The Cossack Vasiliy Romanovskiy and his partner Cossack Yakov Sinenko traveled to Crimea for trade on five cargo carts. In Kamianoy backwater, ten Janissaries attacked them. Between the Janissaries were two famous Ali and Hasan. The Janissaries forced them to sell five carts loaded with butter for half the price the Cossacks refused. The Janissaries beat the Cossack Sinenko half to death and threatened the Cossack Romanovskiy with beatings upon his arrival in the Crimea. When Romanovskiy arrived in Perekop, he was beaten by janissary Benderniy at the urging of janissaries Ali and Hasan..
Mahmud Odabaşı and Yakay Hacı of Perekop purchased sheep in Ukraine and transported them to Crimea. At the Nikitino (Nikopol) customs point, they hired a Cossack named Vasiliy as a guide. Although the Cossacks vouched for his trustworthiness, Vasiliy killed Mahmud Odabaşı.
Mahmud Paşa of Ochakov sent Mehmed Bölükbaşı and Mehmed Beşe with a letter (petition) to Ataman Vasil Grigorovich of the Sich. In the letter, he requested an investigation into the theft of twelve horses from Halim Beşe by the Cossacks.
Mehmed Gezekoğlu Beşe, a resident of Ochakov, invited Cossacks Gritsko Bordak and Vasiliy Malyi to his house. He plied them with wine and vodka until they fell asleep. Afterward, Mehmed Beşe went to the former Mehmed Paşa of Ochakov and sold the Cossacks to him for 60 thalers. Mehmed Paşa then ordered that the Cossacks be transported by boat to Hocabey to be sold to Mandanoğlu Paşa for 120 thalers. Mandanoğlu Paşa was in charge of the slave trade.
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He was forcibly sold into slavery, likely against his will. It is possible that the Janissaries of Ochakov, including the former Paşa of Ochakov, were involved in establishing a slave trade network.
On 14 November 1755, Ukrainian merchants Vasil Pirog and Iosif Pivroretskiy, while traveling with five carts to Bahçesaray to buy wine, stopped in Perekop. There, Janissary Ali Hasan and Shagan Tolmach (a translator) purchased a cargo of cow butter and vodka worth 250 rubles from them. Later, while continuing their journey near the salt lakes of Perekop, the merchants were attacked and robbed by seven Tatars. Both merchants were injured by bow arrows, one of which was identified as belonging to Shagan Tolmach. The Ukrainian merchants filed a complaint with the Kaymakam of Perekop, and the incident was officially recorded in court.
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 849911)
