[THE FIRST PRIVATE NEWS AGENCY OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE / WARTIME EPHEMERA / JUDAICA] Osmanli Telgraf Ajansi = Agence Telegraphique Ottomane, Pera - Constantinople. Douzieme Edition du 13 Aôut 1914 [Bulletin]

GÜRCI, SALIH B. (Owner) (1884-1927).

Fratelli Haim, Constantinople, 1914.

Original broadside telegraph bulletin. (35x21 cm). Bilingual title in Ottoman Turkish and French. 1 p. A very good copy.

A highly uncommon partially lithographed bulletin issued to subscribers during World War I by the Ottoman Telegraph Agency, established by Salih Gürci, a Baghdad-born Jewish journalist. As the first private news service of the Ottoman Empire, the agency was eventually shut down by the authorities due to its wartime bulletins, which reflected Gürci’s pro-French stance.

The bulletin consists of nine news articles from Berlin and Petersburg, covering a range of wartime developments. These included the Italian ambassador's departure for Rome, a declaration by the Russian Tsar calling Russian Jews to the army and the German press's mocking response, the success of the Goeben and Breslau battleships in breaking through British lines, Austrian troops on the Russian border being placed under the command of a German general, some Austrian units, including the Tyrolean and Czech regiments, retreating to the French border, German soldiers on the Russian front destroying roads, the absence of Austrian troops on the Romanian border, and casualties during a zeppelin exercise. The fact that all the bulletins were in French suggests that the agency’s subscribers were primarily non-Muslims in Ottoman Istanbul.

During World War I, the Ottoman Empire took notice of the intense activities of well-established European news agencies such as Havas and Reuters, particularly in the field of propaganda. In response, the parliament passed a law establishing the first private news agency, granting Salih Gürci the authority to lead it. State authorities imposed a 150-word limit on these bulletins (as seen in the surviving copy) and announced that exceeding this limit would incur additional charges. Despite efforts to maintain its wartime privileges, the semi-official [nîm-resmî] Ottoman Telegraph Agency gradually lost the initial support of the Unionist government. The authorities' distrust of Salih Gürci, known for his pro-French stance, further undermined confidence in the agency. As a result, it was shut down in November 1914. “It was also suspected that Gürci's news agency functioned as a secret channel for Havas and Reuters.” (Topuz).

ON SALIH B. GÜRCI: Born in Baghdad in 1884, Salih Gürci was a staunch supporter of the Union and Progress Party and the Young Turks. Following the Young Turk Revolution, he launched the newspaper La Turquie Nouvelle in Paris on August 22, 1908. He was widely recognized for his liberal ideas.

ON FRATELLI HAIM: Fratelli Haim, also known as "Société Anonyme Papeterie et Imprimerie Fratelli Haim" [Fratelli Haim Stationery and Printing Company], published all the works of renowned historian and writer Avram Galanti. As one of the leading Jewish publishing houses and printing establishments of its time in Istanbul, Fratelli Haim was founded by Italian Jews and employed a diverse workforce, including Turkish, Armenian, Greek, and Jewish staff. However, following the imposition of the Wealth Tax (Varlık Vergisi) in 1942, the company was forced to sell its operations to Sümerbank.