The journal Gazette des Hôpitaux Civils et Militaires de l’Empire Ottoman / Ceride-i Emâkinü’s-Sıhha was published between 1887 and 1897 by Spiridon Mavrogeny Pasha, the private physician of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876-1909) and studied by Feza Günergun in 2002. This article is an addendum to Günergun’s article in light of the newly opened periodical collection at Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de Santé [Interuniversity Health Library] in Paris, France and the documents kept in the Ottoman Archives in Turkey. Currently, no library is found to hold a complete collection of the journal. The journal was censured due to the articles Dr. David Pardo had written and was discontinued due to funding restrictions. Subsequently, it continued to be published in line with the Gazette Médicale d’Orient, the official publication of the Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane [Imperial Medical Society] in Istanbul. Gazette des Hôpitaux was the first bilingual (French and Turkish) medical journal to be published in Ottoman Turkey. Its originality could not be maintained after being censored, and its publication was suspended despite Dr. Mavrogeny Pasha’s continued efforts. This article contains the French and Turkish index of the 26 issues of the journal (in addition to Günergun’s article) as well as the testimonial account of Dr. David Pardo about the death of Dr. Marko Pasha’s wife and children from diphtheria in its appendix section. The Gazette des Hôpitaux Civils et Militaires de l’Empire Ottoman was a dramatic case that witnessed the effects of Abdul Hamid II’s repressive rules on medical publishing, which made publishing a journal not in allegiance with Abdul Hamid II’s Yıldız Palace impossible. Publications were also controlled by funding restrictions and censorship. Dr. David Pardo had attempted to draw attention in his articles to the inadequate measures that were being taken during the cholera epidemic, the scandalous decisions taken at Toptaşı Asylum, the failures in epidemic management, and the infrastructural problems of Istanbul. During the period when Gazette des Hôpitaux Civils et Militaires de l’Empire Ottoman was published and censored, the scientific activities of the Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Osmaniye [Ottoman Medical Society] in Istanbul were also being impeded. The sessions the Society held were banned because the government had deemed them to be unsuitable, and the Society’s function of supervising and encouraging scientific publications had been transformed into one of inspecting publications that were deemed harmful. The Society functioned as a censorship commission until the beginning of the Second Constitutional Era in 1908, when it almost entirely lost its actual function.  

Moreover, physicians during this period were not allowed to create associations. According to the Ottoman archival documents, the Ottoman Medical Society did not have enough linguistically qualified officers to supervise the suitability of medical works for publishing (i.e., to perform its censorship function). While this did impede the publication of medical works, it also prevented the publication of many pamphlets, booklets, books, and journals in other languages in Istanbul. Therefore, many authors lost a great deal of time, spending their efforts all in vain. Another medical society, Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-yi Şahane [Imperial Medical Society] had also been subjected to various pressures in the same period. Important testimonies occurred about the pressure exerted on the Society as well as on sleuthing and whistleblowing activities in Istanbul. Additionally, authorities tried to put the Imperial Medical Society in a difficult situation by reducing its financial aid and even delaying it payments of the reduced aid. This article presents documents regarding what these pressures had led to. Mavrogeny Pasha also appears to have been subjected to various incidents during the period in which he’d published the Gazette des Hôpitaux. He was followed by the Sultan’s sleuths, and reports were written about him. Mavrogeny Pasha was regularly prosecuted, and many investigations were conducted against him. During one investigation, a memoir written in Greek about Abdul Hamid II as well as other personal documents were found in the Pasha’s house. He was interrogated and news about his arrest began to appear in the foreign press. After this incident, Mavrogeny Pasha was forced to swear an oath of loyalty in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Neophytos VIII and two other witnesses. These events led the Pasha to lose his reputation. As a result of the absolute centralization of the reign of Abdul Hamid II, institutions such as Matbuat Dairesi [the Press Office] lost their authority, and applicants had to apply to the Yıldız Palace either directly or through intermediaries in order to republish journals that had been shut down or to publish new journals; applications needed to include certificates of good status, warrants of guarantee, and safety documents from the communities to which the applicant belonged, with the final decisions being left directly to the will of the Sultan. Journals and newspapers have been directly controlled through funds and censorship. According to archival documents, Gazette des Hôpitaux Civils et Militaires de l’Empire Ottoman was the only scientific publication among the journals and newspapers to have received financial aid from the government. Despite this privileged position the journal had, its publication and content seem to have been overshadowed by Mavrogeny Pasha’s private life and the sensationalist atmosphere of the period. Even today that medical phenomenon, deaths from epidemics, and the inadequate measures taken are well known to have been censored in various ways by those in power in various states. Thus the microhistory of Gazette des Hôpitaux Civils et Militaires de l’Empire Ottoman invites historical researchers to once again subject medical sources to a more careful reading.