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Ottoman BureaucracyPeople, places and careers in Ottoman public service

Job title

Baskitabet Muavini

Group of job titles: Correspondence and registry

Stored spellings: Baskitabet muavini

3 officials held the job title Baskitabet Muavini. Its 17 annual entries run from 1878 to 1904 (AH 1296 to 1321). The median of the 17 recorded monthly salaries is 650 kuruş, against 500 kuruş for the whole collection in the same years. The entries name 2 places. The place with the largest number of officials is Istanbul, with 2.

Officials
3
Years on recordAH 1296 to 1321, 17 years with an entry
1878 to 1904
Median monthly salaryfrom 17 recorded salaries
650 kuruş
Places with officials
2

Profile of the group: Correspondence and registry

No source read describes Baskitabet Muavini 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 Baskitabet Muavini, the place with most officials first
PlaceProvinceOfficialsAnnual entriesYears
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Istanbul (Dersaadet) province2141885 to 1904
Chania (Hanya)Crete (Girit) province131878 to 1881

Ottoman officials recorded

3 officials, the one with most annual entries first.

Officials of Baskitabet Muavini
OfficialYearsAnnual entriesKuruş a monthBirthplace
Ahmet Haydar Bey1885 to 18927800 to 1,200Istanbul (Dersaadet)
Mehmet Kadri Efendi1897 to 19047590 to 775Vidin
Fornaraki Hasan Lamii Efendi1878 to 18813350Chania (Hanya)

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