The İzmir British consulate and its political activities (1878-1914) from British Consulate reports

This research concentrates on the second half of the nineteenth century, on a period of social, economic and political junction of the Ottoman-British relationships, for both of whom this was a period of rapid transformations. The focal points of the research are represented by years from the Berlin Settlement in 1878, which signifies the turning point for the Ottoman-British relationships, until the First World War outbreak in 1914. More specifically, the aim of our study is to explore effects of the rapid changes in the relations of Ottomans and British in Smyrna and Western Anatolia, in a frame work of Izmir British Consulate?s politic activities.In the nineteenth century there were two distinct types of consular representations at the British consular service. In Europe and America the consular representations were based upon reciprocal recognition of state sovereignty. The consul?s function was to protect and promote trade, to administer shipping laws, to act as a head of the resident community, and general, to represent his government. In contrast, in the Levant and Far East, the consul?s role, based on inequality between the western and the local state, primarily was political and magisterial. The consuls were representatives with privileged political status, and their role was political, rather than the commercial one. With continued decline of the Ottoman authority, the political role of negotiating with provincial authorities becomes more important. So the Levant consuls happen to be the local agents of Britain?s great power role in the Ottoman Empire.