(Levant)  
  The foreign post offices in the Ottoman Empire  
     
  The seed for the creation of these post offices was  the preference of having  
  private deliveries made by the embassies(Consular offices).The Austrian and Russian  
   embassies managed having private postmen protected by Ottoman soldiers within  
  the boundaries of the territory (1721).When these services became regular, the  
  British and German embassies started using these facilities too  (1729).  
  The legal permission to operate these services were given to Egypt in 1720 and  
  for Austria in 1739.This legalization was achived by Russia in 1783 , by France in 1812,  
  by Great Britain in 1832, by Greece in 1834 , by Germany in 1870 , by Italy in 1908.  
  The attempt of operating Roumanian office in 1896 proved to be a failure.  
  The operation of these offices created an annual loss of 13 mi.Francs.Beside this loss  
  it was a loss of prestige for the Ottoman government which insisted in the abolition of  
  these privilages.The only  success was in 1881 when the operation of the Egyptian,Greek  
  and Italian post was terminated.Following efforts  in 1895 and  in 1901 with the commencement  
  of operation of Salonica port had no positive conclusions.On the contrary the continous  
  pressure by the Italian government succeeded in their operation in 1908.The continous  
  efforts to make Ottoman Postal services more  competetive by using new and fast  routes  
  or by giving discounted rates for mails abroad was not sufficient to overhelm the operation  
  of the foreign offices which summed up to a total of 103 majorly located in Constantinople :  
  37 Austrian offices , 24 French , 20 Russian, 8 German , 9 Italian and 5 British.  
  Finally , as a result of a long diplomatic and political struggle , in 1-10-1914 the Ottoman government  
   managed to overcome with success all the difficulties and  closed all foreign post offices within the  
  Ottoman Empire's territory  until 1918 where most of them reopened.  
     
  Stamps of the AUSTRIAN post office  
     
  Stamps of the BRITISH  post office  
 
  Stamps of the FRENCH post office  
 
  Stamps of the GERMAN post office  
   
  Stamps of the ITALIAN post office  
   
  Stamps of the POLISH  post office  
   
  Stamps of the ROUMANIAN post office  
   
  Stamps of the RUSSIAN post office  
   
  by : Ioannis Stantzopoulos  
  * References : Pulhan Catalog  
  Stanley Gibbons  
  Yvert & Tellier  
  Michel