The Idare-i Mahsusa : A Study of Modern Ottoman Maritime Transportation

Abstract

The Idare-i Mahsusa was a shipping enterprise managed by the Ottoman government during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1908). Granted special privileges(imtiyaz), it operated regular steamship services between Istanbul and other main ports in the Ottoman Empire under the supervision of the Naval Ministry. This article tries to analyze its relationship with the Ottoman Navy. First of all, it discusses the three roles of the Idare-i Mahsusa, namely, a means of city transportation in Istanbul, a domestic regular service and an auxiliary force for the Navy, followed by the examination of its activities and the problems it encountered. Then, selecting four cases in (1870-71, 1872-3, 1883, 1908-10) of failed attempt to privatize the organization, it investigates the reason of their failure. There were two main contending ideas about its management. On one hand, the Navy argued that it should continue to control it, claiming that the private sector of the Ottoman Empire was technologically and financially not up to the task of running it efficiently. Furthermore, valuing its military role, it rejected civilian management. On the other hand, Ministry of Trade and Public Works argued that it should be privatized under its supervision to encourage the development of the Ottoman maritime enterprises. More consideration should be given to industrial development rather than military use, it claimed. This debate not only reflects the military and socio-economic conditions of the Empire in this period but also reveals a link between economic thinking of this period to the Kemalist economic policy such as Etatism in later period.