Syriacs in the Ottoman Bureaucracy According to the Sicill-i Ahval Records

Abstract

Syriacs are one of the ancient nations of Mesopotamia. After the region came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, they continued their lives for centuries under the rule of the Turks. With the effect of the Tanzimat and Reform Edicts, Syriacs, like other non-Muslims, began to take part in the Ottoman bureaucracy. There are Syriacs statesmen in the Sicill-i Ahval records, which are one of the important bureaucracy resources of the Abdulhamid II period. In these records, there are the names of the civil servants, their father's names and professions, the date and place of birth, educational information and information about their civil service life. The 18 Syriacs civil servants identified were born in places such as Diyarbakır, Mardin, Urfa, Aleppo, Siirt and Mosul. All of them are educated and also speak many languages. Knowing many foreign languages has been effective in his appointment to some civil servants. As an example, it can be shown that they were appointed to foreign correspondence offices in telegraph centers. Geographically, they continued their civil service life in the places where they were born and lived or in the surrounding regions. Among the Syriacs in the Ottoman bureaucracy, those who did their duty well were rewarded and those who abused their duties were punished. The aim of this study is to reveal the place of the Syriacs in the records of Sicill-i Ahval in the Ottoman bureaucracy. © 2023, Selim Hilmi Ozkan. All rights reserved.