Interview with a Woodsman

Chris Gratien, Georgetown University

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Source: BOA, T-OMİ 1637/8, no. 1 (13 B 1327)

While the Başbakanlık archive is certainly home to a rich collection of archival documentation from throughout the Ottoman period, these records are not usually known for their capacity to reflect aspects of daily life for ordinary Ottoman subjects. Instead, what we have is mostly official correspondence and bureaucratic documentation wherein the feelings, thought processes, and voices of historical actors are lost or challenging to decipher. However, there are certain types of documents such as arzuhals (letters/requests/complaints), court records, and the type of document I'll be writing about here, interrogations, which can get us a little bit closer to the source.

This is the interrogation of man who was part of the Tahtacı communities of the Balıkesir region during the late Ottoman period. These nomadic populations bear resemblance to and indeed overlap with other tribal groupings in Ottoman Anatolia with the key difference being their greater reliance on forest products and wood as a way of life (tahta means wood). This official statement made to forestry officials occurs within the larger context of a very involved investigation of corruption by the Ottoman forestry ministry, which was working to regulate the use of forest products during this period and facing the issue of irregularities both by those who harvest lumber as well as those who were charged with their supervision and regulation. In this particular investigation, it is potentially corrupt officials that seem to be focus--not the Tahtacıs themselves--but their statements regarding their use of the forest and possible corruption nonetheless play a role in this story. 

I have transcribed the interrogation of this man named Topal Hüseyin as follows. Apologies for any mispellings:

Tahtacı aşiretinden ve Keçeçınar karyesinden Çavuşoğlu Topal Hüseyinin zapt olunan ifadesidir

Sual: İsmin nedir? Pederinin ismi nedir? Şöhretine ne derler? Kaç yaşındasınız? Ne işle meşgulsunuz? Muteahhil misiniz? Ve nerelisiniz?
Cevap: İsmim Hüseyin pederimin ismi İsmail Çavuş. Lakap ve şöhretimize Koca Ali Beyoğlu derler. Kırk kırk iki yaşlarındayım. Muteahhilim. Karyemin ismi Akhisara tabi Keçeçınar karyesidir. Sanatımız tahtacılık.
S: Siz bu defa orman idaresinden ruhsatname aldınız mı? Kaç metre aldınız ve ruhsatnameyi size kim verdi ve kaç hanesiniz ve metreyi hangi ormandan aldınız?
C: Orman idaresine müracaatimizde süvari memura vekili olan öndelik memuru Mahmud Efendi'den sekiz metre mükaabe havi kurutulmuş civarında vaki kuru ormanında katiyat etmek üzere bir kıta ruhsatname aldık ancak iki haneyiz.
S: Ruhsatnameyi Mahmud Efendi size nerede verdi ve ormandaki kestiğiniz ağaçları damgaladı mı ve ormandan kaç ağaç kesmek için ruhsat verdi?
C: Evvela Akhisara geldik. Kaymakama istida verdik. Orman memurluğuna havale olundu. Mahmud Efendiye geldik "hadi siz gidin işinize başlayın ben ruhsatnameyi gönderirim" dedi. Bilahare yeni orman Korucu Murad Efendiye ruhsatnamemizi gönderdi. Bunun üzerine hazırlamış olduğumuz keresteyi yani dört metre bir kaç çeşit keresteleri Akhisara orman idaresine getirdik. İstıhkakımız olan sekiz metrenin bedelinin yarısı olan yüz otuz kürüşü verdik. Kerastelerimizi damgalattık. Mevki pazara götürüp sattık ve kendisine yani Mahmud Efendiye "ormana gel bizim çamlarımızı damgala" dediğimizde "siz işinize bakın damga sizin vazifeniz değil damga bizim vazifemizdir onu biz biliriz" dedi. Halbuki elyevm ağaçları gelip damgalamadı ve zaten biz buradan ötedenberi aldığımız ruhsatnamelere dahi bu yolda muamele ediyorlardı.
S: Başkayı diyeceğin varmıdır? İfadelerini okuyorum. Dinle doğru ise imza et ve yahut mühürle.
C: Başka bir bildiğimiz olmadığı için diyeceğim yoktur ve ifadelerim doğrudur. Doğru ifade ettiğim için buraya mühürlerim.

The case involves irregularities regarding the issuance of permits and the stamping of lumber sanctioned to be gathered and sold. According to the testimony of the man in question, which is substantiated later by other testimonies, one or multiple officials were essentially collecting the taxes and fees on lumber gathered by the tahtacıs but not issuing permits or stamping them, thereby allowing them to keep the money for themselves. 

For scholars interested in Ottoman forestry or more broadly in the function of new state ministries created by late nineteenth-century expansion of the Ottoman government, this document can be interesting in a number of ways. Our default assumption would be that the function of the forestry ministry is to regulate and control those who had traditionally used the land with relatively little government intervention. In other words, the Ottoman state becomes actively involved in the governance and control of indigenous peoples, the forest, and their livelihood through institution of methods of surveillance in the form of rangers and permits. This is certainly true, but what is more interesting is that while one might assume corruption on the part of tahtacıs in trying to collect lumber without paying duties on it, we also find that the ministry enables low-level officials to enrich themselves at the expense of the state and generally law-abiding citizens. 

wood	surveillance