Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part II

No. 1089.
Mr. Straus to Mr. Bayard.

Legation of the United States,
Constantinople, June 8, 1888. (Received June 25.)

No. 87.]

Sir: Some time since the Turkish Government, without consulting the foreign missions here, promulgated a new law regarding printing offices, of which I inclose a copy.

As it conflicts seriously with the rights of foreigners to exercise their trade or profession in the Ottoman Empire, the matter was taken into consideration by the different embassies and legations here, including our own, and a note verbale identique has been sent to the Porte, of which I inclose a copy.

This law is another evidence of the jealousy of the imperial authorities respecting all foreign influences, and of their persistent efforts to restrict and abridge established rights and ancient privileges.

I have, etc.,

O. S. Straus.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 87.—Translation.]

Law concerning printing offices.

Chapter I.—General Provisions.

• Art. 1. The establishment of printing offices in Turkey and the printing of all kinds of books, pamphlets, and writings are free, when in conformity to the provisions of the present law.
• Art. 2. Foreign subjects who shall furnish a written pledge, in conformity with th3 obligations prescribed in article 5 of the present law, shall have the right to establish printing offices in the same manner as Ottoman subjects.
• Art. 3. The opening of a printing office is absolutely subordinated to the obtain-ment of an official authorization. Those persons who shall open a printing office without official authorization, and who shall therein print books, pamphlets, and other writings, will, in pursuance of article 137 of the penal code, have their printing office closed, and shall be liable to a fine of 50 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 4. Ottoman subjects and foreigners who desire to establish a printing office must make an application and annex thereto a declaration setting forth their names and occupations, a sketch of their lives, and shall state in what quarter and street the printing office is to be established, their residence, and the languages in which their publications are to be printed.
• This application is to be presented, in Constantinople, to the ministry of the interior, and in the provinces to the governors-general.
• Art. 5. The applications of persons desiring to establish a printing office are referred, in Constantinople, to the prefect of police, and in the provinces to the local police. After the status of the applicants shall have been shown and they shall have furnished a written pledge declaring that they will abstain from printing any writing invasive of the sacred rights of his Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, and the interests of the Empire, the official permit shall be delivered to them, in Constantinople, by the ministry of the interior, and in the provinces by the governors-general, upon the official authorization of the ministry of the interior.
• A foreigner shall not, however, be permitted to open a printing office except he shall furnish a declaration, legalized by the embassy or legation of his nation, by the terms of which he is never, in the exercise of his profession, to avail himself of the privileges and immunities attaching to foreigners; that is to say, that he accepts, the case arising, the same procedure towards himself and his printing office as is followed towards Ottoman subjects.
• Art. 6. After the delivery of the permit, a copy of the declaration annexed to the application of the party shall be sent to the prefect of police, at Constantinople, in order that it may be communicated to the superintendent of police of the district in which the printing office is situated, and in the provinces to the governor-general, to be communicated to the local police.
• Art. 7. The proprietors or managing editors of newspapers may open a printing office without special authorization, but on condition that it shall serve exclusively for printing their paper. But if, besides their paper, they shall desire to print any other writings, they shall be obliged, like other proprietors of printing offices, to obtain an official authorization to that end, conformably to the provisions of the present law.
• Art. 8. Printing offices opened in virtue of an official authorization may be conveyed by their proprietors to third parties, but the new proprietor must fulfill the formalities prescribed by articles 4 and 5. Printing offices in respect of which these formalities have not been complied with, shall forthwith be closed.
• Art. 9. Upon the delivery of the permit for the establishment of a printing office, there shall be collected, at Constantinople, a tax of 3 pounds Turkish, and of 2 pounds, Turkish, in the provinces. For every transfer of a printing office, one-half of the aforesaid taxes shall be collected.
• Art. 10. On the death of the proprietor of a printing office which has been authorized in virtue of an official permit, one of the typographers of the establishment shall be provisionally charged with the direction of the printing office; but the heirs of the deceased are obliged to present, within a month and in conformity with the conditions mentioned in articles 4 and 5, a responsible business manager. If, at the expiration of this time, this formality be not fulfilled, the printing office is to be closed until such responsible business manager shall be presented and officially accepted.
• Art. 11. Those who remove their printing office to another locality, or change their domicile, or transfer their printing office to another person, are obliged to make the fact known in writing, within five days, at Constantinople, to the ministry of the interior, and in the provinces to the local authority. Printers not conforming to this requirement are liable to a fine of from 5 to 15 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 12. Those who secretly print, in their houses, or in unknown localities, books, pamphlets, and other writings, shall have their printing material confiscated and shall be liable to a fine of from 5 to 20 pounds, Turkish, without prejudice to the penalties prescribed by the law.
• Art. 13. Every proprietor of a printing office must publish, at the foot of each book, pamphlet, circular, or other writings, his name, the ward, street, and number of his printing office. If he give not his name or the locality of his printing office, or if he give other names and addresses, he shall be liable to a fine of from 5 to 15 pounds, Turkish, without prejudice to the penalties prescribed by the law.
• Art. 14. Type founders and those engaged in making and selling type and other printing materials must present a declaration setting forth their names and surnames, their nationality, the name of the quarter and of the street where their warehouses or workshops are situated. They shall receive the teskéré of permission, at Constantinople, from the prefect of the city, and in the provinces from the local municipal office. Those not having such permit, and those who shall not have notified the competent authority of a change in the locality of their warehouses or workshops, shall be liable to a fine of from 1 to 5 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 15. Every printing office shall have in front a sign in Turkish and in the diverse languages employed in the work thereof.
• The doors of the rooms where the compositors and the other workmen of the printing office are at work must be closed, at the hour of work, by a latch.
• If there be shops and other buildings on the two sides of a printing office, there shall not be any doors, windows, or other openings giving access to such buildings. The printing offices which may not conform to these conditions must be altered accordingly, under penalty of a fine of from 1 to 5 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 16. The officers detailed by the ministry of public instruction, by the superintendency of the press, and, if need be, by the prefect of police, are authorized to inspect the printing offices at all times. The proprietors of printing offices are required to exhibit, on demand, their official permit to such officers.
• The reports to be drawn up by these officers shall set forth the violations of the present law which they may discover, and shall be submitted to their respective superiors, in order that, in the proper case, they shall be referred to the public prosecutor of the ministry of justice.
• Art. 17. Every proprietor of a printing office, upon requisition thereto by the superintendence of the press, must furnish information of the kinds and classes of materials and tools employed in his establishment; he shall, moreover, furnish printed specimens of the different types used by him. Printing offices contravening this requirement shall be closed from seven to fifteen days.
• Art. 18. For books and pamphlets published without authorization and which do not mention the names of their authors or publishers, the proprietors of the establishments where they are printed shall be personally responsible. For books and pamphlets of this class, published without the signature of their authors or publishers, the authors, publishers, and printers shall be jointly and severally responsible.

