Modernising Turkey with statistics: implementing ISI expertise in the Turkish statistical reform at the end of the 1920s

ABSTRACT

This study explores the relations between the International Statistical Institute (ISI) and Turkey during the early republican period. It investigates the ISI’s influence in Turkish statistical reform from the mid- to late-1920s through a Belgian expert who led this reform and conducted the Turkish Republic’s first population census. The study proposes to consider the ISI as an international authority and expert space for the negotiation of conventions of quantification, which contributed to the formation of an international statistical system. Focusing on the case of Turkey in the process of modernization and nation-building during the 1920s, it analyses how this international framework structured national quantification policies outside the Western world, and what this meant for state organization and social order.

KEYWORDS:

• International Statistical Institute
• statistical expertise
• Turkey
• census-taking
• Belgian statisticians
• international norms

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Martin Bemmann, Jürgen Nautz, the editor, Lia Brazil and the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable contributions to this article. She also thanks the archivists of the Belgian statistical office (STATBEL) for kindly sharing documents regarding the Belgian census of 1920.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Brian, “Statistique administrative”; Desrosières, La politique des grands nombres; and Gagnon, “Les réseaux de l’internationalisme.”

2. Desrosières, “Décrire l’État.”

3. Bemmann, “Weltwirtschaftsstatistik,” 372–4.

4. See Dogan’s studies on the first relations between the League of Nations and the newly constructed Turkish Statistical Office headed by Camille Jacquart. Dogan, “Negotiating Turkey’s Economic Statistics” and “Modern State Building.”

5. Dogan, “L’étatisation turque.”

6. Foucault, Sécurité, territoire, population; and Desrosières, Pour une sociologie historique.

7. Barkan, “Essai sur les données statistiques”; İnalcık, “Did the Ottomans use Statistical Methodology?”; Karpat, “Ottoman Population Records” and Ottoman Population, 1830–1914; Shaw, “The Ottoman Census System”; Toprak, “Quantification in the Ottoman State”; and Behar, “Ottoman Population Statistics” and “Qui compte ?”

8. For the European context see Desrosières, La politique des grands nombres, 180–217; and Desrosières, Pour une sociologie historique.

9. Speich-Chassé, “Technical Internationalism.”

10. BIPM, “Member States.”

11. Elected in 1911, the Ottoman member of the ISI, Djavid Bey, was the finance minister of the Union and Progress Government between 1909 and 1914 (Stemerdink, Members of the International; see his biography in Ryan, “Cavid Bey”). After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the political revolution which led to the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Djavid Bey was accused, among other Unionists, of being involved in the assassination attempt against Mustafa Kemal, and was executed in 1926 shortly after Jacquart’s arrival in Ankara.

12. Bemmann, “Weltwirtschaftsstatistik,” 372–3.

13. Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen, “Geschichte.”

14. Liebisch-Gümüş, “Intersecting Asymmetries.”

15. Djélal, “La Statistique en Turquie,” 427.

16. For example, the decision of the Council of Ministers to invite him underlined his status as a member of the ISI. Presidency Republican Archives (hereafter BCA) 30–18-1-1_14-40-16 (June 10, 1925).

17. Dufrasne, “Camille Jacquart.”

18. Dogan, “Negotiating Turkey’s Economic Statistics”; Dogan, “Modern State Building”; and Dogan, “L’étatisation turque,” 351–78.

19. de Bie, “Les débuts de la sociologie”; Dufrasne, “Camille Jacquart”; Dogan, “A Transnational Scientist of the Social”; and Dogan, “Des sociologues catholiques.”

20. Dufrasne, “Camille Jacquart”; and Dogan, “L’étatisation turque,” 399–406.

21. The decree no. 3517 of the Council of Ministers for the creation of the Central Statistical Office under the Prime Minister’s Office came into force on 25 April 1926 (published in the Turkish Official Gazette no. 388 on June 2, 1926). See also TUIK, “History.”

