The Story of Ceride-i Havadis
The first newspaper to be published in Turkey in Turkish was done by an Englishman in 1840. However this event, left a legacy of the execution of 3 government officials, two of whom ministers. With this affair the Sublime-Porte was entirely in the orbit of the Galata-Pera world, and was a prisoner of this till the establishment of the Republic.
Orhan Koloğlu born 1929, entered the newspaper profession in 1947. He worked for the Yeni Sabah, Akşam, Yeni İstanbul papers. Post 1964 he worked abroad in tourism promotion and for a press agency. Later he worked for the newspaper Milliyet. In the periods 1974-75 and 1978-79 he worked as a general manager in press and publication. He also acted as a outside advisor to the political party of CHP. He worked for the history departments of Hacettepe (Ankara) and Triboli (Libya) universities.
Contents summary by Melisa Urgandokur
The events known as the “W. Churchill event” begin with a hunting accident involving W. Churchill, when in Kadıköy [on the Asiatic shore of Constantinople] he wounds a Turkish child with shot from his rifle, and he gets arrested. In a short space of time with the intervention of the British Ambassador, the event grows, becoming an international issue. With pressure exerted through the bombardment of letters to the press in London by the English merchants operating at the time in Istanbul as well as the threats issued by the Ambassador, a whole range of political manoeuvres took place, involving Pertev Pasa1, and the dressing down of the foreign minister Akif Efendi. The result was the release of Churchill and the firing of the district judge Akif Pacha. As compensation to Churchill, he was rewarded with a decoration, a firman [decree] for the export of 10 thousand Ottoman gallons of olive oil and the right to publish a newspaper in Turkish.
The first edition of the newspaper Ceride-i Havadis was published on 1st August 1840 and receiving a subsidy from the state, the publication assumes a semi-official status. The newspaper, whose staff would in turn form the cadres of future newspapers in the country, ended its life [first stage] with the 1212th issue on 26 September 1864. This was the first newspaper in the country to have private adverts and death notices.
The publishing rights of this newspaper then changed hands and the periodical was relaunched to resume life till 1919.
In another of Orhan Koloğlu’s books, ‘Osmanlı Basını İçeriği ve Rejimi, Tanzimattan Cumhuriyete Türkiye Ansiklopedisi’ [The nature of the Ottoman Press, its regime, the encyclopaedia of Turkey from the Tanzimat to the Republic], İletişim publications, volume: 1, pages 75-81, there is the following information on the sister publication of Ceride-i Havadis:
The ‘Ruzname-i Ceride-i Havadis’ began publication on 1st November 1860 by W. Churchill, initially envisaged as a supplement to Ceride-i Havadis, but later became a publication in its own right. By this time W. Churchill had lost the monopoly of Turkish language newspaper publishing with the launch of Tercüman-ı Ahvâl. With the death of W. Churchill in 1846, this newspaper was managed by his son Alfred Churchill whose last edition was no: 959, 25th May 1875. As virtually all its writers were government clerks, the publication wasn’t able to keep up to date with develops in press reporting. This same book mentions William Churchill status pre-publications as an ‘English merchant and a reporter for London newspapers’.
Note: Orhan Koloğlu has published many books (such as ‘Osmanlı Basınının Doğuşu ve Blak Bey Ailesi, Müteferrika, Istanbul, 1998’ [The birth of the Ottoman Press and the Blaque family]), all on the subject of history. He has received awards from the Press Association (twice), as well as the Afet İnan, Yunus Nadi and Sedat Simavi social research award. Orhan Koloğlu has donated to the Ahmet Piriştina City Archives and Museum of Izmir thousands of his books as well as his private archive collection.
Some highlights of this book
Shortsighted Churchill Affair - Orhan Koloğlu
p.18
The unsuccessful diplomatic and dragoman period of Churchill
There is evidence that Lord Porsonby was adept at utilising the power of the press through his relationship with Churchill. Before expanding on this, lets analyse the character of Churchill.
The reporter Akif, in the paper Tabsira mentions of him as ‘a randy individual who hunts with his rifle in village streets’, but this is probably coloured by his anger.
