The Ottoman Red Crescent and Its Relation with The International Red Cross Movement, 1911–1927

The Ottoman Red Crescent Association was established shortly after the foundation of Red Cross and developed as a distinct independent organization offering medical help, material and field hospitals for soldiers during wars. It displayed its major activities during the Ottoman- Russian War of 1877–78, the Tripolitanian War of 1911, the Balkan Wars, the First World War and the Turkish Independence War. Its mission which also included serving war prisoners, refugees, civilians, and other non-combatants was expanded in the following years to cover peace time as well to protect human life and health and alleviate human sufferings such as in cases of natural calamities. These duties were similar to those of Red Cross societies: providing medical care, nursing, training volunteers for health services during warfare.
It is thus of special interest to investigate the similarities and differences between Non-Western and Western societies in order to understand humanitarianism from a global perspective. The great variety of historical sources on the Ottoman Red Crescent offers new insights not only into important political and social processes within the Ottoman society, but also on early moments of global internationalism.