22. Jacquart came to Ankara with his wife and took office in March 1926. BOA HR.İM.17780(February 25, 1926). Decree No. 4526; BCA 030–10-0-0_22-79-10 (December 19, 1926).

23. Jacquart’s letter to the Prime minister, June 18, 1926 (original in French). BCA 30–18-1-1_18-28-16 (April 25, 1926).

24. Dufrasne, “Camille Jacquart.”

25. Decree no. 3517.

26. The archived document is in Ottoman. BCA 30–10-0-0_24-134-1 (November 7, 1926).

27. BCA 30–18-1-1_19-41-15 (July 13, 1926).

28. This report was published in two parts in the journal of urban planning, İstanbul Şehremaneti Mecmuası. Abdülmuttalip, “Medeni Devletlerde ve Türkiye’de.”

29. Edmond Nicolaï was then director at the Belgian Ministry of the Interior and Public Education. Nicolaï, “Rapport sur les registres de population.”

30. He also noted European countries where these registers were optional (‘Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and Norway’, and ‘to a certain extent, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria’) Abdülmuttalip, “Medeni Devletlerde ve Türkiye’de.”

31. See the proceedings in Institut international de statistique, Bulletin (Tome XV), 42, 97.

32. Aperçus de la démographie des divers pays du monde were also published within this framework. Bunle and Levy “Histoire et chronologie,” 18–19; and Dogan, “L’étatisation turque,” 420–3.

33. Dogan, “Modern State Building.”

34. Quoted from Methorst’s original letter (in French) of August 15, 1930. The analysis is also based on his earlier letter of January 14, 1930. BCA 30–10-0-0_201-375-5 (October 26, 1930).

35. Methorst’s letter of January 14, 1930. Ibid.

36. BCA 30–10-0-0_201-375-5 (October 26, 1930); 241–614-5 (May 31, 1930).

37. BCA 30–10-0-0_241-614-6 (June 10, 1931); 241–614-7 (June 23, 1931).

38. He graduated from the Istanbul faculty of law and started his career in public administration. He adopted the surname Aybar following the Surname Law promulgated in 1934. TUIK, “Celal AYBAR”; and Yiğit and Tunçel, 100. Yılında Türkiye’de Coğrafyacılar, 33.

39. BCA 0–10-0-0_26-147-13 (March 4, 1933). Celal is elected as a member of the ISI following the commitment of the Turkish government to pay annual grants. BCA 30–10-0-0_26-147-4 (August 21, 1930); 30–10-0-0_24-136-7 (July 16, 1933).

40. Aybar, “Le second recensement général,” 3–11.

41. BCA 30–10-0-0_229-541-18 (October 19, 1936).

42. “Première section: Statistique Démographique,” in Institut International de Statistique, Bulletin (Tome 29), 76, 7.

43. He specified in his report that at the end of the Congress he visited the Greek Statistical Office to investigate and learn about its organization and mode of operation. BCA 30–10-0-0_229-541-18 (October 19, 1936).

44. BCA 30–10-0-0_24-138-20 (September 27, 1938).

45. Aybar died before this 25th session in Washington, where he was supposed to present two papers. Aybar’s papers “Particulars Concerning Turkish Population Census” and “Renseignements sur recensements de la population en Turquie” were published in: Goudswaard, 25th Session, 122.

46. BCA 30–10-0-0_24-135-4 (September 15, 1929).

47. Bertillon, Texte des voeux, 8.

48. BCA 30–18-1-1_26-61-3 (November 9, 1927).

49. “Liste des Gouvernements et des Municipalités qui ont envoyé une Délégation Officielle” in Institut International de Statistique, Bulletin (Tome 23, 1^e livraison), 6–9.

50. See the tables which list the members and guests. Ibid., 20–1.

51. Ibid., 58.

52. Ibid., 74–6 (for the entire debate see pp. 72–7). For the background of this debate, see: Labbé, “Internationalisme statistique et recensement.”