A French language paper printed in Smyrna takes a different slant on the affair, ‘for twenty years residing in the country, Mr Churchill has been regarded as an honourable character, trustworthy, honest and with a soft temperament’. We don’t know the motives for this flattery by the reporter of this paper, perhaps it is a reflection of solidarity within the profession. However it is interesting that his diplomatic trial was never mentioned by his newspaper contemporaries, but merely referred to as a merchant and a reporter. It appears that Mr Churchill arrived in Turkey around 1816, and by the time of the incident was around 35-40 and was ‘moderately versed in spoken and written Turkish’, and between 1831-33 was employed by the American diplomatic mission.
Around the middle of 1831 Churchill started his job as a vice-consul assisting the American Constantinople minister. In those days nationality wasn’t as fixed as today so such things weren’t uncommon. Towards the end of 1832 the ambassador Porter became ill and this situation lasted for 5-6 months. During this time, the reigns of power were with W.B. Hodgson, the first dragoman of the embassy. There was a rumour amongst the ambassadorial staff that Hodgson for a time refused to hand over the official seal to Porter and used it for his own ends. This resulted in a souring of the atmosphere amongst the embassy staff.
On 10.5.1833 Porter sent a memorandum to the Sublime Porte stating “as the official seal was not under his control for a period, it may have been used inappropriately, therefore from then onwards the large seal would be invalid, the small seal would now be effective”. On the same date he reported the “fraud” incident to the American foreign ministry. In this he stated that relationships between American citizens and the Ottoman government could lead to “very bad” outcomes, and for this reason had forcibly recovered the seal and that the dragoman had threatened him with a very insolent letter. The following day (11.5.1833) he wrote that Hodgson had declared that he was his own master.
In this event there was the squabble between the accomplices of Hodgson and those wishing to topple him and get his job, causing further chaos within the embassy. Churchill while cooperating with Hodgson was also after his job. With this end, he applied for a job by letter to Washington dated 10.8.1833, however the reply was not as he expected it to be, ‘his monthly stipend was cancelled, thus his employment was terminated’. On 21.4.1834 Porter informed him of the situation and confiscated his ledgers. Churchill was highly annoyed. He argued with the ambassador. Porter reported the situation to Washington thus:
“Mr Churchill accuses me of being a confrontational character that only an angel could withstand and gives himself credit for being able to tolerate me for 2 years. However, even just his letter is proof enough that he isn’t worthy of this. He mentions amongst those who have purportedly suffered from my obstinacy Charles Rhind, Nicholas Navoni and W.B. Hodgson and other unnamed highly respectable individuals. In addition he accuses me of quarrelling with Serasker Pasa [commander-in-chief of the armed forces], Kaptan Pasa [head of the navy] and Ahmet Pasa, one of the closest to the Sultan. I am writing this letter to ensure my views are included in this file”.
Later Porter recounted in detail the irregularities committed by Navoni and Hodgson and how they attempted to claim ownership of a horse given as a gift by the Ottoman officials to him as the American ambassador. Again referring to documents he details how C. Rhind through intrigue inserted a secret clause in the Ottoman-American agreement, done with the agreement of the Sublime Porte, however because of this bilateral relations had suffered and would be rectified with difficulty.
In addition to this, Porter on his 25.4.1834 dated memorandum stated that Hodgson and Churchill had conspired to arrange fake documentation by attempting to obtain a stamping from him on a plain sheet of paper.
The reason why Churchill was initially offered this post, at a time when Britain was trying its best to prevent the development of American trade with Turkey, was because Churchill despite being English was the Constantinople representative of some American traders. Of the 6 commercial transactions recorded in the consulate for the period August-December 1835, 3 belonged to Churchill. However it is clear these ventures were neither big nor promising, explaining why Churchill made an effort in securing paid employment. However for Churchill it was clear that when this job was performed with integrity it wasn’t financially satisfying. In his 7.1.1836 report Porter states:
“A permanent consul is required for Constantinople, however I don’t know of a single merchant who would give his time for this position, for the conditions and pay through honest conduct”.
However Churchill, regardless of the conditions was ready and willing even for the assistant’s position.
