THE OTTOMAN SPECIAL ORGANIZATION - TEŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA: AN INQUIRY INTO ITS OPERATIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHARACTERISTICS A Ph.D. Dissertation by POLAT SAFİ The Department of History İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara September 2012 To my father and late uncle THE OTTOMAN SPECIAL ORGANIZATION - TEŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA: AN INQUIRY INTO ITS OPERATIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHARACTERISTICS Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by POLAT SAFİ In Partial Fullfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNİVERSİTY ANKARA September 2012 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 the Doctor of Philosophy 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 the Doctor of Philosophy in History. Assist. Prof. Evgeni Radushev 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 the Doctor of Philosophy in History. Prof. Dr. Özer Ergenç 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 the Doctor of Philosophy in History. Assist. Prof. Nur Bilge Criss 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 the Doctor of Philosophy in History. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Seyitdanlıoğlu Examining Committee Member Approval of the Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT THE OTTOMAN SPECIAL ORGANIZATION - TEŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA: AN INQUIRY INTO ITS OPERATIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHARACTERISTICS Safi, Polat Ph.D., Department of History Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Oktay Özel September 2012 The usage or misuse of the terms, “intelligence” and “band”, has culminated in the production of a number of irreconcilable Special Organization (hereafter SO) definitions in literature, thereby leading to complications in the limitation of the scope of the subject matter. This thesis argues that the most effective way to understand and grasp the SO is closely related to the conceptualization of the term, “Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa”. In this way, a simple definitional model of the SO is produced, thus eliminating some ambiguities about the subject from the outset. This definition emphasizing the nature of the SO is also expected to act as an epistemic guide for the clarification of the operational and administrative characteristics of the SO. Keywords: The Ottoman Special Organization, the Office for Eastern Affairs, the Second Branch, intelligence, band. iii ÖZET TEŞKİLAT-I MAHSUSA: OPERASYONEL VE İDARİ ÖZELLİKLERİYLE İLGİLİ BİR SORUŞTURMA Safi, Polat Doktora, Tarih Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Oktay Özel Eylül 2012 “İstihbarat” ve “çete” terimlerinin kullanımı yahut yanlış kullanımı literatürde birbiriyle uzlaşmayan bir dizi Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa tanımının üretilmesine ve dolaysıyla konunun kapsamının sınırlandırılmasında problemler ortaya çıkmasına sebep olmaktadır. Bu tez, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa’yı anlama ve anlamlandırmanın en yarayışlı yolunun “Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa” teriminin kavramsallaştırılmasıyla yakın ilişkili olduğunu öne sürmektedir. Böylelikle, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa hakkında basit bir tanımsal model üretilebilir ve böylelikle konuyla ilgili bir dizi belirsizlik en başından ortadan kaldırılabilir. Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa’nın doğasına vurgu yapan bu tanımın aynı zamanda örgütün operasyonel ve idari özelliklerinin berraklaştırılmasında epistemik bir yol gösterici vazifesi görmesi beklenmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, Umur-i Şarkiye Dairesi, 2. Şube, istihbarat, çete. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study would not have been possible without the support of many people. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Oktay Özel, whom I have worked with since 2003, for his valuable guidance and advice. Without his enthusiasm, analytical questions, critical comments, and academic excitement, I would have never been able to complete this dissertation. I would also thank Nur Bilge Criss and Evgeni Radushev for their inspiring comments and suggestions on the early drafts of this work, which were abundantly helpful and offered invaluable. In addition, I have to express my gratitude to Eugenia Kermeli, Hasan Ünal, and Hakan Kırımlı for encouraging me to become an historian for years ago. Furthermore, I wish to express my thanks to Özer Ergenç and Mehmet Seyitdanlıoğlu for their insightful comments on the final draft of my dissertation. I also have to express my gratitude to late Stanford J. Shaw for providing me with his valuable expertise whenever I needed it and letting me make use of his valuable library. May Allah rest his soul in peace. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge the support and help of Berrak Burçak during this work. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Ahmet Tetik for his valuable guidance and advice which contributed tremendously to the conclusion of this thesis. v Fatih Van, Murat Karadağ, and Tülay and Yener Kılınç, are especially thanked for their close and exciting companionship for years. Without them, life would be utterly boring and less comfortable. I am also indebted to my recent friends, Birkan Kınalı, Nurten Önel, and Refika Akça, for sharing both my happiness and sadness as well as putting up with my constant complaints about this study. There’s much to be said one by one about Emrah Safa Gürkan, Fatih Durgun, and Harun Yeni without whom I would have no choice but to walk missing on the journey of life for the last few years. Anything I could say about them would fall short. Without their tremendous support, help, and motivation, this thesis would not have materialized. Although he broke away from Ankara on a venture in Britain years ago, it is not possible to forget M. Burak Özdemir. I wish him to re-join us as soon as possible. I also feel compelled to appreciate the friendship of Alphan Akgül, Cumhur Bekar, and Selim Tezcan who played an active part in the realization of this thesis by their invaluable comments. Last but not least I wish to avail myself of this opportunity express my gratitude to Seda Erkoç, Nergiz Nazlar, and N. Işık Demirakın for not only relentlessly listening to my ideas on the subject of the Special Organization but also making the boring Bilkent life more bearable by their friendship. I owe a special thank to Tuğba Gencer for spending some quiet time on my article published on the Middle Eastern Studies and providing me full support in getting documents from the archives located in İstanbul. I understood how I tormented, sometimes beyond endurance, my home mate, Sinan Günçiner, a professional graphic designer, when one day he told me of Ali Başhamba Bey, the last director of the Special Organization. vi I am sincerely grateful to him for having the patience of Job for me. Gratitude are also due to the valuable employees of the Büyükharf Publishing House, İsmail Demir, Ali Çelik, and Zehra Çolak. I also reserve a wholehearted thank for Mustafa Temur, my ex-house mate and workfellow, for doing a careful translation of my MA thesis from English to Turkish. Hakan Arslanbenzer, on the other hand, accepted upon my insistence the difficult mission of revising the Turkish version of my dissertation. I sincerely thank him for his self- sacrifice and courage as well as critical comments with which it became possible to correct several mistakes on time. I pestered the life out of him. I feel, moreover, obliged to voice my gratefulness to Kurtuluş Kayalı and Sezgin Çevik for encouraging me conduct research on the Special Organization within the context of Turkish literature and sociology. I would also like to thank Cengiz Aydoğdu and Dücane Ergezen who shared their knowledge, ideas and numerous tips about real life all of which contributed greatly to the completion of this study. I would really like my late uncle, Sacit Safi, who encouraged me for years to become a historian and supported me in every possible way, to see the completion of this dissertation. It was not destined to be. I will be forever grateful for him. May Allah rest him in peace and heaven. In this context, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards his parents, Nur Safi, Zeynep Safi, Alican Gençcelep, and Tuba Gençcelep for supporting me to be successful in both worlds. I also have to remember with gratitude Süleyman Safi, my other late uncle, for encouraging me to complete this study. In this context, I wish patience to my aunt, Asuman Safi, and her beloved daughters vii Feza, Nisa, and Merve, and also thank them for not refraining to support me with their prayers. Though deserving the most profuse gratitude, words cannot be adequate in offering my thanks to my family. My mother Sevgi Safi, my father Macit Safi, my sister Esra Safi Şentürk, and her husband Levent Şentürk have walked beside me during my entire life with their prayers and everything. They are the real owner of this dissertation. And finally Eren Safi, my uncle’s son, who deserves to be called brother, I will thank you in other studies as well... viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................