Propaganda by the Deed and Hotel Registration Regulations in the Late Ottoman Empire

In the Hamidian Era (1876–1908), new legislative and administrative security reforms emerged that can be understood as part of the synchronization of modern states. These reforms were also influenced by the fear of anarchism in Europe and the ensuing anti-anarchist regulations against “propaganda by the deed.” This study analyzes the Ottoman Empire’s regulations on hotel registrations as part of the new policing technique, and explores how they were used to monitor the movements of foreign nationals. The report on the assassination attempt on Abdülhamid II (1905) provides an illuminating example of how these new administrative practices were used in police investigations.