Chapter II—Concerning Books, Pamphlets, and other Publications.

• Art. 19. No printer shall print any work whatsoever without the official authorization of the ministry of public instruction. After the work is printed, two copies thereof shall be deposited, before it is put in circulation, in the ministry of public Instruction at Constantinople, and with the local authorities in the provinces, accompanied with a declaration signed by the printer, showing the title of the book and the number of copies printed.
• Writings printed by means of lithography, photography, and other processes, songs with or without music, and musical publications of all kinds, and all printed writings, except those designated in article 22, shall be subject to the provisions of the present article.
• Religious books, like all other works, shall not be printed without the authorization of the ministry of public instruction.
• Non-Mussulman books of religion shall be authorized upon a declaration of the chiefs of the religious societies.
• Art. 20. In case the ministry of public instruction should hesitate to grant the authorization for printing any work, the author or publisher thereof may apply to the council of state and demand an examination thereof.
• Art. 21. Such printers as can not exhibit a certificate of the ministry of public instruction showing that they have obtained the previous authorization to print such and such books, pamphlets, and documents, and that they have deposited two copies of the same with the ministry of public instruction, shall be liable to a fine of from 5 to 15 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 22. It shall not be necessary to obtain a new authorization for books which have already been printed under official authorization and which have not been prohibited, but on condition that the new edition shall be entirely conformable to the text already printed. It is, however, understood that two copies of the new edition shall, before it is put in circulation, be deposited in the ministry of public instruction, together with one copy of the preceding edition.
• In conformity with the provisions of the present law, advertisements of marriage, of death, of trade, of houses to rent, as also all announcements concerning private business, commercial announcements, posters of theaters, and balls, etc., matters printed for the administrative departments, and the briefs published by advocates in pleading a case, may be printed without authorization.
• Art. 23. All those who print, publish, and sell all kinds of pictures, engravings, medals, emblems and other things, must conform to the provisions of article 19. Such persons shall, in consequence, be liable to a fine of from 3 to 10 pounds, Turkish, if they print, expose, and sell pictures, engravings, medals, emblems, and other things, without being able to produce an authorization bearing bearing the official seal and delivered to them by the ministry of public instruction upon the concurring recommendation of the direction of the school of fine arts.

