1.
General
Banditry in the Ottoman Empire resulted
from changes in the state’s military and fiscal organisation and the
Empire’s integration into the world economy starting in the XVIth
century. The bandit groups consisted of current mercenaries, ancient
soldiers, nomads and peasants in a continuously redefined area of
state-subject relationship.1
In the Ottoman Empire’s classical period, the
timar-holding (military fief) sipahi (cavalry
soldiers) formed the backbone of the Ottoman army and most of the
military expenses were met by way of timar assignments,
that is, through the collection of state taxes by the
sipahi from timar assigned to them in the
provinces. During the XVIth century, each military campaign caused
the growth of the number of troops in the growing territorial scope.
As a result, the State Treasury was frequently in need of a ready
cash for the military's upkeep, especially in time of war.
Therefore, the government was faced with the major task of
reorganizing state finances to meet the challenging needs of
changing times.2
2. Banditry in the 16th
century
The major changes that had taken place
beginning with the 1580s were brought about mainly by the decay of
the timar and has (state’s domain), held earlier
by beys, pashas
(paşa), and other officials, came, at a swiftly growing
rate, under the direct control of the State Treasury. Once under
government control, most of the timar and has
revenues were farmed out by iltizam; that is, the state, instead of
assigning the revenues the revenues of sancaks to pashas or beys as has,
farmed them out as mukata’a (tax farm) to mültezims or
to governors who acted as mültezims.3
The treasury also tried to reduce expenditure on armed
forces stationed in the provinces and more governors were expected
to provide and pay for their own military retinues. Sekban
sarıca (Anatolian mercenaries) or levend (vagrant
peasant) troups began to be maintained by the local governers as
part of their retinues. Therefore, a sizable number of armed bands
roamed the Anatolian countryside in search of employment. Moreover,
in order to survive they exacted illegal taxes called
salgun from the peasants in spite of the government's
attempt to secure its tax base and thus protect the peasants.4
In this context, the mercenaries who became vagrant
during peace and the peasants exploited by increased arbitrary tax
burdens started to engage in banditry activity in the Ottoman
countryside. The famous Celali rebellions5 emerged in this context as
threat to the central authority. At the end of the XVIth century
certain leaders of mercenary troops were able to traverse all of
Anatolia, and set siege to major fortified towns. Nevertheless,
Celali leaders whose main pretext for rebellion was the need to feed
their mercenaries could be integrated into the system by the
governement; when they were given public office, the need of
rebellion disappeared.6
3. Banditry in
the 19th century
Another period in which the
state military and fiscal organisation underwent transformation
resulting in banditry was the XIXth century. The destruction of the
Janissary troops in 1826 and Mahmut II’s consequent efforts to
create a general conscription system led to the increase of banditry
activity in the Empire. The former Janissaries continued their
career as bandits and the subjects who faced for the first time the
direct control of the central state began to desert and join the
bandit groups. Especially after the Ottoman-Russian War of
1828-1829, the soldiers who could return to their homelands in
search of employment often became bandits. Moreover, the conquest of
Algeria by France in the 1830s caused the unemployment of young
people who were sent regularly to Algeria from İzmir. They found refuge with the
bandits active in the hinterland of İzmir.7
The fiscal transformation brought about by the tanzimat
period also led to further development of banditry in the
Ottoman provinces. The peasants who faced the new taxation structure
and the notables who lost their ancient privileges resisted the
military and fiscal centralisation attempts of the Tanzimat
governments.8 During 1840s and 1850s the
government could not even collect the taxes imposed of the Aydın-İzmir region.9
Banditry intensified especially in the second half of
the XIXth century. Particularly in the hinterland of İzmir around Ödemiş, Çine, Bayındır,Milas, Tire, and Nazilli, it was the bandits who were
the actual masters of the region. The government, which could not
prevent banditry and was in need of soldiers, forgave the bandits in
return that they join to the army that would fight in the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878.
The bandits accepted the offer; nevertheless, after the war they
continued their usual activities in the region.10
4.
Kidnappings
The integration of the Ottoman lands
into the world economy also agitated the Ottoman subjects in the
countryside. Foreigners, due to their increased numbers and
extensive economic activity in this period, became a target for
bandits, especially in the less well-policed countryside. The usual
method was to kidnap persons and release them in exhange for a
ransom. Between 1880 and 1902, a large proportion of these
kidnappings, eight out of twenty-one, occured in the Province of Aydın, the majority of
these in or near İzmir 11:
Fritz Charnaud was kidnapped on September 21, 1885, at
Salihli (“Saladin, 60 miles from
Smyrna”); he was released on ransom of TL 1500
(TL 18 000 had at first been demanded). Three of the gang were
killed and a fourth mortally wounded.
