Civilian prisoners in Turkey during World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, some of the civilian citizens of the parties were in the territory of the enemy state. The fact that the state of which they were citizens and the state in whose territory they were located were at war led to the treatment of them as citizens of enemy states. When the Ottoman Empire joined the war, Ottoman civilians in the territories under the control of the Entente States were also subjected to the sanctions imposed on the citizens of the enemy state. At the same time, there were citizens of the Entente States such as Russia, Britain, France, Serbia, Montenegro and Belgium in the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman government banned the citizens of enemy states from travelling abroad and decided to transfer those who could pose a danger to the security of the state to the interior regions of Anatolia. The scope of the decision was later expanded in line with the policy of retaliation for the killing and kidnapping of Ottoman civilians during the war. Civilians of enemy state citizens who lived in critical areas of the country, such as the coast, near the border, railway routes and battlefields, and who were considered to be harmful, were removed from these areas and transferred to the provinces and surrounding administrative units in the interior of Anatolia. These persons, who were free in many matters provided that they did not leave the settlements to which they were transferred, were subjected to forced residence as civilian prisoners until the end of the war. During the war, the Babiali a close interest in the affairs of civilian prisoners, from the diseases they contracted to postal and communication affairs, from crimes committed to death cases, from relocation requests to release requests. Towards the end of the war, exchange agreements were made between the states for the release of some prisoners. With the signing of the Armistice of Mondros, all of them were released.