Chapter III.—Of Foreign Publications.

• Art. 24. Pamphlets and books published abroad, the articles specified in article 23, and all printing materials, can not be introduced into the Empire without the authorization of the ministry of public instruction, at Constantinople, and of the local authorities in the provinces. In the same manner, books and other publications coming from the autonomous provinces can not be introduced into the other parts of the Empire without authorization.
• Art. 25. Foreign books on arriving at the custom houses of the Empire shall be examined by the ministry of public instruction, at Constantinople, and by the local authorities in the provinces. If there he no objection to their introduction, one copy of such books shall be impressed with the official seal and returned to the customhouse to be delivered to the owner.
• Nevertheless, the ministry of public instruction shall prepare a general list of books the entry whereof is permitted. This list shall be sent to all the custom-houses in order that they may permit to pass, without examination, the books found in such list, unless they shall be reprints.

Chapter IV.—Concerning Colportage and the Sale and Distribution of Printed Matter.

• Art. 26. All book-sellers keeping shops, colporters, sellers, and distributors of pamphlets, pictures and other printed matter, as well as the workmen employed in printing offices, are obliged to obtain a teskéré from the prefect of the city, in Constantinople, and from the municipal offices in the provinces.
• In case of necessity, the book-shops shall be inspected by the officers of police and by the inspectors of the ministry of public instruction and of the superintendency of the press.
• Art. 27. Those who, in addition to the objects mentioned in article 22, sell, peddle, and distribute books, pamphlets, newspapers, portraits, illustrated writings, and other printed matter published or introduced into the Empire without authorization, shall be liable to a fine of from 3 to 10 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 28. Colporters, sellers, and distributors of newspapers and other periodical publications who cry aloud in the streets and public places to designate the matters contained therein, instead of merely announcing the titles of such newspapers and publications, shall be deprived of their license and shall be liable to a fine, according to the terms of article 254 of the penal code.
• Art. 29. Those who peddle, sell, and distribute, knowingly or clandestinely, pictures and printed matter which is injurious and immoral, and published contrary to the provisions of the present law, shall be deemed accomplices of the authors and printers of such writings or printed matter, and besides the penalty which they shall undergo with them, they shall be interdicted from following their profession for the term of from one to three months.

Chapter V.—Show-bills.

• Art. 30. With exception of the notices or roosters of theaters and balls and those relating to special occurrences, such as marriages and deaths, it is expressly forbidden to post and to distribute notices in the streets and in the public places without having obtained permission to do so from the municipal authorities. Those violating this provision shall be liable to a fine of from 5 to 10 pounds, Turkish. In the case of the contents of the notices posted or distributed being contrary to law, the penalty incurred therefor shall be fixed and applied separately according to the gravity of the offense.
• Art. 31. Notices or posters of public establishments, such as theaters and others, couched in other languages, must also give the translation in the Turkish language. Those contravening this requirement shall be liable to a fine of from 1 to 5 pounds, Turkish.
• Art. 32. Professional bill-posters must provide themselves with a license, by applying to the prefect of the city or to the municipal authorities and making known to them their names, calling, nationality, civil status and domicile. Those contravening this requirement shall be liable to a fine of from 1 medjidié to 1 pound, Turkish. All those who, knowingly and openly or secretly, post prohibited notices, shall be deemed accomplices of the author of the offense.

Chapter VI.—Procedure.