53. Dündar, “Compter, Classer, Contrôler.”

54. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement.” It was published following the request of the members and the favourable opinion of the ISI section. Institut international de statistique, Bulletin (Tome 23, 1^e livraison), 58. This report is also archived in the Turkish State Archives. BCA 30-1-0-0_95-595-1 (April 25, 1928).

55. See the ‘Partie Française’ in: Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 127–69.

56. According to the resolutions voted at the 1887 session (Rome), the ISI would request from all European countries a succinct report in French on their last census results and would publish them in its Bulletin. Bertillon, Texte des voeux, 8.

57. This project was elaborated during the St Petersburg session of 1897 (Institut international de statistique. Bulletin (Tome XI, 1^e livr.). As envisaged by the Hungarian statistician M. de Körösy, the project aimed to make ‘a homogeneous description of all civilised humanity’. Institut international de statistique, Bulletin (Tome XII, 1e livr.).

58. See, in particular, the resolutions of the Kristiania session. Ibid. See also: Methorst, Texte de voeux, 5.

59. Bertillon was the ‘Head of statistical works for the City of Paris, member of the Higher Council of Statistics and the Advisory Committee of Public Health of France, etc. Member of the International Statistical Institute’ (my translation from the original in French). Bertillon, Texte des voeux, 1.

60. Methorst was ‘doctor of law, director of the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Netherlands’; (my translation). Methorst, Texte de voeux.

61. Bertillon, Texte des voeux, 1.

62. Note that two special commissions were created in Ankara and Istanbul to assist the preparations as well as a third in Diyarbakir for applying specific measures to count the nomads. These commissions were conceived not simply as a deliberative body, but as a micro-government with the capacity to take public decisions and execute them. They included bureaucratic, military, scientific and local authorities in the decision-making process with quite broad responsibilities, including deciding on measures to be applied by police and local authorities. There is reason to believe that these commissions were designed by the Turkish political leadership rather than advised by Jacquart, as they had no equivalent in Belgium or in the ISI’s recommendations; they also resembled the temporary commissions that the Ottoman state used to form to assist various public policies. ‘Document No. 5’ in Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 160–1. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 175.

63. ‘Cette préparation a consisté pour moi personnellement d’abord à parcourir les diverses régions du pays si différentes les unes des autres pour en connaître l’aspect physique, les mœurs et la mentalité de la population ainsi que le degré d’organization administrative.’ Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 171.

64. ‘Il fallait tenir compte de ces circonstances pour fixer la date du recensement. En hiver cette opération sera toujours très difficile et même impossible dans les massifs montagneux du centre, de l’est, et de sud-est. C’est pourquoi le 31 décembre ne peut convenir. L’automne et plus spécialement la fin du mois d’octobre a paru convenir le mieux. A ce moment, les travaux des champs sont terminés; les nombreuses personnes qui villégiaturent au bord de la mer, sur le Bosphore ou dans la montagne sont retournées dans leurs localités de résidence habituelle, et la température est uniformément douce dans tout le pays.’ Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 172.

65. Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830–1914, 10; and Shaw, “The Ottoman Census System,” 326.

66. The census found out that on the eve of the sign revolution that introduced the Latin alphabet and revised the Turkish language in 1928, the population that could read using Arabic characters represented 8.16%. For those of school age excluding ‘children under 7 years of age’ it was ‘10.58% for the whole country; 17.42% for men and 4.63% for women’. Office central de statistique, “Recensement général,” 138. Note the high discrepancy with Belgium where 92% of the population over 15 years of age was literate. Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique.

67. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 171–2.

68. Scott, Seeing Like a State.

69. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 173.

70. See the chapter regarding ‘the formation of building blocks for the census’ in “Instruction aux Valis.” Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 151.

71. Rose-Redwood and Tantner, “Introduction: Governmentality”; and Denis, “Entre police et démographie.”

72. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 171–2.

73. “Tahrir-i nüfus tecrübeleri münasebetiyle,” 17; and quoted by Toprak, “Cumhuriyet Ankara’sında İlk Nüfus.”

