İbrâhim Ağa — Amasyalı

In Modern English

He was the son of Hasan, of the people of Amasya. In 1261 [1845] he became a soldier and went to Istanbul. In 1268 [1851-52] he rose from head sergeant (başçavuş) to lieutenant (mülazım) of the vanguard battalion, in 1281 [1864-65] to captain (yüzbaşı), and in 1293 [1876] to kolağası, and took part in the war with Russia. Later he became a major; in 1296 [1879], while battalion ağa of the Urfa sanjak, that is, gendarmerie commander, he died in 1304 [1886-87]. He is buried in Urfa. He was a well-managed, prudent officer who got on well with everyone. He kept his post for ten years.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• tali'a taburu: vanguard battalion, the reconnaissance and advance unit that goes ahead of the army
• mülâzım: lieutenant
• kolağası: the old rank between captain and major
• tabur ağası: here, the commander of the sanjak gendarmerie force
• medfûn: buried
• müdebbir: prudent, one who knows his business; mümtezic: one who mixes well with everyone, easy to get along with

A Soldier from the Ranks to Major

İbrâhim Ağa of Amasya was a soldier who rose from the ranks to become an officer; the dates Hüsameddin gives make it possible to follow the steps of this rise one by one. İbrâhim Ağa, who became a soldier in 1845 and went to Istanbul, took seven years to move up to lieutenant, thirteen years to rise to captain, and twelve more years to reach kolağası. The span of more than thirty years from his going into the army to the rank of major shows how slowly this road ran.

The war called the "Russian war" in the text is the one that began when Russia declared war on the Ottoman state on 24 April 1877 and that, because it fell in the year 1293 of the Rumi calendar, is known as the War of '93 (Doksanüç Harbi). The war was fought on two fronts, on the Danube and in Eastern Anatolia, and ended with the Treaty of San Stefano signed on 3 March 1878. Hüsameddin does not state on which front İbrâhim Ağa served.

Gendarmerie Command in Urfa

The year 1296 [1879], in which İbrâhim Ağa was appointed battalion ağa of the Urfa sanjak, is a turning point for the Ottoman public-security organization. Police and gendarmerie, which had been administered together since 1846 under a Zaptiye Marshalate independent of the army, were separated in 1879 with the end of this period called "Tevhid-i Zabıta." By a memorandum dated 20 November 1879 it was announced that a gendarmerie organization attached to the Bâb-ı Seraskerî, that is, the War Ministry, had been established, and by a decree dated 4 December 1879 the provincial zaptiye forces were attached to the Bâb-ı Seraskerî. That Hüsameddin felt the need to explain "battalion ağa, that is, gendarmerie commander" may point to a time when the names of this new order had not yet settled. In Urfa the foundation of the zaptiye organization rested on the old timar-holding sipahis; from 1845 it was decided to use the timars in internal security, while the zaptiye organization began to be set up from 1867.

The phrase "kept his post for ten years" in the text does not exactly agree with the eight years from 1296 to the date of death, 1304; it may be thought that Hüsameddin used a round number here or that İbrâhim Ağa's service in Urfa had begun earlier. No information was found on this person in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 77. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, entry "Doksanüç Harbi" (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/doksanuc-harbi).
• Ahmet Aslan, "Osmanlı Devleti'nde Polis Teşkilatının Kurulması: Urfa Örneği (1845-1918)", Yakın Dönem Türkiye Araştırmaları, no. 38, 2020 (DOI: 10.26650/YTA2020-759368).