The Russian Experience. Necati Efendi in Captivity
The Russian Experience. Necati Efendi in Captivity

Summary/Abstract: Necati Efendi, an Ottoman bureaucrat with the title of defter emini (vice director of the registry of benefices) fell captive to the Russians in 1771 while member of Silahdar İbrahim Pasha’s retinue at the Crimean front. His report on the years they spent together with a small entourage in honourable captivity in St Petersburg is partly modelled on the accounts of ambassadorial missions. This article compares Necati’s text with those written by the secretaries to Ottoman ambassadors in Russia and investigates how the author makes sense of his experiences. In an atmosphere in which the Ottomans were exoticized, Necati reacted with observations on morality. His objections against the Russian political system (as far as he could observe it) focus on the poor living conditions of the country, the rigidity with which rules are implemented and – most importantly – the lack of sound patronage.

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