OSMANLI YÖNETĐMĐNDE KUZEY AFRĐKA: GARP OCAKLARI

The Otoman rule in Africa came true in the axis of The North Africa. In the early 16th century Ottomans progressed beginning from the North of Africa along the Southern coasts of Mediterranean down to the shores of The Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand in the East they went ahead along the western coasts of The Red Sea and reached until the coasts of The Indian Ocean. The Otoman Sovereignty in The North Africa starts with Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha’s entering under the Otoman service in 16th century. The Ottomans governed The North Africa which they called as “Garp Ocakları” at the beginning under the same administration and later ruled seperating their administrations. At the beginning, while these provinces in The North Africa were dependent on the central government completely, later with the deterioration of governing mechanism they behaved independently from the centre. Incomes of Algeria , Tunisia and Tripolis provinces were goods, commercial properties and slaves they captured from buccaneering activities. Especially as long as Spanishes slayed Andalusian Muslims and did not have an agreement with Otomans the corsairs of “Garp Ocakları” were plundering the islands and shores of Spain and capturing the merchant ships. The corsairs of “Garp Ocakları” were accepted as equivallent of Maltese pirates damaging Muslim ships. In the middle of 19th century in which buccaneering hit the top, to unite the Otoman territories continuing in the direction of Egypt-Somalia and Egypt-Algeria, Egypt governors added the intermedial territories belonging to Sudan and Uganda to Egypt lands. On the other hand going from Tripolis to southward until the Chad lake basin they tried to establish Otoman rule on Niger and Chad. In this manner many regions in the South of Sahara joined Otoman lands. However, the prohibition of buccaneering at The Viana Congress of 1815 weakened “Garp Ocakları”. By the way of occupying Algeria, with which it had commercial relations since 16th century, France had a strategical position in the west Mediterranean. After this, in 1881 with the approval of England and Germany invaded Tunisia, too. Italia occupied Tripolis in 1912 and and with The Treaty of Ouchy the Otoman Soverignty in the North Africa came to an end.