Locust problem in the Ottoman State in World War One
Keywords:
Locust Plaque in Anatolia, World War One, Acts of First ParliamentAbstract
Humankind has faced many disasters since the beginning. It is evident that some of the disasters have occurred because of natural reasons but some others happen because of man who destroyed the balance of nature. Humankind has been in an endless struggle with the nature. Fighting with the disasters like earthquake, flood, fire, plaque, famine and locust outbreaks can be in two ways; The first way of struggling such disasters is prevention and the second one is recovering the loss after the incident. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the war known as the disaster created by humankind and locust plaque as the natural disaster.
Locust invasion was one of frequent problems that occurred repeatedly in Ottoman Empire. Affecting Western and Southern Anatolia and Arab Provinces, it made life miserable for people living there especially in the period between the last quarter of XIX. Century and the first quarter of XX. Century and it turned into a major disaster. Locust disaster caused material and non-material damage to either local people or to the state. Swarms of locust which devoured farmlands of thousands acres damaged the crops in the area destroying the livelihoods of local people. Therefore, people whose crop fields were devastated faced famine. Considering the fact that the country was involved in the World War One, the disaster became worse. When the parliament records of the period were examined, it is seen that the First Turkish Parliament held congress over the issue and heated debates took place.
In the first part of the study, we will be focusing on the dangers of locusts in terms of agriculture. The effects of locust plaque in Western and Southern Anatolia and the treatments local people applied to solve the problem will be discussed by examining the archival files. In the second part of the research, examining the archives of the first parliament, the debates about the locust plaque in the parliament, the decisions made after the debates or enacted laws and enforcement of these laws will be examined.
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Archival Sources
Grand National Assembly of Turkey [Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (TBMM)] Archive, Meclis-i Mebusan Zabıt Ceridesi [The Ottoman National Assembly of Memorandum Official Report (ONAMOR)], Term (Devre): 1, Vol.4, Session (Birleşim):83 (18 Mayıs 1325), s. 49–50.
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