Ankara Vilayetinde Yolsuzluk ve Kaçakçılık Üzerine Bazı Tespitler (1908-1918)
Some Findings on Corruption and Smuggling in Ankara Province

Summary/Abstract: In the historical process, as in every state, some corruption incidents have been witnessed in the Ottoman Empire. The state has always made some legal arrangementsto prevent corruption. In particular, the regulations made during the Tanzimat and Constitutional Monarchy periods are extremely important in terms of preventing corruption. However, these regulations could not prevent the incidents that damage public and social morality such as corruption, bribery, malversation, and perpetration. Another fact that harms the public order is smuggling. Although smuggling is common in coastal areas throughout the country, upcountry areas also affected by this. Ankara province, which has an important position within the Anatolian transportation network, has become one of the transition routes of smuggling. In this respect, in the province, although not very common, cases of smuggling have been witnessed, especially tobacco smuggling. However, it can be said that Ankara is also a market in terms of marketing and consumption of smuggled tobacco in the examined period. The fact of corruption and smuggling, which is a result of economic, social and moral decay, is one of the important problems for maintaining a healthy public order both in the center and in the rural during the dissolution process of the Ottoman Empire. These problems have been also seen occasionally in Ankara province and affected social peace negatively. The theoretical framework of this study, which examines the reflections of corruption and smuggling cases on Ankara province, has been built on the concepts of corruption, bribery, malversation, smuggling (especially tobacco smuggling). The main purpose of this study is to reveal the incidents of corruption and smuggling in the province of Ankara, the attitudes of the central government and the local government on thisissue and how the society is affected in the light of archive documents. This study evaluates the smuggling activities in Ankara, Aydin, and Trabzon provincesin general. However, no comparison was made for the corruptionsin Aydin and Trabzon provinces as there wasn’t sufficient data.

• Details
• Contents