74. Jacquart, “Nüfus tahriri hakkında,” 13–14; and quoted by Toprak, “Cumhuriyet Ankara’sında İlk Nüfus.”

75. The decree no. 3517.

76. Institut international de statistique, Bulletin (Tome XV), 87.

77. Ibid., 40, 87, 271.

78. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 175. Office central de statistique, Recensement général.

79. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 131.

80. See Celal’s introduction in Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 132.

81. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 176.

82. These are the resolutions of the St Petersburg session in 1897 voted by the ISI following the report of M. de Kœrœsy (Bulletin XI, fascicule I, pp. 203 et 206) quoted in: Bertillon, Texte des vœux, 7; and Methorst, Texte de voeux, 8.

83. The Belgian census form excluded questions 11 to 16 asked by the Turkish bulletin (see the Appendix 1) but asked a question on education. Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 23.

84. See for instance the eighth question in Appendix 1 on usual residence which simplified the ISI’s question on ‘usual residence and character, i.e. length of stay at the census location’.

85. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 176.

86. Randall, Coast, and Leone, “Cultural Constructions.”

87. The method chosen was the registration of the persons found in each division on a single form’. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 176.

88. ‘Les agents-recenseurs étaient chargés de distribuer à domicile les bulletins (de ménage ou spéciaux) pour permettre aux recensés d’y consigner les divers renseignements demandés, de les reprendre, de les vérifier et, au besoin, de les rectifier ou même de les rédiger. Ils avaient ensuite à les dépouiller en transcrivant leur contenu sur des cartes individuelles qui donnent les renseignements séparément pour chacune despersonne et pour chacun des ménages recensés.’ “Méthodes du recensement,” in Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 2.

89. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 155.

90. “Méthodes du recensement,” in Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 1, 2.

91. Louckx shows that this shift in Belgian census-taking from the de facto to the de jure method was ‘driven by governmental concerns’ to increase surveillance based on the register system – for instance, updating address changes. Louckx, “Population, Territory, and State-istics.”

92. The Belgian method covered all ‘persons who have their usual residence in that locality, whether or not they are present on the census day’. Note that the usual residence was ‘determined according to the rules established for registration in the population registers’. Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 2.

93. On Canadian censuses and hybrid experimentations mixing de jure and de facto principles, see Curtis, The Politics of Population.

94. While existing literature does not provide a detailed discussion on the application of de jure or de facto principles in the Ottoman censuses, the studies cited in note 7 provide information about the Ottoman state’s census practices since the first experiments in 1831.

95. See the debate about the difference between ‘la population de fait (population présente), et la population de droit (population résidente)’ at the Rome session (1887) and the resolution voted at the Congrès international de statique de Saint-Pétersburg (1872): ‘les recensements doivent se rapporter à la population de fait’. Bertillon, Texte de voeux.

96. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 176. Note that while the de facto population counted only those present, the instructions required noting ‘nominally absent’ persons as well, who were then counted separately. ‘Special measures’ were taken ‘for the census of nomads, i.e. people who have no stable dwelling and who are continuously transporting themselves with their livestock from one place to another’. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 156, 158.

97. ‘Thus travellers in hotels or at friends’ homes, the patients in hospitals, soldiers in barracks, pupils in boarding schools, all of them must be registered along with the inhabitants who are actually present’. See the chapter “Des personnes qui doivent figurer sur le bulletin nominatif,” Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 156.

98. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 176–7.

99. Dumont-Wilden, et al., “Camille Jacquart,” 2027–29.

100. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 171.

101. “La loi du recensement général de la population,” No. 893 (2 juin 1926). Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 145.

102. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 154.

103. The census result (13,648,270) divided by the number of agents.

104. Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 5.

105. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 155–8.

106. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 174.

107. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 158.

108. Jacquart announced the first results as ‘13,649,945, of which 6,564,404 were men and 7,065,541 women’. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 174.

109. ‘The work of counting the forms will be centralised at the Central Office. The contents of the collective forms will be transcribed onto individual cards by the employees of the population offices of the vilayets and cazas. At the same time, obvious errors in the forms can be corrected. Two months after the census, the Office should be in possession of the cards which, after verification and adjustment, will be used to draw up the perforated cards for classification and counting by electric machines.’ Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 178.

