Kuscubasi Esref: Efsane Teskilat-i Mahsusa Subayinin Hayati.

• Author: Fortna, Benjamin C.
• Position: Book review

The Special Organization (Teskilat-i Mahsusa) was the intelligence agency of the Ottoman Empire, which conducted espionage and paramilitary operations especially during the World War I and constituted the basis for the modern National Intelligence Organization of Turkey. However, the structure, operations, members and staff of the organization were mostly vague because of the absence of records. (1)

This vagueness about the personnel of the Special Organization was more common, resulting in life stories interwoven with legends and myths thereby concealing the historical facts. Benjamin C. Fortna (2) has written a biography of Kuscubasi Esref who was one of the legendary officers of the Special Organization, refining the true-life history from the made-up stories.

The main aim of Fortna was to understand the world of Esref Kuscubasi by creating a portrait of an historical person through using the national archives, making interviews with prominent experts such as Philip H. Stoddard and most importantly studying the personal documents of Kuscubasi Esref for the first time and interviewing with his family members. Due to the loss of Esref's memoirs, these documents and interviews provided invaluable contribution to reveal the missing parts of Esref's life and the history of the Special Organization.

Fortna described three main patterns in the life of Esref and centered his narration on these. The first pattern was the Circassian origin of Esref, through which Fortna explains the background of Esref's life, his involvement in the military and brigandage. Another pattern was the paramilitary actions in which the Circassian immigrants of the Empire played a key role in the 19 (th) and 20 (th) centuries. Esref and many of his fellows were the members of the paramilitary groups of the Empire in many operations. The last pattern was the mobility of Esref who travelled long distances for different duties by train, ships and cars; used telegraph lines to communicate and carry out operations. Fortna developed the biography of Kuscubasi Esref based on these patterns and described the versatile actions of him.

The book has nine chapters and the first chapter introduces outlines of the study. Chapter 2 provides the background of the early years of Esref's life and his school years. Furthermore, Esref's first exile to Arabia after his dismissal from the Military School and his actions in the region are explained in this Chapter. Besides, this chapter tells...