Organization Regarding the Censorship of Prisoner Letters During World War I and the War of Independence

As human communities began to live together, governments felt the need to monitor and keep the communications of individuals and communities under control. This practice has become widespread in every field over time. Censorship, which generally means prohibition in Turkish, means the pre-inspection and control of all kinds of written and visual publications, cinema and theater screenings by the government. This understanding began to make itself felt, especially with the increase in press and publishing activities in the nineteenth century. This situation was valid in the military field as well as in the civilian field.

Censorship in the Ottoman Empire emerged widely with the westernization movements that started with the Tanzimat. We see the first application of this in Takvim-i vekayi, the official publication of the state. In this newspaper, articles against the administration and contrary to general morality were subject to inspection. The control mechanism began to institutionalize on February 2, 1862, with the establishment of the Press Directorate under the Ministry of Education. Although these inspections were eased for a while during the First Constitutional Monarchy, they continued during the Second Constitutional Monarchy. It continued to be implemented in the harshest way during the reign of Abdulhamit. II. Although the control mechanism was abolished for a while during the Constitutional Monarchy, every administration that came to power in the following periods established a control mechanism according to its own management style.

In the Ottoman Empire, censorship was generally applied in the field of press and civil society from the Tanzimat period until World War I. With the beginning of World War I, it is seen that censorship practices in the military field also came to the fore. What were the measures taken regarding the issue in the army during and after World War I? What is the structure of the censorship organization in the army in practice? How was this structure implemented during the War of Independence? Why should prisoner letters be censored? Answers to questions such as these will be sought.

Censorship Practices and the Postal Service in World War I

Shortly after the start of World War I, the Ottoman Empire declared general mobilization on August 2, 1914. With the mobilization, a censorship decision was taken. This decision was taken in order to hide the mobilization preparations and psychologically prepare the public for war. Its implementation started on 7 August 1914. According to the censorship instructions, it was decided to establish censorship centers in many regions.

This application has been applied in the field of communication, transportation and entertainment, as well as in the field of press and publication. With the beginning of censorship practices, telegraph centers affiliated with the Ministry of Post and Telegraph were transferred to the military. In addition to the civilian post offices affiliated with the Ministry, a military postal center was established in the division, corps, headquarters and range centers for the letter, money order and parcel transactions of military personnel. With the beginning of the war, the Ottoman Empire unilaterally abolished the capitulations and closed the foreign post offices in the country as of October 1, 1914.

All kinds of letters and parcels sent in post offices were subject to censorship. Letters sent by civilians at home and abroad would be delivered openly at the post office and sent after censorship. Letters coming from abroad would be delivered to their owners after being subjected to censorship. Letters within the city could be sent and received sealed, without being checked. Letters and transfers sent by civil servants would be sent after being checked by the administrative units to which they were affiliated. Letters of military personnel would be delivered to post offices after being examined by the units they were affiliated with. With this application, the communication of official civilians and military personnel, as well as the civilian population, was tried to be controlled. Care was taken to ensure that the communication regarding the prisoners was made in accordance with international agreements.

Previous international agreements regarding prisoners made during World War I and the 1906 World War II. The Geneva Convention applies. This convention was adapted to naval warfare with the 1907 Hague Convention. The mentioned contracts contain articles about obtaining information about the captives and ensuring the communication of the captives. There is also a little information about the censorship of prisoner letters.

Within the framework of these agreements, the Ottoman Empire made legal arrangements regarding the procedures to be carried out regarding the prisoners by signing instructions and international agreements within the framework of domestic law. One of these regulations is the "Instruction on Usera" published in 1915. Another arrangement is the agreement signed with England on 27 November 1917. This agreement was also valid for the French. At the beginning of the War of Independence, these instructions and agreements were implemented for a while, and then a new instruction was published.

The Ottoman Empire established its organization regarding the handling of prisoners within the framework of relevant contracts, instructions and agreements during the war. Censorship of prisoner letters was carried out by the Military Inspectorate established under the Ministry of War. It is also known that censorship was carried out by corps commands. As the number of prisoners increased, in accordance with the agreement signed with England in 1917, it was stipulated that the censorship of letters should be done in the prisoner garrisons in order to prevent loss of time.

According to the "Usera Directive" dated 1915, letters, money orders and postal packages sent to the prisoners and the letters they would send themselves would be exempt from all kinds of postage and other taxes. At the same time, these would be subject to censorship by the captive garrison commands. Incoming letters, packages, newspapers, etc. it would not be given to them unless censored. Those with suspicious content would not be returned to their owners.

If the material to be sent includes money, negotiable documents or other valuable items, its value would be reported to the officer in charge and sent by registered mail. If such letters and parcels are to be sent abroad, they will be checked at one of the postal centers in Istanbul, Baghdad and Beirut.

Censorship practices were eased towards the end of 1918. The activities of the postal organization, which was already in a weak state due to the long duration of the war, came to a halt due to increasing costs, lack of sufficient personnel and economic conditions becoming more difficult day by day. However, the delivery and censorship of prisoner letters continued. Towards the end of the war or during the Armistice period, the Red Crescent began to mediate the delivery of prisoner letters and shipments due to the insufficient functioning of the postal service.

