Teachers on the move: re-employment and state management of immigrant teachers in the Ottoman Empire (1877–1913)

Following the Ottoman-Russian War (1877–78) and the Balkan Wars (1912–13), the Ottoman Empire experienced large-scale migration from the Balkans, including significant numbers of trained teachers. This article examines the re-employment of male immigrant teachers between 1877 and 1913, with particular attention to the bureaucratic practices through which they were assigned to new positions and the official determination of their remuneration. Drawing on archival petitions, official correspondence, and administrative records, the study identifies two primary pathways of reappointment: individual petition-based applications and centralised reassignment procedures initiated by the Ministry of Education. The findings demonstrate that immigrant teachers were primarily reassigned to understaffed provinces, often replacing resigned, retired, or transferred instructors, and filling positions in remote regions where college-trained teachers were reluctant to serve. Based on a dataset of 188 identified immigrant teachers, the article analyses patterns of geographical redistribution and post-migration salary adjustments, including comparative evidence from Kastamonu and Ankara. Situating these processes within the migration-development interactions framework, the study argues that migration did not simply generate institutional strain but enabled the administrative redistribution of trained personnel under conditions of territorial loss and fiscal constraint. Development in this context operated through the reorganisation of educational administrative capacity.