Organization and counter-insurgency operations of the Ottoman gendarmerie in manastir (1902-1908)

Rumelia provinces are at the forefront of the regions where the Ottoman Empire faced the most internal security threat in the 19th century. The Ottomans, who were not unfamiliar with the banditry activities in Rumeli, had to struggle with the separatist organizations that rose in the region in the context of the "Macedonian Question" after the 1877-1878 Russian War. In this study, the theory and practice of the irregular forces called komita and cheta, which adopted the concept of guerrilla warfare, were examined within the framework of the relevant concept. In today's war concept, the type of operation called "Operations Against Irregular Forces" was generally expressed as "takib-i eşkıya " in the Ottoman bureaucracy. In this study, it is aimed to introduce the security forces and Ottoman irregular warfare experiences in Manastır.