Information Package / Course Catalogue
Analysis of Ottoman Archive Documents II
Course Code: TAR454
Course Type: Area Elective
Couse Group: First Cycle (Bachelor's Degree)
Education Language: Turkish
Work Placement: N/A
Theory: 2
Prt.: 0
Credit: 2
Lab: 0
ECTS: 5
Objectives of the Course

To provide competency in paleographically reading, terminologically analyzing, and accurately translating institutional records of the late Ottoman bureaucratic modernization, fiscal archives, and international diplomacy texts into contemporary economic, legal, and political science terminology.

Course Content

Bureaucratic modernization and the structural transformation of late era official administrative language; translating inter-ministerial correspondence established post-Tanzimat into contemporary administrative prose; transforming provincial council minutes (mazbata) and regional memoranda (layiha) into executive summaries; analyzing legislative and high judicial decrees of the Supreme Council and Council of State through the framework of administrative law; translating secular court (Nizamiye) transcripts and criminal depositions into modern forensic and penal procedure terminology; analyzing imperial treaties (ahitnâme) within the scope of international law; geopolitical analysis of royal correspondence (nâme-i hümâyûn) and ambassadorial dispatches; structural characteristics and terminology of the cryptic Siyâkat script within the fiscal archives; decoding Siyâkat numerals to analyze budget, daybook (ruznamçe), and accounting ledgers; statistical analysis of the provincial economy through property surveys (temettuat) and tax-farm (mukataa) registers; analyzing intelligence logs and dossiers from the Yıldız Palace archives; cryptological decoding of ciphered telegrams from the Ministry of the Interior, and translating Ottoman Parliament minutes (Zabıt Ceridesi) into contemporary constitutional and parliamentary terms.

