Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of Modern Turkish History, cilt.17, sa.34, ss.471-500, 2021 (ESCI)
Algeria, which was subjected to the Ottoman administration under four different forms – namely era of Beylerbeylik [Governorship], Pashas, Aghas and Deys – was regarded as “locales under protest” after the French occupation, and the Algerian immigrants seeking refuge in the Ottoman State were considered within this framework. Algerian immigrants played an important role in Ottoman State’s enacting of the Law of Naturalization along with the immigrants arriving from the Peloponnese; however, the matter of nationality of Algerian immigrants highly incommoded France, who was in pursuit of acquiring influence in the Eastern Mediterranean geography. The politics of quietude that France adopted towards the Algerians taking refuge in the Ottoman State in the first years later gave rise to active politics in preventing them from becoming Ottoman subjects due to events occurring in the region and their becoming Ottoman subjects. In consequence of these changes/transformations, relations between the two countries had become a fluctuating stage dominated by the Algerian immigrants until the First World War. This study aims to find answers to the basic question as to the identities of the Algerian immigrants in this process, the period and number of Algerians immigrated to the Ottoman State; the type of contracts they signed with the government; the regions in which they settled; how they made their living; their communication with the local administrators; correspondences between the Sublime Porte and the local administrators on the immigrants and the changing discourses of the French authorities concerning the immigrants, as well as their policies implemented towards offering French nationality to the Algerian immigrants relying on the documents at the Ottoman Archives Division of Turkish Presidential State Archives.