Melhame brothers and their activities in the Ottoman bureaucracy

Maintaining thousands of years of state tradition, Turks always have had bureaucracy-like organizations in their organizational structures. Since its establishment, the Ottoman Empire both continued the management tradition of the previous Turkish states and benefited from the administrative system of other states. The Ottoman bureaucracy generally consisted of sultans and grand viziers, palace officials (mabeyn), soldiers (seyfiye), the group dealing with religious affairs (ilmiye), and various civil servants (kalemiye). During the reign of Mahmut the second, the Ottoman administrative structure began to be centralized. On the other hand, throughout the 19th century, the Ottoman bureaucratic structure was tried to be renewed, as it was in the economy, art, and social fields. These balances, which had favored the civil bureaucracy, were changed in favor of the palace after the reign of Abdülhamid II. This study examines the political activities of loyal Ottoman bureaucrats, Necib and Selim Melhame, who assumed important positions in many places within the Ottoman bureaucratic structure and gained the sultan's trust. The thesis work consists of four parts. The first part of the thesis contains information about the Melhame brothers. The second part covers the roles of the Melhame brothers in the Ottoman bureaucracy, politics, economy, and social life. The third part examines the role of the Melhame brothers in foreign policy. Finally, the fourth and last part of the thesis examines the Second Constitutional Monarchy's proclamation and the Melhame brothers' experiences in the period after it.