The First Ottoman Consul Ahmed Mazhar Bey in Harar and His Reports to the Sublime Porte in the Second Decade of 20th Century

Paper Abstract: Harar, was one of the most important points of Indian trade route towards the inner parts of Africa after the Aden gulf. Even though it used to be the biggest state of Ethiopia, it is now the smallest one and played a significant role in both World wars, disturbing the great powers of the time due to its vivacity. Ottoman Empire appointed a consul to Harar in 1912 since it had lost its power towards the end of the 19 century in the Ethiopia and could not stay indifferent against the developments at the beginning of the 20 century. Opening of a consulate in Harar instead of the capital Addis Ababa in 1912 by the Ottomans seems to be a very meaningful step due to the presence of Ottoman subjects like Yemenites, Syrians and Armenians in Harar. After the death of Necib Hac Bey who established the consulate in Harar, Ahmet Mazhar Bey was appointed as a consul there from the Translation Bureau of the capital. We can follow from the archival documents that Ahmed Mazhar Bey has reported to Istanbul the movements of European ambassadors and consuls throughout the tensioned regions and the state of Ethiopian government where many regional conflicts took place with Djibouti and Somalia, which were under French and English control, respectively. This paper tries to compare and analyze the contents of the reports about the region prepared by Ahmet Mazhar Bey and reports from Rome and Berlin.

Paper co-authored with: Zafer Çınar, Istanbul University