Turkish Studies International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/9 Summer 2015, p. 303-320 DOI Number: http://dx.doi.org/10.7827/TurkishStudies.8591 ISSN: 1308-2140, ANKARA-TURKEY TOMBEKI SMUGGLING AND CONSUMPTION OF SMUGGLED TOMBEKI IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE  Mehmet KILIÇ ** ABSTRACT This paper tries to investigate tombeki smuggling and the consumption of smuggled tombeki within the framework of the Ottoman-Iranian tombeki trade between 1891 and 1914. It will use both qualitative and quantitative methods based on historical data in order to understand the issue of smuggling and consumption of smuggled tombeki. The Ottoman Empire gave the concession for the importation, distribution, and selling of Iranian tombeki within Ottoman borders to the Tombeki Régie. Nonetheless, the Empire and the Régie faced the problem of strong smuggling activities. This article will aim to explain how the Ottoman Empire and the Tombeki Régie perceived the problem of smuggling and which methods they adopted to struggle against it. Additionally, it will attempt to explain why Ottoman consumers used the tombeki sold by smugglers instead of the commodity imported and sold by the Tombeki Régie. Here, it will explain that the consumption of smuggled tombeki was directly related to the high prices of tombeki imported by the Régie. Ottoman consumers rationally preferred to purchase low-priced smuggled tombeki sold by smugglers. According to the Ottoman government’s standpoint, the Régie’s high price policy was the basic reason for the issue of smuggling, but the Régie advocated that the government was responsible for this issue, which originated in a lack of security. The Régie and the government started to decrease prices of tombeki to increase the demand for the legally imported commodity, but they could not compete with cheap smuggled tombeki. At the end of the day, the Régie could not afford to pay its debts and was abolished in 1914. STRUCTURED ABSTRACT This article aims to investigate tombeki smuggling and the consumption of smuggled tombeki within the framework of the Ottoman-Iranian tombeki trade between 1891-1914. It will adopt both qualitative and quantitative methods based on historical data so as to  This article was reproduced from my M.A. thesis, the Importation of Ottoman Tonbaku from Iran and Its Socio-Cultural Implications: 1891-1914 (Boğaziçi University, 2008). Bu makale Crosscheck sistemi tarafından taranmış ve bu sistem sonuçlarına göre orijinal bir makale olduğu tespit edilmiştir. ** Dr., El-mek: mkilic91@gmail.com