JO URNAL OF PERSIANATE STUDIES 7 (2014) 219-250 BRILL brill.com/jps Gravediggers of the Modem State: Highway Robbers on the Trabzon-Bayezid Road, 1850S-1910S Fulya Ozkan Akdeniz University Julyaozkan@yahoo.com Abstract This article will explore the phenomenon of highway-robbery in the context of the Trabzon-Bayezid road during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Ottoman Empire initiated a broad-scale road reform in the 19th century. One of the m ajor goals of this reform was to m ake provinces accessible to the im perial center and increase the state’s authority by unifying the im perial geography. This article w ill argue th at the exis- tence of b etter roads n ot only increased the O ttom an state’s ability to control its territo- ries, b u t also th at of the highw ay-robbers to challenge the state’s authority. In response, the central government experimented with a variety of ways in order to fight against highway-robbery: introducing an insurance policy for postal services, increasing the sedentary population in the region, building m ore khans and police stations along the road, extending the right to carry guns to the general populace, and em plo yin g w atch- m en and gendarm eries along the road. Ironically, these policies in particular, and a bet- ter road netw ork in general, did n o t lead to increased levels of security in the region b ut to its further m ilitarization. Keywords H ighw ay ro bbery - m odern state - Trabzon - Erzurum - O ttom an Em pire M ounted on Kyrat strong and fleet, His chestnut steed w ith fo u r w hite feet, Roushan Beg, called Kurroglou, Son of the road and bandit chief, © KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2014 | DOI 10.1163/18747167-12341273