Bulletin of Palestine Studies

Abstract

Orders which were used as one of the awarding tools of diplomacy of 19th century were widely used by the Ottoman Empire as well as all over the world. Ottoman orders, which emerged in the modern era in order to be more effective in diplomacy and increase visibility, took on a standard shape and identity in the middle of the 19th century and began to adorn the chests of officials at various levels of the bureaucracy. In this direction, Order of the Medjidi, which was created for the first time with its regulations, started to be given to low-level and provincial officials, persons to whom status is to be ascribed, and those who has benefited for the state. In Jerusalem, which was directly centralized to The Ministry of the Interior (Dahiliye) with the status of independent mutasarrıflık (district) in 1872, civil servants, notables and other notable persons were also awarded with both the Order of the Medjidi and the other orders like Order of the Osmani, which were created later. While orders were given to civil servants and soldiers in a certain hierarchy with standard procedures, orders were sent to the notables of the city, foreign consuls and non-Muslim community leaders for special reasons and considering their positions. In the period between 1872-1917, the number of orders sent from Istanbul to Jerusalem district were very few in some periods, while in other periods were being able to quite intense. The reasons for this change in the number of orders according to the periods were directly proportional to the central policies. The number of order procedures were affected from changes of sultan, warfare and regional policy changes. In fact, in case of Jerusalem, the profiles of the governors who were sent there late Ottoman Period also affected the increase in the number of orders. Because, the orders sent to the provinces were often sent upon the request of the governors and with the approval of the central authorities. Beginning from the second half of the 19th century, the orders sent from the center to Jerusalem with increasing numbers were aimed at increasing the loyalty of both the officials and the important people to the state. The central government, which wanted to be more visible in Jerusalem and its environs in the late Ottoman Empire, effectively used the order awards for these purposes.