TNT History Archives: Ottoman Aviation's Infancy (1912)/Part I

//Ed. note: In May 1912, the Beyoğlu 

Donanma Cemiyeti (BDC/Beyoğlu 

Society for the Navy Fleet) voiced the 

urgent need for the Ottoman armed 

forces to build an airplane fleet.  

The urgency had been prompted by 

the Italians'  success in using airplanes 

and dirigibles to bomb Turkish forces 

in the war with Turkey in  Libya two 

months earlier.//

sorry state of Ottoman fleet click here

for the final of a 5-part TNT series on

disgraced Ottoman Navy Minister 

Hasan Rami Paşa who was accused

of embezzlement during his tenure

as navy chief. 

//TNT has transcribed/translated an Ottoman

document that includes the BDC statement

and excerpts from a basic Prussian airplane

guide that a Turkish officer had translated 

into Turkish as a donation to the BDC effort.

//A BDC spokesman explained the situation 

as follows in May 1912 during a ceremony in

Cairo at which the Egyptian statesman and 

scholar Ahmed Zeki Paşa was the guest 

speaker://

These days, the eyes of mankind are turned and focused on the sky.   

But the reason for this is not that people expect to see wonders and 

oddities in the vastness of the heavens but, rather, they wish to 

witness the symbol of mankind’s progress that human ingenuity 

has created and which will bring fruitful changes for the world’s 

destiny.

Because of the current sad state of the Ottoman (naval) fleet, the entire 

nation is saddened and troubled.  The neglect of the fleet, one of the 

past regime’s (Sultan Abdülhamid II) evil acts, leaves us vulnerable to 

attack by a vile enemy, with the unpleasant consequences assured.  All 

Ottomans must awaken to the need to find a solution to this situation. 

Aviation constitutes a great strategic force for enhancing the activities 

of naval fleets.  The advantages provided by baloons (dirigibles) and 

airplanes to the Italians in their victory in the current war (Libya) 

prove the military value of these tools for the future. 

The indisputable need to build a formidable fleet requires that a number 

of international difficulties be ignored and the expenditure of hundreds 

of  millions in the pursuit of this goal be borne by the state treasury.  

Those nations with the most formidable and strongest naval forces 

spend  millions each day to establish their superiority and influence on 

land and at sea.  Similarly, they spare no expense to do the same thing 

in the air. 

But in addition to the sacrifices these nations make for this new means 

of  warfare, they reap significant donations for this purpose, as well, 

making the puny amount of donations we Ottomans make seem comical 

by comparison.   The Ottoman State must  make any an all sacrifices 

and efforts to strengthen the fleet and must, in the same vein, exert all 

its willpower to create an airplane fleet, as well.  The sacrifice the 

nation will make and the expenditures must be proportional, but the 

state alone cannot meet these costs. 

 

In any event, the Moslem world has long been in the forefront of man’s 

crucial effort to conquer the sky.  Today’s heirs to this tradition must 

take up this matter of aviation in the Moslem world with fervor and 

determination and not leave it to future generations. 

By his unstinting efforts in Egypt, the learned and scholarly Ahmed 

Zeki Paşa has shown the importance of aviation, as he has in all other 

fields of  science in the Moslem world, with regard to universal 

civilization.  His review and examination of the contributions of 

Moslems to the field of aviation in ages past serves to prove the point 

that Islam belongs in the forefront of aviation.

Our society (Beyoğlu Donanma Cemiyeti – Beyoğlu Society for the 

Fleet) is having Ahmed Zeki Paşa’s valuable speech translated into 

Turkish so that it can be published throughout the Ottoman State.   

In order that a formidable airplane fleet be acquired for the betterment 

of the nation as soon as possible, and to pay homage to the memory 

of our glorious forefathers,  our society desires that substantial 

donations be made in this regard. 

BDC's guest speaker Ahmed Zeki Paşa,

Chief Secretary of the Egyptian Parliament

Ahmed Zeki Paşa has graciously agreed that it would be well for his 

speech to be translated into Turkish and he has included a story about 

an aviation event that occurred in Istanbul prior to the conquest 

(in 1159) , in which the hero was a Moslem.  In addition, Ahmed 

Zeki Paşa has donated ten French gold pieces to support our cause. 

//END of PART ONE//