Forgery of official documents and currency in the Ottoman Empire (1840-1920)

This study, titled Forgery of Official Documents and Currency in the Ottoman Empire (1840-1920), examines acts of forgery committed in relation to official documents and currency in the Ottoman Empire between the years 1840 and 1920. As in many states that preceded it, acts of forgery involving official documents and currency were regarded as criminal offenses in the Ottoman Empire and were punished in various forms. In the classical period, forgery crimes and their corresponding punishments were regulated in kanunnames and yasaknames, and with the advent of the Tanzimat era, these regulations underwent certain changes and were incorporated into the new modern legal codes. In the Ottoman Empire, forgery of official documents and currency was carried out using various methods. Document forgery included the imitation of elements granting official authenticity, such as tuğras, sahhs, and seals, as well as the alteration or erasure of the text on documents. Counterfeiting of currency was achieved by clipping valuable metals from coins, gilding surfaces, or producing counterfeit coins using entirely different metals. With the introduction of kâime (paper money) into circulation, counterfeiting took on a new dimension, as counterfeiters began imitating banknotes. Prior to the Tanzimat reforms, individuals convicted of forging official documents or currency were subjected to severe punishments such as execution, amputation, imprisonment, exile, penal servitude, and confiscation of property. Following the Tanzimat era, the penalties shifted toward imprisonment, dismissal from office, public exposure, shackling, penal servitude, exile, and incarceration with hard labor.