliyetlerinin ayrıntılarına ili şkin de ğil aynı zamanda idari ve eylemsel özelliklerine ilişkin anlayı şın ilerlemesi için bir giri şimdir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa, Umur-i Şarkiye Dairesi, Sinai, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Süleyman Askeri, Mümtaz Bey, Hasan Efendi, E şref Ku şçuba şı, Nuri Pa şa, Cafer el-Askeri, Afrika Grupları Kumandanlı ğı. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to many people for help, both direct and indirect, in writing this thesis. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Oktay Özel for his support and guidance in the last three years. Without his enthusiasm, critical comments, analytical questions, and constant encouragement, I would have never been able to complete this dissertation. I would also like to thank Stanford Shaw for commenting on an early draft of the work and letting me make use of his valuable library. Moreover, I have to express my gratitude to Nur Bilge Criss for enhancing the quality of this thesis with her critical comments on the final draft. I am also thankful to Eugenia Kermeli, Hasan Ünal, and Hakan Kırımlı for encouraging me to become an historian for four years ago. This thesis would have never come into existence without the liberal attitude of the present ATASE administration. Therefore, I would like to express my thanks to Col. Dr. Ahmet Tetik, departmental chief of ATASE archive, not only for facilitating my research but also for his constructive comments on my thesis as an exact scholar. I am also greatly indebted to Arzu Yo ğurtçuo ğlu and Şeyda Büyükcan, archive experts in ATASE, for helping me in reading the materials and their entertaining friendship. My family, Macit, Sevgi, and Esra Safi, deserves the most profuse gratitude for spiritually and materially supporting me during my entire life. I would also like to express my gratitude to my uncle, Sacit Safi. I feel, moreover, obliged to voice my gratefulness to Eren Safi whose support, good will, and patience, as well as intellectual remarks has greatly contributed to the complementation of this study. I also thank the v staff of the periodical , Kılavuz , especially Turan Kandemir and Hakan Arslanbenzer, for supporting and critically evaluating my studies for years. Furthermore, I feel compelled to appreciate the close and exciting companionship of Emrah Safa Gürkan for almost eight years. My thanks also go to my friends, Fatih Durgun, Alphan Akgül, and M. Burak Özdemir, for not only generating new psychoanalytical methods to put up with my constant complaints about this study but also playing an active part in the realization of this thesis by their invaluable analysis and criticism. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……..............................................................................................iii ÖZET .................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................1 A) Intelligence Studies in Turkey ...........................................................1 B) Literature on the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa Revisited .................................6 C) Sources .............................................................................................23 CHAPTER TWO: THE TE ŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA FORCES IN SINAI ..........35 st A) The Mission of the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa in the 1 Canal Campaign ... 39 1. Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa in the Turkish Plan of Attack ……………….....39 2. Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa Forces in the Region ……………….………….42 3. Te şkilat -ı Mahsusa’s Missions Across the Frontier: Military Activities and Intelligence .....................................................................................46 4. Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa ’s Involvement in Local Conflicts .......................50 5. Formation of the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa Units in the Districts ..............53 6. Concentration in Yafa .......................................................................55 7. The Situation in Egypt ......................................................................62 8. The Attack on the Suez Canal ……………………………………...70 vii B) Mission of the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa in the 2 nd Canal Campaign …...74 1. Reorganization of the 4 th Army and the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa Forces................................................................................................74 2. Minor Operations against the Canal …...…………………………...77 CHAPTER THREE: TE ŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA IN LIBYA ...............................83 A) The mission of Süleyman el-Baruni to Libya ……..………………85 B) The mission of Nuri (Kıllıgil) and Cafer el-Askeri …….…………87 C) British Mediation .............................................................................89 D) Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa ’s means of pressure …..………………………94 E) Cafer el-Askeri’s Mission to Get Military Equipment and Money ..96 F) Organization of the Forces in Libya ……………………………100 G) Searching for Fait Accompli ……………………………………..105 H) Invasion of Egypt and British Counter Attack ……..……………109 I) Cooperation with the Sultanate of Darfur in Sudan ………………110 CHAPTER FOUR: ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TE ŞKİLAT -I MAHSUSA : AN ASSESSMENT .……………………………………………………………………………….118 A) The chiefs of the Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa ……………………………..119 B) Central structure…………………………………………………...127 C) Regional structure…………………………………………………131 D) Mission of the Te şkilat -ı Mahsusa ………………………………...133 viii E) On the role of E şref Ku şçuba şı ..…………………………………………137 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………….142 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………….145 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………..156 ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION A. Intelligence Studies in Turkey The outbreak of the World War I (1914-1918) was marked by a deeper understanding of intelligence on the part of each state involved in the fighting. Having entered the war on the side of the Triple alliance, the Ottoman Empire tested such an experience mainly by the foremost role of Te şkilat-ı Mahsusa 1 (Ottoman special organization), which grew out, to a great extent, of the experiences of the İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti [Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)] in Tripoli and the Balkan Wars 1912-1913. As a European model of political and military intelligence association, the Te