An organization against tobacco smuggling in the Ottoman Empire: Regie kolcus and practices

As a manifestation of the financial collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) organization not only ensured the financial control of the Ottoman State, but also had significant effects in social life with the structuring it established within the state. The Regie administration, which was a sub-branch of this organization to control the tobacco revenues of the Ottoman Empire, took the tobacco under its control, as well as established an armed structure called "kolcu (koldji)" in order to prevent tobacco smuggling as per the task assigned to it, and tried to prevent tobacco smuggling in the country. In this context, in our thesis, the process leading to the establishment of the Regie and its rangers is explained, and then the structuring and administrative organization of the Regie koldjis will be mentioned, and then their struggles with tobacco smugglers to prevent tobacco smuggling are reflected. In the last part, the practices of the Regie koldjis against the people and their intricate relations with the state institutions and Ottoman security forces were evaluated. In addition, the approach of the Ottoman press to the Regie koldjis and their reflections on folklore and literature are also discussed in the last section.