Galata-Pera and Coffee-house newspaperman Churchill
It appears Churchill’s initiation into the world of a newspaperman is due to his failure to succeed either as a diplomat, dragoman or merchant. According to the notes of an Englishman, Slade, in Constantinople in 1836, Churchill started doing reporting from 1833. This could be construed as his attempts of gaining an extra income. However there is much confusion and doubt when we look at the reports of the time to see which newspaper he reported for. The British newspapers of the time examined never mention him as a reporter, in the news of the shooting and arrest, but merely as an English resident.
At the time the notion of a newspaper reporter, especially a foreign correspondent was novel. According to the Turkey based Journal de Smyrne, “a reporter for one of London’s foremost papers” (21.5.1836) and the American Consul who knew him well, referred to him as “a reporter for an English paper” (13.5.1836), while Slade similarly referred to him as such (13.5.1836).
The French ambassador Rousin refers to him as “for Morning Herald and another Tory paper…”, this statement repeated by later writers. When we look at the British papers for the day, the initials of none of its Constantinople reporters matches that of (W.C.) for Churchill, however there is a possibility he used a pseudonym, as in the fashion of the Times reporter Dr. Milligen who used the symbol (O.)
However there is a problem with the possibility of Churchill being the reporter for the two named publications, Morning Herald and Morning Chronicle. At the time the Whigs (liberals) were in power, with the Tories (Conservatives) being in opposition. Morning Herald was a Tory supporting paper and it criticises Churchill for “hunting even though it was out of season”. The Morning Chronicle is the semi-official publication of the governing Whigs and for the French ambassador’s statement that Churchill wrote for the opposition papers seems unlikely. Yet there are particular references to Churchill’s journalism that need to be examined closer. According to the Journal de Smyrne (14.5.1836) “Always a close friend of the Turks and always defended them”; and according to Slade: “As the reporter of a London paper for 3 years an ardent supporter of the Turkish government and its reforms.”
Note: 1- Pertev Pasha was the equivalent of the internal affairs minister (Mülkiye Nazırı), and of Crimean Tatar heritage (Giray branch), but known as ‘saltless’ [tuzsuz]. The reason for this negative connotation is that he frequently visited the yali of Sultan Mahmud thus increasing his prestige. Loyal to the Ottoman state however he had an antipathy to Westerners. - information courtesy of Melisa Urgandokur.
The first newspaper to be published in Turkey in Turkish was done by an Englishman in 1840. However this event, left a legacy of the execution of 3 government officials, two of whom ministers. With this affair the Sublime-Porte was entirely in the orbit of the Galata-Pera world, and was a prisoner of this till the establishment of the Republic.
Orhan Koloğlu born 1929, entered the newspaper profession in 1947. He worked for the Yeni Sabah, Akşam, Yeni İstanbul papers. Post 1964 he worked abroad in tourism promotion and for a press agency. Later he worked for the newspaper Milliyet. In the periods 1974-75 and 1978-79 he worked as a general manager in press and publication. He also acted as a outside advisor to the political party of CHP. He worked for the history departments of Hacettepe (Ankara) and Triboli (Libya) universities.
Contents summary by Melisa Urgandokur
The events known as the “W. Churchill event” begin with a hunting accident involving W. Churchill, when in Kadıköy [on the Asiatic shore of Constantinople] he wounds a Turkish child with shot from his rifle, and he gets arrested. In a short space of time with the intervention of the British Ambassador, the event grows, becoming an international issue. With pressure exerted through the bombardment of letters to the press in London by the English merchants operating at the time in Istanbul as well as the threats issued by the Ambassador, a whole range of political manoeuvres took place, involving Pertev Pasa1, and the dressing down of the foreign minister Akif Efendi. The result was the release of Churchill and the firing of the district judge Akif Pacha. As compensation to Churchill, he was rewarded with a decoration, a firman [decree] for the export of 10 thousand Ottoman gallons of olive oil and the right to publish a newspaper in Turkish.
The first edition of the newspaper Ceride-i Havadis was published on 1st August 1840 and receiving a subsidy from the state, the publication assumes a semi-official status. The newspaper, whose staff would in turn form the cadres of future newspapers in the country, ended its life [first stage] with the 1212th issue on 26 September 1864. This was the first newspaper in the country to have private adverts and death notices.
The publishing rights of this newspaper then changed hands and the periodical was relaunched to resume life till 1919.
