Transcription and analysis of the work named Gendarmerie Organization in Rumelian Provinces

Innovations in science, industry and military that emerged with the industrial revolution that started from the middle of the 17th century necessitated some changes in the Ottoman Empire as well as in the rest of the world. The successive defeats of the Ottoman Empire in the wars in this century led to the questioning of the current situation, especially in the military field. Although these inquiries led to the making of certain military regulations, in one aspect, as a result oh the acceptance of the superiority of the western states, it was not hesitated to benefit from foreign experts. The Ottomans, who were also afraid that making use of foreign experts militarily would result in an intervention in domestic politics, also tried to establish a balance in this sense. In such an enviroment, one of the important examples expressing this situation of the Ottoman Empire was the Macedonian problem. After the Treaty of San Stefano signed with Russia in 1878 and then the Treaty of Berlin signed with western states, these states, which demanded reforms in Macedonian lands, led to a kind of proxy wars and secretly supported Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, causing the Macedonian problem to grow. In the face of these developments, the Ottoman Empire tried to maintain its dominance by making certain concessions by strengthening the gendarmerie organization in the region with the Mürzsteg Reform Plan. Although the commission under the supervision of the Italian General De Giorgis initiated the Mürzsteg Reform Plan, Robilan Pasha was appointed as the head of the reform plan upon the death of Giorgis and the activities carried out in line with this plan were dictated by Robilan Pasha. This report, which is the main source of the study, is the report written by Governor Lamosch, the district governor of Robilan Pasha's General Regulations Administration. This report deals with a detailed history and analysis of the arrangements mad for the Ottoman gendarme in the Macedonian provinces. The work is one of the rare studies about the Ottoman gendarmerie. Because the successes achieved in the arrangement made in the gendarmerie organizations in the Macedonian provinces formed a serious basis for the work to be done in other provinces later on. In this sense, the work has a very important place in terms of understanding the modern Ottoman gendermerie. As a result, these regulations, which started in Macedonian provinces in line with the 1903 Mürzsteg Plan, and Robilan Pasha's extremely meticulous and comparative studies on this work still exist until today, and after the army of the land forces, it is very important in terms of forming the basis of the gendarmerie organization, which has become the second largest power.