Başbakanlık Osmanlı ve Genelkurmay Başkanlığı Atase Arşivleri ile bazı ikinci dereceden kaynaklardan hazırlanan bu çalışma, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa'nın II. Balkan Savaşı sırasında Batı Trakya'daki faaliyetlerini ve yerel düzeydeki katkılarını ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca gönüllü birlikler ve çeteler vasıtasıyla kurulan Garb-i Trakya Hükümet-i Muvakkatesi'nin kuruluş ve örgütlenme şekli de ele alınmaktadır. En nitelikli Osmanlı subaylarının, Trablusgarp Savaşı sırasındaki uyguladıkları direniş modeli bir takım farklılıklarla Batı Trakya'da da uygulanmıştır. Osmanlı Ordusu, Meriç Nehri'ni sınır kabul edersek şayet nehrin doğu kıyısına kadar resmi görevlileriyle; batı kıyısından itibaren Süleyman Askeri ve Kuşçubaşı Eşref Beyler gibi gönüllüler ve çeteler birlikte mücadele etmiştir.1913'te resmen kurulan Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, her ne kadar Balkan Savaşı sonucunda Batı Trakya kaybedilmiş olsa dahi I. Dünya Savaşı sonuna kadar bölgedeki faaliyetlerini yerel partnerleri aracılığıyla devam ettirmiştir. Balkan Savaşları sırasında Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa ismi resmi olarak var olmamasına rağmen bazı hatıralarda değişik adlarla varlığını delillendirmektedir. Bu yapının II. Balkan Savaşı sırasındaki göreceli başarısı Teşkilatın I. Dünya Savaşı öncesi resmen kurulmasına kapı aralamıştır. Zira İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti'nin iktidara taşınmasında aktif rol almış birçok cemiyet üyesi, 1913'te kurulan Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa'nın kuruluşunda ve faaliyetlerinde rol almıştır. Örneğin II. Balkan Savaşı'nda görev alan Süleyman Askeri Bey, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa'nın kurucu ilk başkanıdır. Yine Kuşçubaşı Eşref de I. Dünya Savaşı'nda ve sonrasında teşkilat adına birçok vazife almıştır. Esasında İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti'yle Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, üye ve iş düzeyinde içiçe geçmiş bir bütünün iki parçasıdır

The Balkan Wars are undoubtedly one of the latest examples of the series of defeats of the Ottoman Army starting from the XVII century to XVIII century. The Ottoman Empire defeated by the four small Balkan states at a very short time has been put into very serious trouble. After the outbreak of the war, the Bulgarian Army reached nearby Istanbul in a very short time. Thus the Ottoman Army on the West side has been forced to retreat without being able to manage to defend the land. It can be quite strange to find out that the Ottoman Army Chief of Staff Ahmet Izzet Pasha has been in Yemen, and the most intelligent and active Ottoman Army officers such as Enver Bey, Mustafa Kemal, Fethi Okyar, Süleyman Askeri Bey and Nuri Conker have also been in Tripoli during the First Balkan War. The said people returned home and subsequently participated in the war only prior to the Second Balkan War. The Ottoman Empire soon suffered a major defeat and was forced to withdraw back to Chatalca. With the four Balkan States’ declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire at the first anniversary of the Italy’s occupation of Tripoli, the Ottoman Empire had to concentrate its power and attention on the Balkan War by signing hastely the Treaty of Ouchy 1912 with Italy. Thus weakened resistance in Tripoli therefore Enver Bey initially returned to Istanbul then including some other officers. The First Balkan War ended by 30 May 1913 with the Treaty of London by agreeing on Midye-Enez line as frontiers. The Ottoman Empire has lost its entire lands in the Balkans including its second capital city of Edirne. So the first round of the Balkan War had been finalised. The paper prepared by studying some secondary sources in addition to the primary documents from the Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives and the archives of the Army Command, presents operations of the Special Organization in Western Thrace during the second Balkan Wars and its contributions at the local level. The study also examines the type of establishement and organisation of the Provisional Government of Western Thrace founded by the voluntary troops and gangs. The model for resistance practiced by the qualified Ottoman army officers during the Trablusgarb war has also been applied with some differences in the Western Thrace. The Ottoman Army, provided the Maritsa River is accepted as border, fought with its military officers towards the east of the river and, together with the volunteers and gangs such as Süleyman Askeri, Kuşcubaşı Eşref and so on, from the West shore of the river. The Ottoman Special Organization founded officially in 1913, has kept operating through its local partners in the region until the end of the first World War though the Western Thrace was lost. The name of the Special Organization has not officially existed during the Balkan Wars, however, it is evident that its name has continued with different names in some memoirs. The relative success of this organization during the second Balkan Wars, has paved the way to the establishment of the Organization before the first World War. Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa Bağlamında II. Balkan Savaşı’na Yaklaşımlar 827 Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/1 Winter 2015 The Ottoman Empire which suffered a major defeat during the first Balkan war as a result of discord among the Ottoman officers like the Unionist and the Entente supporters, has made up for its failure during the Gallipoli and the Second Balkan war. The Ottoman Army which took a good advantage of the disagreement of the Balkan States arising out of benefits gained during the First Balkan war has operated at a formal level by crossing over Midye-Enez line to the Maritsa River. But it has continued to re-establish its control with the militalia and volunteer corps in the Western Tharace towards the west of the Maritsa River. The militia which have apparently broken its connection with the Ottoman Capital established a short-lived government. The experience of resistance in Tripoli against the desire of Italian occupation has been successfully put into practice through voluntary associations also in the Second Balkan war. Therefore the Unionist personnel have formally established the Private Organization on 30 November 1913 basing upon these two relative success before the First World War. A large part of the Balkan War militia is made up of volunteers. The war pattern applied during the Tripoli and the Second Balkan wars has emerged as similar patterns in the Caucasus Front, Iraq and Iran during the First World War. The great amount of militia has been composed of volunteers. The basic human resources of these volunteers have often been from prisoners and criminals. The term “Establishing Gang” already used in a variety of sources before the name “the Special Organization” known, describes this process. In addition, the action of the gang leaders of the Special Organization on their own without taking orders from their superiors of the command in line have been one of the main problems of the Organization. However this problem has not occured during the Second Balkan War because Süleyman Askeri, Kuşcubaşı Eşref, Fuat Balkan and İskeçeli Arif Bey have not acted without instructions given. The interest of the Special Organization in the The Western Thrace has continued though the existence of the Temporary Government of Western Thrace ended. Fuat Balkan, Halim and Dramalı Cemal have been in close contact with the Organisation in order to guarantee the fundamental rights of the Muslims in the region. They tried to shape the Ottoman policies regarding Western Thrace as a result of direct instructions from the Organization. To this end, they tried to get some seats in the Bulgarian parliament by developing their relations with the parties in the Bulgarian Parliament. After the Treaty of Istanbul, the Bulgarian Army again attacked the local Muslims from time to time by harrasing the militia. Thereupon, the Ministry of Home Affairs, has ordered Süleyman Askeri who was stil in the region, to take necessary measures. In addition, a complaint has been made to the Bulgarian General Savof. The Special Organization has continued to design the local policies even after the region was left in the control of the Greeks after the First World War.