In another of Orhan Koloğlu’s books, ‘Osmanlı Basını İçeriği ve Rejimi, Tanzimattan Cumhuriyete Türkiye Ansiklopedisi’ [The nature of the Ottoman Press, its regime, the encyclopaedia of Turkey from the Tanzimat to the Republic], İletişim publications, volume: 1, pages 75-81, there is the following information on the sister publication of Ceride-i Havadis:
The ‘Ruzname-i Ceride-i Havadis’ began publication on 1st November 1860 by W. Churchill, initially envisaged as a supplement to Ceride-i Havadis, but later became a publication in its own right. By this time W. Churchill had lost the monopoly of Turkish language newspaper publishing with the launch of Tercüman-ı Ahvâl. With the death of W. Churchill in 1846, this newspaper was managed by his son Alfred Churchill whose last edition was no: 959, 25th May 1875. As virtually all its writers were government clerks, the publication wasn’t able to keep up to date with develops in press reporting. This same book mentions William Churchill status pre-publications as an ‘English merchant and a reporter for London newspapers’.
Note: Orhan Koloğlu has published many books (such as ‘Osmanlı Basınının Doğuşu ve Blak Bey Ailesi, Müteferrika, Istanbul, 1998’ [The birth of the Ottoman Press and the Blaque family]), all on the subject of history. He has received awards from the Press Association (twice), as well as the Afet İnan, Yunus Nadi and Sedat Simavi social research award. Orhan Koloğlu has donated to the Ahmet Piriştina City Archives and Museum of Izmir thousands of his books as well as his private archive collection.
Some highlights of this book
Shortsighted Churchill Affair - Orhan Koloğlu
p.18
The unsuccessful diplomatic and dragoman period of Churchill
There is evidence that Lord Porsonby was adept at utilising the power of the press through his relationship with Churchill. Before expanding on this, lets analyse the character of Churchill.
The reporter Akif, in the paper Tabsira mentions of him as ‘a randy individual who hunts with his rifle in village streets’, but this is probably coloured by his anger.
A French language paper printed in Smyrna takes a different slant on the affair, ‘for twenty years residing in the country, Mr Churchill has been regarded as an honourable character, trustworthy, honest and with a soft temperament’. We don’t know the motives for this flattery by the reporter of this paper, perhaps it is a reflection of solidarity within the profession. However it is interesting that his diplomatic trial was never mentioned by his newspaper contemporaries, but merely referred to as a merchant and a reporter. It appears that Mr Churchill arrived in Turkey around 1816, and by the time of the incident was around 35-40 and was ‘moderately versed in spoken and written Turkish’, and between 1831-33 was employed by the American diplomatic mission.
Around the middle of 1831 Churchill started his job as a vice-consul assisting the American Constantinople minister. In those days nationality wasn’t as fixed as today so such things weren’t uncommon. Towards the end of 1832 the ambassador Porter became ill and this situation lasted for 5-6 months. During this time, the reigns of power were with W.B. Hodgson, the first dragoman of the embassy. There was a rumour amongst the ambassadorial staff that Hodgson for a time refused to hand over the official seal to Porter and used it for his own ends. This resulted in a souring of the atmosphere amongst the embassy staff.
On 10.5.1833 Porter sent a memorandum to the Sublime Porte stating “as the official seal was not under his control for a period, it may have been used inappropriately, therefore from then onwards the large seal would be invalid, the small seal would now be effective”. On the same date he reported the “fraud” incident to the American foreign ministry. In this he stated that relationships between American citizens and the Ottoman government could lead to “very bad” outcomes, and for this reason had forcibly recovered the seal and that the dragoman had threatened him with a very insolent letter. The following day (11.5.1833) he wrote that Hodgson had declared that he was his own master.