Messrs. R.C.H. and W.J. Wilkin and O. Whittal were
kidnapped on September 24, 1887, near İzmir; one captive was
released to negotiate; the ransom finally agreed upon was TL 800
(the demanded sum had been TL 3000); O.Whittal eventually died of
privation during his captivity.
M. Waligorski, French entrepreneur of the İzmir-Kasaba railway, was captured
by a gang of five men (three Montenegrines and two Bosnians, former
workers of the railway company) in August 1896 not far from Alaşehir, probably as an act of
personal revenge; he was released within 24 hours, against a ransom
of TL 4000 paid by the company.
Captain Marriott was kidnapped at Köyceğiz on October
25, 1896; although the birgands demanded a ransom of TL 15 000, the
local authorities paid TL 120 and granted a “free pardon” to the
culprits.
James Whittal was captured on November 19, 1898,
between İzmir and Burnova; he was released against a
ransom of TL 500.
Messrs. Alphons Mille and Menoti were kidnapped by a
gang of five brigands at a distance of 12 km from İzmir on January
4, 1901; they were released on January 7, against a ransom of TL
1000 (original demand: TL 5000); the culprits were arrested after
some days; most of the money was recovered.
The abduction of a German called Richter, who was
captured by a band of robbers, took place at the foot of Mount
Olympus (meant is probably by Nif Dağ, present Kemalpaşa Dağı, east
of İzmir) in about 1910. The ransom was paid by friends and the
owners of the factory of optical instruments for which he worked.
Despite being accompanied by a guard atthe time of his
kidnapping, a Belgian, Lucien Tak, farmer at Çıplak near Tire, was
kidnapped while en route to Tire by a brigand called Gülükçe. The
ransom demanded was TL 5000, but the victim had no relatives and
little money. He was released with the payment of TL 2700, brought
together by the local Belgian community: TL 100 from the Belgian
poor relief fund (armenkas) and the rest consisting of loans that
would ruin him.
On june 3, 1914, finally the ethnic Greek (but Ottoman
subject) Yanni Sokianos, employed in “Abbott’s Emery Mines Ltd.” was
captured at Aziziye (three hours by railway from İzmir) by Turkish
brigands and released for a ransom of TL 350 (originally TL 3000 had
been demanded, but the firm had refused to pay).
Baron van Heemstra, owner of tobacco-plantations in
Malkacıl and Oğlananası (one hour by train from İzmir plus one
hour’s drive), was attacked by five armed men returning from
Malkacık. He was held hostage at the Nymph Dağ (Nif Dağı); the
kidnappers demanded a ransom of TL 10.000. The ransom was paid and
Baron was released on May 23. A member of the band, Hadgi Vassili, was denounced to the authorities in
Akhisar. The gang-leader Andrea (Captain Andrea) was overmastered,
and Costa, another member, was arrested two days later. The rest
escaped to Papazlı. In November 1911, Athanase Tromara, a member of
the Andrea gang who had escaped from the Bodrum prison to Athens, sent a
menacing letter to the Baron in which he demanded that he restore to
him his valuables confiscated by the Turkish authorities or TL
65.
5. Brigand gangs
and leaders
Banditry had perhaps never been
absent in rural western Anatolia. Brigands known as zeybek and pallikaria (in Greek: brave young men) were
very active in the second half of the XIXth and in the begining of
the XXth century. The most notorious Turkish bandit-leaders of the
time were Çakırcalı Ahmed, killed in December 1883, and Çakırcalı
Mehmed, who reportedly acted as a sort of Robin Hood, robbing the
rich while distributing the booty among the poor. The government,
unable to suppress his activities, tried to pacify him and his gang
by offering a fixed annual income (in 1905) and later (in 1908) a
“neutral zone” near Muğla, containing a çiftlik and including a monthly
salary of TL 20. In October 1909, he was reported arrested near
Ödemiş. This certainly was not true; he finally died in a surprise
attack by government troops in the mountains near Milas in 1911.
Hacı Mustafa, Mehmed’s cousin, succeeded him as gang-leader.
“Captain” Gheorghios, “Captain” Dhimos (both in the surroundings of Bornova and
Buca), Kara Ali, Arnavut Ahmed, Arnavut Kazım, Tekeoğlu, Costa, and
Çerkes Sami were also active in the region. The Dutch consul had the
impression that these and other gangs of brigands had divided the
whole province of Aydın among themselves, although conflicts between
them sometimes must have led to bloodshed. In the period shortly
before the Young-Turkish “revolution” (in July, 1908), acts of
banditry seem to have increased because of bad harvests due to
drought and the increased tax burden: the Dutch consul in İzmir
reported on the plundering of wagons loaded with grain in Aleppo,
and on customs stores robbed for the same reason in Beirut in
November 1907.12