Name of Lecturer(s)
Learning Outcomes
1.to be able to interpret the Ottoman language and writing system according to the historical periods
2.to be able to apply translation methods in texts of the archive
3.to be able to recognize the characteristics of the historical texts
4.Understands the development process of Ottoman language.
5.Understands and evaluates the etymology of Ottoman and Turkish.
Recommended or Required Reading
1.Medeniyet Aleminde Yazı ve İslam Medeniyetinde Kalem Güzeli, M.Bedreddin Yazır, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yay., Ankara, 1972.
2.Osmanlı Türkçesine Giriş, F. Kadri Timurtaş, İÜ, Ed. Fak. Yay., İstanbul, 1981.
3.Eski Yazıları Okuma Anahtarı, Mahmut Yazır, İdeal Matbaası, Ankara, 1983.
4.Kütükoğlu, Mübahat S., Osmanlı Belgelerinin Dili (Diplomatik), Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, Ankara, 2024
Weekly Detailed Course Contents
Week 1 - Theoretical
Bureaucratic Modernization and Late Era Official Administrative Language We examine how the structural transformation of central and provincial institutions in the 18th and 19th centuries reshaped document composition. We will discuss new stylistic formulas found in late-period texts and strategies for converting them into modern administrative Turkish.
Week 2 - Theoretical
Tanzimat Era Reform Documents: Inter-Ministerial Correspondence We read official correspondence exchanged among modern ministries established post-Tanzimat reforms and the Grand Vizierate. Students will translate the evolving vocabulary of these new administrative institutions, ranks, and reform policies into modern public administration terminology.
Week 3 - Theoretical
Reporting from Periphery to Center: Ministerial Reports and Provincial Memoranda We decode minutes (mazbata) and official advisory reports drafted by provincial councils or central high commissions. Students will transcribe these texts documenting security incidents, tax disputes, or local reform proposals, converting them into modern administrative summaries.
Week 4 - Theoretical
High Courts and Codification: Decrees of the Supreme Council and Council of State We read minutes issued by the highest administrative courts and legislative councils. Transcribing the intricate legal debates in these proto-parliamentary documents, students will analyze the modernization of Ottoman law using contemporary constitutional and administrative law prose
Week 5 - Theoretical
Secular Courts and Forensics: Modern Court Transcripts and Criminal Depositions We investigate judicial records held by the Western-style secular (Nizamiye) courts established alongside traditional Sharia courts. Reading interrogation logs and statements regarding homicide or commercial fraud, students will render translations using modern criminal procedure and forensic terms.
Week 6 - Theoretical
International Commercial and Political Texts: Analyzing Imperial Treaties (Ahitnâmes) We analyze the original Ottoman texts of trade capitulations and international peace treaties. Transcribing treaty clauses and interstate legal formulas, students will translate these international agreements into contemporary international law and foreign policy terminology.
Week 7 - Theoretical
Transnational Diplomacy: Imperial Correspondence and Ambassadorial Dispatches We study royal correspondence (Nâme-i Hümâyûn) sent to foreign monarchs or official diplomatic notes (takrir) presented by foreign ambassadors. Students will extract political undercurrents, alliances, and diplomatic rhetoric, reframing them in modern international relations vocabulary.
Week 8 - Theoretical
Codes of the Fiscal Archives: Entry into Siyâkat Records and Terminology Analysis We step into financial documents written in the challenging Siyâkat script. Students will navigate the institutional idiom of the Finance Department and the unpointed, shorthand-like structure of the text, identifying fiscal terms to initiate their first analytical readings.
Week 9 - Theoretical
Budgets and Fiscal Balance Sheets: Treasury Daybooks and Accounting Ledger Analysis We read daybooks (ruznamçe) capturing daily or annual state financial balance sheets. Decoding specialized Siyâkat numerals, students will transcribe revenue-expenditure items, converting these historical registers into contemporary economic spreadsheets and accounting statements.
Week 10 - Theoretical
Economic Profiling of the Provinces: Property Surveys (Temettuat) and Tax-Farm Registers We study Temettuat registers tracking household assets alongside Mukataa tax-farming ledgers. Transcribing these raw socio-economic data sets, students will analyze the economic architecture of the 19th-century Ottoman countryside using modern statistical Turkish.
Week 11 - Theoretical
Yıldız Palace Secret Files: Intelligence Logs and Intelligence Reports (Jurnals) We read investigative logs and secret dossiers selected from the archives of Yıldız Palace, the administrative core of Sultan Abdülhamid II. Transcribing intelligence dispatches, students will evaluate the period's domestic and external security threats using modern political science concepts.
Week 12 - Theoretical
Communication Technology and Cryptology: Decoding Encrypted Telegrams We analyze telegrams sent to the capital utilizing numerical or word-coded ciphers at the turn of the 20th century. Students will transcribe these cryptographic records, using historical parameters to decode raw telegram transmissions into intelligible contemporary Turkish.
Week 13 - Theoretical
Last Witnesses of the Empire: Ottoman Parliament Minutes (Zabıt Ceridesi) and Statutes We read constitutional-era parliamentary floor debates, bills, and legislative minutes from the Chamber of Deputies (Meclis-i Mebusan). Transcribing these transitional legal documents, students will analyze the political rhetoric using modern constitutional and parliamentary terms.
Week 14 - Theoretical
In this capstone course, designed to test the cumulative knowledge of both semesters, students will be provided with intricate late-period administrative, fiscal, or diplomatic documents. The course culminates in the transcription of the document, a historical-legal analysis of the cases involved, and its academic translation into Turkish.
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Type of AssessmentCountPercent
Assignment2%10
Quiz1%10
Midterm Examination1%20
Final Examination1%60
Workload Calculation
ActivitiesCountPreparationTimeTotal Work Load (hours)
Lecture - Theory142256
Individual Work6106
Quiz210021
Midterm Examination115116
Final Examination125126
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours)125
Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes
PÇ-1
PÇ-2
PÇ-3
PÇ-4
PÇ-5
PÇ-6
PÇ-7
PÇ-8
PÇ-9
PÇ-10
PÇ-11
PÇ-12
OÇ-1
4
5
3
4
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
OÇ-2
3
5
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
3
OÇ-3
4
5
2
4
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
OÇ-4
4
5
2
4
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
OÇ-5
4
5
2
4
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
Adnan Menderes University - Information Package / Course Catalogue
2026