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Ottoman BureaucracyPeople, places and careers in Ottoman public service

Job title

Babiali Tercume Odasi

Group of job titles: Correspondence and registry

3 officials held the job title Babiali Tercume Odasi. Its 3 annual entries run from 1853 to 1885 (AH 1270 to 1302). The median of the 3 recorded monthly salaries is 750 kuruş, against 432.5 kuruş for the whole collection in the same years. The entries name 1 place, Istanbul.

Officials
3
Years on recordAH 1270 to 1302, 3 years with an entry
1853 to 1885
Median monthly salaryfrom 3 recorded salaries
750 kuruş
Places with officials
1

Profile of the group: Correspondence and registry

No source read describes Babiali Tercume Odasi by itself, so this is the profile of its group of job titles.

Offices that wrote, copied, registered and kept the papers of a department: correspondence offices (tahrirat), the offices of the corresponding secretary (mektubi), records offices (evrak) and registrars (mukayyit).

Hard skills

  • official writing (kitabet, inşa) and fine handwriting, taught first in the offices and from 1839 in schools for officials

History

Before the reforms clerks were trained in the offices (kalem) themselves. Boys of twelve, or even seven or eight, attended an office and learned the forms of official writing from senior clerks; after three to five years without pay they became supernumeraries (mülazım) on a small salary.

Sources

  1. Akyıldız, Ali (2019). Mekteb-i Maârif-i Adliyye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, supplement vol. 2 (revised third printing), 236-238. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 236. Used for: hard skills, history.
  2. Findley, Carter V. (1980). Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Pages or part: 78, 171-172, 199. Used for: summary.
  3. İpşirli, Mehmet (2001). Kalemiye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, 248-249. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 248-249. Used for: hard skills, history.

Places

Places of Babiali Tercume Odasi, the place with most officials first
PlaceProvinceOfficialsAnnual entriesYears
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Istanbul (Dersaadet) province331853 to 1885

Ottoman officials recorded

3 officials, the one with most annual entries first.

Officials of Babiali Tercume Odasi
OfficialYearsAnnual entriesKuruş a monthBirthplace
Mustafa Agah Efendi1855/5613,500Istanbul (Dersaadet)
Mustafa Efendi1853/541250Istanbul (Dersaadet)
Ömer Bey1884/851750Istanbul (Dersaadet)

Years run from the first to the last annual entry. An official without a recorded name is listed after the named officials.

How to read these records: years and calendars, what first recorded means, gaps between annual entries, and salaries.

Subjects