Petitions of the Supplicant Ambassador: British Commercial Representations to the Ottoman State in the Eighteenth Century

Bu makale, 18. yüzyılın ortalarında ve sonlarında İngiliz elçisi tarafından Osmanlı hükümetine sunulan takrirleri, Osmanlı dilekçe sistemi çerçevesinde ve elçinin konsolosluk görevlerine ışık tutmak amacıyla inceleyecektir. Bu belgelerin şekil ve dili değerlendirildikten sonra, iki tip vaka analiz edilecektir. İlk gruptaki vakalar kapitülasyonlar ve diplomatik gelenekler uyarınca İngiliz tüccarlar ve seyyahlar tarafından talep edilen karada ve denizde seyahat özgürlüğü ve mal güvenliğini konu almaktadır. İkinci grup ise kapitülasyonlar ile diğer hukuki uygulamalara konu olan ve İngiliz ve Osmanlı tabileri arasında gerçekleşen daha karmaşık davaları içermektedir. Bu belgelerin incelenmesi diplomasinin uygulamasını görmemize imkan sağlamanın yanısıra, metin ve geleneğin, kapitülasyonların esnek bir yorumu üzerinden İngiliz tüccarlarının hak ve özgürlüklerini Osmanlı dilekçe sistemi üzerinden nasıl düzenlendiğini göstermektedir.

Duacınız Elçinin Takrirleri: XVIII. Yüzyılda Osmanlı Devleti'ne Sunulan İngiliz Ticari Dilekçeleri

This article examines the body of takrirs - written representations - from the British ambassadors in Istanbul to the Ottoman government in the mid- and late eighteenth century, aiming to place these diplomatic representations within the wider Ottoman petitionary framework, and to illustrate the role of the ambassador in providing consular functions. It discusses the form and linguistic style of these documents, before analysing the two main types of cases found. The first concerns the freedom of movement and freedom from harassment requested by British travellers on land and at sea, in accordance with the rules of the Capitulations and custom. The second group of cases dealt with more complex legal disputes between British merchants and Ottoman subjects and officials involving the Capitulations and other sorts of legal practices. Examining these documents permits a view of the practice of diplomacy, and demonstrates how text and custom combined through the fluid interpretation of the Capitulations in order to regulate the rights and freedoms of British merchants through the Ottoman petitionary system.

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