Why Are Captive Letters Censored?

Why are all kinds of postal money orders sent to the prisoners and sent by them censored? What is the purpose of this? What kind of benefit is gained from censorship? First of all, we will try to answer these questions. A captured person is interrogated behind the lines from the moment he is captured. Interrogation continues intermittently throughout captivity. The purpose of interrogation is to obtain information about the enemy and to develop strategies and policies within the framework of this information. During World War I and the War of Independence, many instructions and memorandums were published regarding the interrogation of prisoners. One of these is the "Memorandum on Recruitment and Refugee Recruitment" prepared by Miralay Sedad Bey, Director of the Military Academy, in 1922, by taking advantage of foreign military instructions.

There is not much information in the interrogation instructions about the censorship of prisoner letters, parcels and shipments. However, all mail sent to prisoners is subjected to inspection and control, and is compared and verified with the information obtained during previous interrogations.

From this perspective, the letters and cards sent to the prisoners may contain some important information about people and countries. Relevant states sometimes use this information for strategy and policy making, and sometimes for propaganda purposes. During the period we are discussing, prisoners' communication with their families and the state they belonged to was done only through letters. Therefore, it would be appropriate to give brief information about the letter.

The letter is used in psychological investigations to analyze the subconscious of the person who wrote it and how he/she reacts to life, events and problems. At the same time, it is important in terms of showing what kind of mood the writer wrote about the events. The lines in which the person describes himself contain important clues that document his emotional transitions, confessions, longings and expectations. A letter written not only reflects the person's mood but also reveals the way of thinking of the period.

Information about what soldiers did in war or in prisoner garrisons can also be obtained from prisoner letters. Briefly, thanks to these letters sent and received, the way of thinking of the soldiers and their families, their psychological state, feelings, personal testimonies, information about their daily life, their problems and the conjunctural structure of the period can be learned.

Because the letter has such a feature, during the World War I and the War of Independence, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of National Defense warned the relevant authorities and encouraged the prisoners they held to write letters frequently at every opportunity. In fact, letter paper and cards were given free of charge, and postage was not charged for a long time.

Censorship Practices and the Postal Organization in the Armistice Period

Censorship officers and people working in censorship commissions who worked in post offices during the war years took on new duties during the armistice period. During this period, censorship procedures in the field of press began to be carried out by the Press Directorate under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Post and Telegraph was abolished in April 1919 and was attached to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the general directorate. Shortly after this date, post offices and censorship operations were taken under control by the occupation forces. With the occupation of Izmir by the Greeks, post offices were confiscated. In addition, in the cities occupied by the British and French in the southern region, postal and telegraph centers were seized and all kinds of communication were banned or subjected to censorship. In response to the protest telegrams that started with the occupation of Izmir, the Istanbul Government soon began to censor the telegrams regarding the occupation. With this practice, an attempt was made to prevent resistance movements in Anatolia.

In response to the censorship practices of the Istanbul Government, small-scale censorship practices were carried out by the national resistance forces in Ankara and many parts of Anatolia. In fact, a general inspectorate of censorship was established in Ankara. Captain İzzet Bey was appointed as its head. With the occupation of Istanbul on March 16, 1920, the postal and telegraph administration was completely taken over by the invaders. Shortly after the opening of the parliament on April 23, 1920, the General Directorate of Post and Telegraph was established in Ankara under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since the establishment of this administration, censorship has been implemented.

While the civilian postal organization came to a complete halt during the armistice period, a directive called "Modulary Instruction on Ordu-yi Hümayun Fixed Field Posts" was issued in 1918 for the military mail. However, it was not possible to implement this instruction during the War of Independence. A postal administration could not be established due to lack of trained personnel and economic reasons. With the decree numbered 292 issued on October 28, 1920, the "Censorship Instruction" was issued with letters going from the interior to the coasts and from the coasts to the interior; It has been accepted that letters going to and coming from places on the land borders will be censored in the major centers on the coasts and land borders. The implementation of the decree was carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense.

Letters and other mail coming from the coast to the inner regions began to be censored as of December 9, 1920, by the Central Command, which consisted of three divisions and was established in Amasya, after the Third Corps, previously headquartered in Sivas, was abolished. In other regions, censorship was implemented by the Range Inspectors. Due to the lack of personnel, the police and teachers in the region were also utilized.

During the Battle of Sakarya and its aftermath, censorship centers were established in many parts of Anatolia. These centers; Ankara, Sivas, Diyarbakır, Konya, Kastamonu, Afyon Karahisar, Eskişehir, Bursa, Erzurum, Van, Salihli, Akhisar, Milas, Muğla. In the coastal regions, they are Antalya, Marmaris, Foça, Bodrum, Kuşadası, İnebolu, Samsun, Trabzon, Bandırma and Biga. The censorship centers of the Central Command were also determined as Samsun and Sivas. As of December 1921, the censorship of the civilian population was taken from the army and transferred to the civil administration.

We can say that censorship practices in Anatolia during the armistice period were mostly in telegraph centers. Because the postal organization is under the control of the invaders, Istanbul's communication with Anatolia is very limited. At the same time, the postal organization is dysfunctional due to the reasons stated above. During this period, postal affairs were tried to be carried out by the Red Crescent.