Translation Office (Ottoman Empire)

The Translation Office ({{langx|tr|Tercüme Odası}}, also spelled Terceme Odası,{{cite book|last=Strauss|first=Johann|chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire|editor=Murphey, Rhoads|title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule|publisher=Routledge|date=2016-07-07}} // ({{ISBN|9781317118442}}), Google Books [https://books.google.com/books?id=gY-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT192 PT192]. or Terdjuman Odasi; {{langx|fr|Direction de Traduction}},{{cite book|author=Young, George|title=Corps de droit ottoman; recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire ottoman|publisher=Clarendon Press|volume=3|year=1905|language=fr|page=[https://archive.org/details/corpsdedroitott04turkgoog/page/n7 1]|title-link=Corps de droit ottoman; recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire ottoman}} also rendered as Bureau des Interprètes{{cite book|author=Ubicini, Abdolonyme|author-link=Abdolonyme Ubicini|url=https://archive.org/details/sc_0001068641_00000001364801/page/n10|title=La constitution ottomane du 7 zilhidjé 1293 (23 décembre 1876) Expliquée et Annotée par A. Ubicini |year=1877|place=Paris|publisher=A. Cotillon et C^o.|page=[https://archive.org/details/sc_0001068641_00000001364801/page/n19 13]}} - [https://archive.org/details/sc_0001068641_00000001364801 PDF file] or Cabinet des Traducteurs{{cite book|title=Histoiree générale du IVe siècle à nos jours: Révolutions et guerres nationales, 1848-1870|editor=Ernest Lavisse|editor2=Alfred Rambaud|publisher=Armeand Colin & C^ie|place=Paris|volume=XI|year=1899|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8pwLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA535 535]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=8pwLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA536 536]}}) was an organ of the Government of the Ottoman Empire that translated documents from one language to another.

The government created it in 1821 as the Ottoman authorities wanted to train their own corps of Turkish translators instead of using Phanariotes due to the Greek War of Independence occurring. Most of the staff at Ottoman diplomatic missions in Europe originated from this office.{{cite book|author=Ágoston, Gabor|chapter=Intelligence|editor=Ágoston, Gabor|editor2=Bruce Alan Masters|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Infobase Publishing|date=2010-05-21|isbn=9781438110257|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA276 276]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA278 278]}} - Cited: p. 278

Salaries and prominence of the office increased after the 1830s in the aftermath of the Battle of Konya and Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi.{{cite book|author=Findley, Carter Vaughn|title=Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2020-05-05|isbn=9781400820092|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vEJKnuy4qmIC&pg=PA135 135]}}

Bernard Lewis, author of The Muslim Discovery of Europe, wrote that the Translation Office became "one of the avenues to preferment and power".{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Bernard|title=The Muslim Discovery of Europe|publisher=W. W. Norton|date=June 1985|pages=[https://archive.org/details/muslimdiscoveryo0000bern/page/84/mode/2up 85]|isbn=0-393-30233-4|via=Internet Archive}}

The office created French-language versions of official documents. Such documents, created by the Translation Office and other Ottoman government organs dedicated to translating documents, catered to foreigners, and were used to create versions of documents in languages used by Ottoman non-Muslims.{{cite book|last=Strauss|first=Johann|editor-last=Murphey|editor-first=Rhoads|title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule|publisher=Routledge|date=2016-07-07|via=Google Books|chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XI-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 115]-}} - Cited: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XI-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 121]

==Notable staff==

• Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha
• Mehmed Fuad Pasha