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376 Erdal Taşbaş

costs and subsequently the travel expenses up to the time they were
dispatched to their settlements were also covered. In a letter sent by
the Immigration Administration to the Ministry of Internal Affairs on
the 25 of September 1912, it was reported that 17,770 kurus was
th
allocated to Tunisian and Algerian immigrants who were guests in the
Syrian province center in Ramadan in 1910. In addition, nutrition
costs and house rents have been met until the immigrants leave from
here to go to the settlement areas. In this process, an increased
amount of money was returned to the treasury because some immi-
grants left early .
52
According to the document dated the 19 of February 1916, a large
th
number of Libyan and Tunisian immigrants were sent to Syria to be re-
settled in Aleppo Province. However, Aleppo Governor Mustafa Bey stated
that it was difficult for these immigrants to settle in masses. The Gover-
nor also requested permission from the government, stating that it would
be more appropriate for these immigrants to be sent to the regions of
Diyarbakır Province with a hot climate and settle there . Welcoming this
53
request positively, the Ministry of Internal Affairs approved the distribu-
tion of Libyan and Tunisian immigrants waiting in Syria for resettlement
to cities and towns with suitable climate such as Adana, Konya, Diyar-
bakır, Ankara and Kayseri. In addition, the government, which thinks
that precautions should be taken in order to prevent problems during the
dispatch of immigrants, asked the governorship to where they can be sent
under their own means . Thus, the government without desolation
54
would be able to take the necessary measures to transport the immi-
grants to the places where they will be settled.
The various findings could be reached from the documents about
the immigrants resettled in Syria. There was no record of any urban
citizen, craftsman, tradesman or trader among the Tunisian
immigrants included in this study. However, this doesn’t mean that
there are no records about the subject. Because the correspondence
between the Ottoman province and the center generally covered the
basic needs for the resettlement of the immigrants. Meeting these
needs was very difficult for that period and it would took time. The
process of resettling of these immigrants was a very long and costly
consisted of feeding, sheltering, covering the expenses of fuel and

52 «Findings regarding the abandonment of the Algerian and Tunisian Immigrants
as guests in Syria, their expenses and the payment of their household rents». BOA,
DH.İD. 10-1/63, 02 October 1912.
53 «On the separation and resettlement of Tunisian and Libyan immigrants sent to
Aleppo to be resettled in different places». BOA, DH.ŞFR. 510/28, 19 February 1916.
54 «An attempt to distribute the Tripoli and Tunisian immigrants who were sent to
Halep for settlement to provinces such as Adana, Konya, Diyarbakir, Ankara and Kay-
seri». BOA, DH.EUM.5.şb. 81/6, 26 February 1916.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XX - Agosto 2023
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)