The First Ottoman civil society organization in the service of the Ottoman state: the case of the Ottoman Red Crescent (Osmanlı Hilal-i Ahmer Cemiyeti)

Abstract

This study focused mainly on the organization and structure of the Ottoman Red Crescent (Osmanlı Hilal-i Ahmer Cemiyeti) under an analytical perspective. This included the history, regulation, central and provincial administration, types of activities, the Ottoman Red Crescent Delegation of Women, financial data and the personalities of the leading figures of the Ottoman Red Crescent. By this, I aimed to discuss the nature of the Ottoman Red Crescent, which might help the readers to go beyond the conception that the Ottoman Red Crescent was an extension of the state. As will be understood from the title of this study, in many ways the Ottoman Red Crescent was in the service of the Ottoman state. What becomes evident is that the Ottoman Red Crescent had a huge network of organization, and the Ottoman society internalized it. The combination conjectural factors with the successful administration led the Ottoman Red Crescent to gain a respectable place both among the Ottoman ruling elite and the Ottoman public which had the following results : the Ottoman Red Crescent as a place for the unification for the Ottoman elite with the Ottoman society, and the huge donations made by the Ottoman public. This study provided a picture depicting the Ottoman Red Crescent as a quasi-autonomous association from the state.