Tuna Gazetesi Perspektifinden Tuna Vilayeti’ndeki 1873 Tarihli Kolera Salgını

Tuna Vilayeti özellikle Mithad Paşa’nın valiliği döneminde ön plana çıkan, matbaasıve çıkardığıTuna Gazetesi ile Rumeli’de dikkat çeken önemli bir vilayettir. Bu önem biraz da coğrafi konumdan, yani vilayetin önemli bir bölümünün Tuna Nehri kenarında yer alıyor olmasından kaynaklanmaktadır. Zira ticaret, nakliye ve seyahat gibi çeşitli amaçlarla kullanılan Tuna Nehri, tarih boyunca kendisine büyük önem atfedilen bir nehir olmuştur. Hatta nehre yakın bölgelere yapılan askeri seferlerde nehirden azami ölçüde yararlanılmıştır. 1873 yılıitibarıyla Rusçuk, Vidin, Varna, Sofya, Tırnova ve Tulça olmak üzere 6 sancak, 41 kaza ve 18 nahiyeden oluşan Tuna Vilayeti’nin merkezi nehir kenarında yer alan Rusçuk şehridir. Daha önceki yüzyıllarda ve XIX. yüzyılın ilk yarısında zaman zaman etkili olan kolera salgınları1873 yılında dikkate değer bir artışgöstermiş, bütün dünyada etkili olduğu gibi Osmanlıtopraklarında da önemli ölçüde kendini hissettirmiştir. Bahsi geçen yılda Rumeli’yi adeta kasıp kavuran kolera salgını, 7 Mayıs tarihinde Vidin taraflarında gelişme göstererek Tuna Vilayeti’ne yayılmış, yıl sonuna kadar pek çok kişinin hastalığa yakalanmasına ve 1171 kişinin ölümüne neden olmuştur. Osmanlıdevlet yetkilileri kolera vakasına rastlanan bölgeyi önce kordon altına almış, ardından karantina uygulamasıyoluna gitmiştir. Pek tabii olarak ilgili yerlere doktor, eczacıve ilaç sevkiyatlarıyapılmış, hastaların sıhhi ortamlarıve yiyecekleri konusuna özel bir önem gösterilmiştir. Çalışmada Tuna Vilayeti dahilinde vukubulan kolera vakalarıkaynaklar elverdiği ölçüde ortaya konulmaya çalışılmış, devletin aldığıönlemlere yer verilmiş, hastalığın önemine dikkat çekilerek konu ayrıntılarıyla irdelenmeye çalışılmıştır.

The Ottoman Empire carried out some changes in local administration in 1864 and began to apply provincial system vilayet sistemi instead of principality system eyalet sistemi . The Danubian Province which came to the fore during the governorship of Mithad Paşa is an important province especially in respect to the printing house and the newspaper called Tuna. The importance of the province is also because of the geographical position of the province. The great part of the province is situated next to the River Danube. The Danube which was ascribed great importance to itself was used from the ancient times on for the purposes of trading, transporting, travelling etc. Even during the military expeditions made to the regions near by the Danube the Ottoman State took the advantage of the river in maximal level. During the second half of the XIXth century with special reference to 1873, the Danubian Province had 6 sanjaks Ruse, Vidin, Varna, Sofia, Tirnovo and Tulcea , 41 districts and 18 townships. The capital city of the Province was Ruse Rusçuk . The main source of this study is the Tuna Newspaper. This newspaper has two pages and four columns in each page. It was published in Ruse two times a week, Sunday and Wednesday. The newspaper has four main titles, Special Subjects, General Subjects, News from Abroad and Advertisements. Under these titles one can find especially political, economic, socio-cultural news. On the other hand, sometimes news about health can also be found. Cholera which is the main topic of this study is a kind of mortal epidemic disease emerging in India in 1768. In the past because of this epidemic disease lots of people died. Cholera epidemic also showed its mortal effects in the first half of the XIXth century. During the second half of the XIXth century, especialy in 1965 and 1973 we can see the fatal effects of cholera epidemic again. Cholera epidemic in the Danubian Province appeared first in Vidin in May 7, 1873. During the year in the sanjaks, districts, townships and villages of the Province about 1171 people died and 2000 people became ill because of the disease. The most affected districts and towns of the Danubian Province from cholera were Ruse, Tulcea, Tirnovo, Hezargrad, Pleven, Shumen, Berkofca, Orhaniye, Hirsova and Pravadi. It is estimated also for he world that because of chlora epidemic 183.549 people died, 247.718 people returned to health and 2.028 people continued treatment till December,1873. It is well known that the most important measure for cholera disease is the application of quarantine and admission to cordon. When a cholera epidemic appeared in a place, the state officials took that place under cordon and quarantine. The main quarantine stations in the Danubian Province were in Ruse and Isakci. The people coming from the west and from the regions of Wallachia and Moldavia were taken under control in these stations. The people going to Istanbul were also taken under control in the quarantine buildings in Varna and in the Bosphorus. There were also six hospitals in the Sanjak of Ruse, four hospitals in the Sanjak of Vidin, two hospitals in the Sanjak of Tulcea, one hospital in the Sanjak of Sofia and one hospital in the Sanjak of Varna. All these hospitals and quarantine buildings remained sometimes insuffient to supply health services therefore some people complained quarantine applications. Of course health service was also very important during cholera epidemic. When an epidemic event emerged in a place, doctors, pharmacists, drugs and medical materials were sent there as soon as possible. Sometimes new cottages were built for the patients in the places which have fresh air. Authorized persons strained to be able to create a healty atmosphere for the patients and also took care of the hygiene of the foodstuffs. We know that in the XIXth century scientists from Germany and Italy were studying on cholera disease and producing some drugs. These scientists sent a few bottles of drugs to İstanbul as samples. In addition, some scientists studied on the ways of keeping from cholera epidemic and one of them sent his two books about chlora to the Ottoman Sultan and Prime-minister. Dr. Huder from Canada also tried to inject milk into vein as a method of treatment to be saved from cholera. It can be said that he became partially successful in some of his applications but in general scientists did not support this kind of treatment. Cholera epidemic resulted in a lot of family drama. Lots of people died during the mortal disease and lots of children became orphans. Because of the epidemic some people died, some people left their lands and went other places. This resulted also in demografic changes in some places. We know that fairs were very important instruments for economic activities. However cholera epidemic also affected these fairs negatively. Lots of people could not go to the fairs because of the disease. It can be said that in order to give an end to cholera epidemic the Ottoman State tried to take all measures however it was too difficult to avoid spreading of the disease. The state built new quarantine buildings and took the diseased places under cordon. Health services were extremely tried to be applied and to the end of the year 1873 cholera epidemic ended. To be able to set forth the cholera epidemic in 1873 in Danubian Province we utilized the Tuna Newspaper as the main source of the study. It gives detailed information about the epidemic in the Province. We also used some documents from the Ottoman Archive in Istanbul. Lastly we supported the study with related sources. Using all these documents we tried to analyze the cholera epidemic in respect to causes, spread and consequences