The Actions of Ottoman State to Open the Port of Teki̇rdag to International Trade (1840-1920)

Since the 1840s, the Ottoman Empire has carried out a series of activities to rehabilitate the Edirne Meriç River and Enez Port and bring them into international trade. The inspiration for these studies is the Paris Embassy Report (Sefaretname), written by Mehmet Çelebi during his Paris embassy. While the Ottoman Empire prioritized the use of rivers and lakes only for military purposes, after this date, it was faced with the fact that rivers and lakes could also be connected to international trade routes. However, the Ottoman Empire could not take the necessary steps in this regard for a long time. Among the reasons for this was that Ottoman engineers did not have the river technologies and engineering knowledge developed in European countries such as France. For this reason, Sultan Abdulmecid wanted to benefit from foreign experts. Monsieur Borel, one of the experts he invited from France, stated that although he worked on Meriç and its tributaries for a while, it would be more profitable and practical to connect the Rumelian trade routes to the newly established docks, piers and ports by opening new channels instead of improving this river. In this statement, he also gave great importance to Tekirdağı (Tekfurdağı) Port. He emphasized that if the Tekirdağ port, which was a very small port at that time, was enlarged and expanded, it would be the shortest way to transport all the goods and commodities to be produced in Rumelia to the Mediterranean and Istanbul. As a matter of fact, when Monsieur Borel's statement is examined, it is understood that Tekirdağı port can be a very busy and comprehensive port if the suggested roads and channels to be opened are built. Although river improvement works were not mentioned among the renovation works initiated by the Ottoman Empire after the Tanzimat, recent research has revealed that the Ottoman Empire had a great desire and desire to establish national and international trade routes. In this article, the works and results of the Ottoman Empire's efforts to establish and expand the Tekirdağ port and make it the busiest port in Rumelia and the Balkans between 1840 and 1920 will be emphasized using original documents.