Abstract:

On June 1911, the journalist and employer in the Public Debt Administration, Zeki Bey, is assassinated. The trial, following this murder is largely covered by an ottoman newspaper, Mecheroutiette, published in Paris, in both French and Turkish. His chief director, the general Cherif Pacha, is one of the most prominent figures of the political opposition to the Young Turks’ regime and leader of the Ottoman Radical Party. This criminal affair arouses lively debates among Ottoman citizens and divides the public opinion. On the one hand, there are claims of a premeditated crime planned by the party in power in order to eliminate any embarrassing voice.According to this version, the victim had at his disposal documents compromising the government’s financial practices. On the other hand, the defense lawyers deny any conspiracy plot or political motivations behind this case. The analysis of this affair informs us about political situation in the early 20th century in the Ottoman Empire and reveals us the tensions undermining its social stability. In this study the Macedonian city of Serres in appears as a training ground for the fedaïs, or hired killers at the service of the Union and Progress Committee.

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