Making of the Ottoman policemen (1876-1918)

Abstract

This thesis aims at providing a social history of the police force in the late Ottoman Empire from the beginning of the establishment of the modern police forces under the Ministry of Police till the end of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1918). Following Foucault’s theory on subject formation and modern power, the late modern Ottoman police force is conceptualized as a modern institution of power which shapes the mentalities and behaviors of its policemen. The dissertation illustrates how the modes of thinking and behaviors of policemen were corrected and normalized with respect to certain norms by analyzing the function of surveillance and disciplinary mechanisms in police stations. The study is based on primary data gathered from the Ottoman archives of the Prime Ministry as well as printed materials such as the Ottoman police journals, “Polis” and “Polis Mecmuası” and the training manuals of police schools. Literature on the Ottoman police offers an institutional history of the force and mostly provides an examination of the administrative-legal development of the institution. However, these studies provide an understanding of the police institution without taking into account the significant actors of this institution or policemen, their mentalities and modes of behavior meaning the subjectivities of the police officers. This study explores the modern Ottoman police by bringing its main actors in focus and also illuminates the social history of Ottoman policemen which has been left at the margins of the literature on police.