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Ottoman BureaucracyPeople, places and careers in Ottoman public service

Job title

Tahrirat Baskitabeti

Group of job titles: Correspondence and registry

3 officials held the job title Tahrirat Baskitabeti. Its 11 annual entries run from 1889 to 1907 (AH 1307 to 1324). The median of the 11 recorded monthly salaries is 900 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 1307 to 1324, 10 years with an entry
1889 to 1907
Median monthly salaryfrom 11 recorded salaries
900 kuruş
Places with officials
2

Profile of the group: Correspondence and registry

No source read describes Tahrirat Baskitabeti 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 Tahrirat Baskitabeti, the place with most officials first
PlaceProvinceOfficialsAnnual entriesYears
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Istanbul (Dersaadet) province271889 to 1907
Thessaloniki (Selanik)Thessaloniki (Selanik) province141903 to 1907

Ottoman officials recorded

3 officials, the one with most annual entries first.

Officials of Tahrirat Baskitabeti
OfficialYearsAnnual entriesKuruş a monthBirthplace
Mehmet Ziyauttin Efendi1889 to 18956800 to 1,000Istanbul (Dersaadet)
Mehmet Talat Efendi1903 to 19074900 to 1,000Edirne
Abdullah Kemal Bey1906/071800Istanbul (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