In this event there was the squabble between the accomplices of Hodgson and those wishing to topple him and get his job, causing further chaos within the embassy. Churchill while cooperating with Hodgson was also after his job. With this end, he applied for a job by letter to Washington dated 10.8.1833, however the reply was not as he expected it to be, ‘his monthly stipend was cancelled, thus his employment was terminated’. On 21.4.1834 Porter informed him of the situation and confiscated his ledgers. Churchill was highly annoyed. He argued with the ambassador. Porter reported the situation to Washington thus:
“Mr Churchill accuses me of being a confrontational character that only an angel could withstand and gives himself credit for being able to tolerate me for 2 years. However, even just his letter is proof enough that he isn’t worthy of this. He mentions amongst those who have purportedly suffered from my obstinacy Charles Rhind, Nicholas Navoni and W.B. Hodgson and other unnamed highly respectable individuals. In addition he accuses me of quarrelling with Serasker Pasa [commander-in-chief of the armed forces], Kaptan Pasa [head of the navy] and Ahmet Pasa, one of the closest to the Sultan. I am writing this letter to ensure my views are included in this file”.
Later Porter recounted in detail the irregularities committed by Navoni and Hodgson and how they attempted to claim ownership of a horse given as a gift by the Ottoman officials to him as the American ambassador. Again referring to documents he details how C. Rhind through intrigue inserted a secret clause in the Ottoman-American agreement, done with the agreement of the Sublime Porte, however because of this bilateral relations had suffered and would be rectified with difficulty.
In addition to this, Porter on his 25.4.1834 dated memorandum stated that Hodgson and Churchill had conspired to arrange fake documentation by attempting to obtain a stamping from him on a plain sheet of paper.
The reason why Churchill was initially offered this post, at a time when Britain was trying its best to prevent the development of American trade with Turkey, was because Churchill despite being English was the Constantinople representative of some American traders. Of the 6 commercial transactions recorded in the consulate for the period August-December 1835, 3 belonged to Churchill. However it is clear these ventures were neither big nor promising, explaining why Churchill made an effort in securing paid employment. However for Churchill it was clear that when this job was performed with integrity it wasn’t financially satisfying. In his 7.1.1836 report Porter states:
“A permanent consul is required for Constantinople, however I don’t know of a single merchant who would give his time for this position, for the conditions and pay through honest conduct”.
However Churchill, regardless of the conditions was ready and willing even for the assistant’s position.
Galata-Pera and Coffee-house newspaperman Churchill
It appears Churchill’s initiation into the world of a newspaperman is due to his failure to succeed either as a diplomat, dragoman or merchant. According to the notes of an Englishman, Slade, in Constantinople in 1836, Churchill started doing reporting from 1833. This could be construed as his attempts of gaining an extra income. However there is much confusion and doubt when we look at the reports of the time to see which newspaper he reported for. The British newspapers of the time examined never mention him as a reporter, in the news of the shooting and arrest, but merely as an English resident.
At the time the notion of a newspaper reporter, especially a foreign correspondent was novel. According to the Turkey based Journal de Smyrne, “a reporter for one of London’s foremost papers” (21.5.1836) and the American Consul who knew him well, referred to him as “a reporter for an English paper” (13.5.1836), while Slade similarly referred to him as such (13.5.1836).
The French ambassador Rousin refers to him as “for Morning Herald and another Tory paper…”, this statement repeated by later writers. When we look at the British papers for the day, the initials of none of its Constantinople reporters matches that of (W.C.) for Churchill, however there is a possibility he used a pseudonym, as in the fashion of the Times reporter Dr. Milligen who used the symbol (O.)
However there is a problem with the possibility of Churchill being the reporter for the two named publications, Morning Herald and Morning Chronicle. At the time the Whigs (liberals) were in power, with the Tories (Conservatives) being in opposition. Morning Herald was a Tory supporting paper and it criticises Churchill for “hunting even though it was out of season”. The Morning Chronicle is the semi-official publication of the governing Whigs and for the French ambassador’s statement that Churchill wrote for the opposition papers seems unlikely. Yet there are particular references to Churchill’s journalism that need to be examined closer. According to the Journal de Smyrne (14.5.1836) “Always a close friend of the Turks and always defended them”; and according to Slade: “As the reporter of a London paper for 3 years an ardent supporter of the Turkish government and its reforms.”
Note: 1- Pertev Pasha was the equivalent of the internal affairs minister (Mülkiye Nazırı), and of Crimean Tatar heritage (Giray branch), but known as ‘saltless’ [tuzsuz]. The reason for this negative connotation is that he frequently visited the yali of Sultan Mahmud thus increasing his prestige. Loyal to the Ottoman state however he had an antipathy to Westerners. - information courtesy of Melisa Urgandokur.