110. ‘Qu’outre le dépouillement des résultats laissé à l’appréciation scientifique des bureaux de statistique, il est nécessaire qu’un petit nombre de données soient dépouillées dans tous les pays d’une manière uniforme’ Article 3 of the resolutions voted by the ISI at the session in Saint-Pétersbourg 1897. Bertillon, Texte des voeux, 6; Methorst, Texte de voeux, 8.

111. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 133. See Tables 1 and 2 in the Turkish section. Ibid., 8–9.

112. See Tables 3 et 4. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 11–14.

113. My translation. Methorst, Texte de voeux, 6–7. Voir également le Bulletin (tome XIV), 63, 60, 48, 49.

114. League of Nations, International Statistical Yearbook 1926.

115. Note that during the negotiation of nomenclatures at the League’s international conference of economic statistics in 1928, the Turkish delegates sought to classify Turkey under Europe. Société des Nations, Comptes rendus de la Conférence.

116. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 134. These divisions were largely based on the Ottoman administrative organization reformed during the nineteenth century. Ortaylı, Türkiye teşkilât ve idare.

117. See the resolutions of the St Petersburg 1897 session in: Bertillon, Texte de voeux, 7; Methorst, Texte de voeux, 9.

118. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 81–3, 135. See the tables 8, F-1 et F-2. Ibid., 16, 60, 73.

119. According to Demangeon, Belgian statistics presented ‘a rather original map of the population density’. Demangeon, “Le recensement de la population.”

120. Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 1.

121. The ISI required indicating the number of habitants and establishments for: hotels; hospitals; houses of education and instruction; religious houses; houses of detention and correction; houses of refuge and charity; military establishments; other establishments (Art. 2). Résolutions de la session de Saint-Pétersbourg 1897,” Bertillon, Texte de vœux, 7; Methorst, Texte de voeux, 9.

122. Schools (14,425), mosques (28,705), public buildings (9,820), public baths (1,702) and other buildings (836,866). Note that ‘religious houses’ were replaced by ‘mosques’, and that the number of ‘military establishments’ were not shared as Turkey considered them as an issue of national security and required special authorization for sharing any military statistics. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 135. See the Tableau F-2 (p. 73).

123. See the results of this census in Office central de statistique, “Compte-rendu du recensement industriel.”

124. Bertillon, Texte de vœux, 8. Belgium used different categories by classifying communes instead of cities. Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique.

125. ‘I – 40 villes ayant 10,000 à moins de 20,000 habitants; II – 15 villes ayant 20,000 à moins de 30,000 habitants; III – 7 villes ayant 30,000 à moins de 40,000 habitants; IV – 9 villes ayant 40,000 habitants et plus.’ Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 135. See also Table 9. Ibid., 17.

126. ‘The distinction between the sexes must be included in all combinations of population tabulations.’ Bertillon, Texte de vœux, 7; and Methorst, Texte de voeux, 9.

127. Instead of dividing by age groups as recommended by the ISI (0 to 15 years, 15 to 20 years, and so on with five-year intervals), only the percentage of married inhabitants over 19 years of age was presented. Bertillon, Texte de vœux, 7; and Methorst, Texte de voeux, 9. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 39, 136–7.

128. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 137.

129. ‘There is reason to believe that the ages of the children have not been accurately reported due to ignorance or neglect by the parents. The age proportions only become normal from the age of 20 onwards, which is why the information on ages in the count and in the analysis has been combined into large groups.’ Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 137.

130. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 137.

131. ‘L’âge doit être dépouillé par périodes annuelles d’âge (il est désirable que l’on donne dans le tableau qui comprend les périodes annuelles d’âge une récapitulation par groupes quinquennaux).’ Bertillon, Texte de vœux, 7.

132. They recorded, for instance, marital status, religion, health or occupation and provided documents that served as both birth certificates and identity cards, although these practices were interrupted by wars. Shaw, “The Ottoman Census System”; Karpat, “Ottoman Population Records.”