• Art. 33. Proceedings relating to infractions of the present law belong to the courts, and shall be prosecuted on the suit of the public ministry.
• Art. 34. The officers of justice, the functionaries of the ministry of public instruction and those of the censorship of the press are charged with making the declarations and complaints relative to the offenses committed against the provisions of the present law. Those functionaries shall draw up a procèss-verbal relative to the offense which they allege and shall submit it to their superiors to be transmitted, in Constantinople, to the ministry of the interior, and in the provinces to the local authority. The imperial prosecutors shall bring actions upon the information produced to them in regard to these offenses by the ministry of the interior or by the provincial authorities.
• Art. 35. Books, pamphlets and other writings printed and published without authorization, shall be immediately siezed and, with the exception of one copy only shall be placed under seal by the officer who shall have effected the seizure, by the police officer and by the owner, and provisionally deposited in the nearest police station or in the offices of the municipal authority. They shall, if need be, be removed and stored, under seal, in such place as may be appointed by the superintendency of the press. They can not be restored to their owner without an order from the ministry of the interior or the court.
• Art. 36. The penalty to be pronounced against those who commit more than once the offenses specified in the present law shall, as a maximum, be higher than double the penalty herein fixed. All these persons shall be deemed old offenders who shall have committed another offense before the expiration of a year’s counting from the date of their condemnation for the offenses in question.
• Art. 37. The penalties prescribed by the present law only relate to the non-execution of the clause concerning the obtainment of previous authorization. Any other crime or offense committed through printing and publishing or importing without authorization books, pamphlets, and other writings, shall be liable to the special penalties prescribed by the laws of the Empire.
• Art. 38. The suppression shall be decreed of only the injurious pages of the books or pamphlets the authors or printers of which shall have been condemned to suffer penalties on account of the printing and publication of such works. In the event of such writings being radically injurious, they shall be completely destroyed. The writings and objects specified in articles 22 and 23 and which are recognized as injurious, shall be confiscated.
• Art. 39. All proprietors of printing offices who have already obtained the necessary authorization shall receive, without expense, a new permit of authorization. Proprietors of printing offices, being Ottoman subjects, who exercise their profession without authorization and who shall apply, within a month from the date of the promulgation of the present law to the competent authority to be furnished with a permit of authorization, shall receive the same upon payment of the fees fixed in article 9.
• A teskéré of permission shall be issued, until the expiration of the aforesaid term, to all book-sellers, founders and sellers of type and printing materials, colporters, compositors, dealers and distributors, who may not be furnished with such authorization. The law shall be enforced in respect of all those who, on the expiration of said term, may not have conformed to the prescriptions of the present law.
• Art. 40. The ministries of the interior, of justice, and of public instruction, are charged with the enforcement of the present law.
• Art. 41. The printing regulations dated 20th Djémazi-ul-ewel 1273 (January 21, 1858) and contained in the 2d volume of Destour’s collection, are hereby annulled.

Constantinople, 9th Djémazi-ul-ewel, 1305 (January 10, 1888).

[Inclosure 2 in No. 87.]

The legation of the United States to the ministry of foreign affairs.

United States Legation,
Constantinople, June 6, 1888.

Note verbale.]

The legation of the United States is very much surprised to learn of the publication of a new law in respect to printing offices, of which it has received no previous official notice.

It entertained the hope that the Sublime Porte, heretofore so courteous to the foreign missions, would send it such notice, as well as every other regulation which is of interest to foreigners, especially as article 5 of the new law provides for certain things to be done by the embassies and legations without having consulted them.

Disappointed in this regard, this legation can no longer be silent on the subject of the publication of a law which conflicts with existing international agreements and violates acquired rights.

In reality the capitulations and the treaties of commerce contain no restriction upon foreigners in Turkey as to the free exercise of their trade or profession.

This principle has been recognized by the Sublime Porte at all times, and especially in a note from his excellency Aarifi Pasha, September 27, 1883, where he says, “Evidently no restriction would be placed upon the liberty of strangers to choose and exercise in Turkey the professional or industrial occupations, a liberty which will continue in the future as in the past.”

The new law regulating printing offices conflicts entirely with these agreements, since it forces the printer to relinquish completely the prerogatives and immunities above referred to.

It even requires that such relinquishment shall be confirmed by the respective embassies and legations to which the printers are amenable.

This legation, while recognizing that the printing offices may be the subject of a special regulation, regrets to have to declare that it can by no means admit, without a previous understanding, the application of the new law to the persons under its jurisdiction, and still less to those who already possess printing offices established according to pre-existing international agreements.