133. My translation from the original in French. Aybar, “Le second recensement général,” 8.

134. Zerubavel, “The Standardization of Time.”

135. The guidelines quoted, in particular, the resolution of the 1893 session stating that the ISI attached great importance to the census of occupations which should be taken ‘in all countries according to comparable nomenclatures’. Methorst, Texte de voeux, 10.

136. The ISI’s ‘International Framework for the World Census’ defined ‘12 classes’ as follows: A. Raw material production: I. Exploitation of the land surface (including fishing and hunting). II. Extraction of mineral materials. B. Transformation and use of raw materials: III. Industry. IV. Transport. V. Trade. C. Public administration and the professions: VI. Law enforcement (including police). VII. Public administration. VIII. Liberal professions. IX. Persons living mainly on their own income. D. Miscellaneous: X. Domestic work. XI. General designations, without indication of a specific occupation. XII. Unproductive and Unknown Occupation. Methorst, Texte de voeux, 10.

137. See the resolutions of the Kristiania session. Methorst, Texte de voeux, 11.

138. Tableau B. Répartition de la population d’après les professions (et le sexe). Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 49–52.

139. The Belgian categories were: industry; commerce; agriculture and forestry; public functions; domestic services; liberal professions; fishing; undetermined professions (and no profession). Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Hygiène, Statistique de la Belgique, 93–4.

140. According to the results, ‘39.26% of the total population declared that they had an occupation (54.84% for men and 24.83% for women)’, while for those ‘aged 12 and over, [..] 86.49% of men and 35.14% of women had an occupation.’ The report noted that the vast majority was involved in agriculture. Indeed, 96.71% of women and 74.53% of men who declared having an occupation worked in agriculture (81.63% in total). The other occupations were dominated by men, with low female participation. These occupations were almost negligible for the total employed population (see Tables 13–17). Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 138–9.

141. ‘infirmities, i.e. blind, deaf-mute, insane and idiots’. Methorst, Texte de voeux, 10. These statistics were not carried out in Belgium. The Turkish census adapted them by modifying the classes according to the handicaps resulting from decades of war. The ISI categories, idiots and insane, were replaced by ‘crippled’ and ‘one-armed’, which showed the highest frequencies. But the category ‘other disability’ still ranked highest (41% of the total reported). Overall, 1.42% of the population was disabled, 2.07% for men and 0.81% for women (see Tables 18, 19 and C). Office central de statistique, Recensement général.

142. Applying the ISI recommendations regarding religion and nationality statistics, Turkish results affirmed that ‘Muslims constituted 97.36% and non-Muslims 2.64% of the total population of the country’. Among the non-Muslims were Christians, 1.9%, Israelites 0.6%, others 0.13%, unknown or no religion 0.02%, and these ‘non-Muslim inhabitants’ were concentrated in Istanbul, Izmir and Mardin. The distribution according to mother tongue described a slightly more nuanced picture; ‘13.58% of the population’ speak a mother tongue other than Turkish. As for the distribution of nationalities, only 3.23% of the census population was of ‘foreign nationality (political subjection)’. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 140–2. See also Tables 20, 21 and D. Ibid., 30–1, 61–2). Note that our study does not analyse the reality behind these statistics or the politics of violence which contributed to the statistical affirmation of a homogenous nation. See, for instance Dündar, Crime of Numbers.

143. Jacquart, “Communication sur le recensement,” 178.

144. Dogan, “L’étatisation turque,” 478–9.

145. Dogan, “Knowledge Transaction and State Making.”

146. Desrosières, “Décrire l’État.”

147. The bulletin was annexed to both Jacquart’s report and the official booklet.

148. Office central de statistique, Recensement général, 24.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aykiz Dogan

Aykiz Dogan holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is an associate researcher at the UMR Développement et Sociétés and is currently teaching at the Sorbonne Institute of Development Studies (IEDES) graduate programme. Her work focuses on the role of international actors and expertise in state-building, with a special interest in economic, financial and quantification policies.