Original Item. Only One Available. This is the first of its kind we have offered, an Ottoman Kabalak hat used by Turkish soldiers during World War I. This example has red piping and is marked PATHÈ 24B on the interior. Pathè is a known French costumer, so this example appears to have been used post-war in films depicting the Turkish Army during the war. Costume houses were one of the largest purchases of surplus during the 20th century, as often the surplus was far less expensive than fabricating items from scratch.

The Kabalak has a sewn leather sweatband that appears worn. The hat is roughly a U.S. Size 7⅜. The red piping may indicate a specific branch, artillery or something else. The cut off ends of the tail-flap are quite crude.  There were seemingly endless variations of these hats, so we aren’t able to narrow down this example to a specific model.

This is a great example of an almost-never seen Turkish Kabalak, reused post-war by a French costumer. Ready for further research and display.

Under the 1908 Army reforms the ‘Kabalak’ or ‘Enver’ as it has become known was introduced. Typically, it has been said that Turkish Kabalaks came in various forms, some had an internal frame with material wound around, others were apparently made from heavy canvas-like material. None of this is entirely correct, and many of the misconceptions about this particular headgear can be traced back to a clear misreading of the original description given in the 1916 Turkish Army Handbook:

“The cap is a khaki kalpak with a distinctive top or dome the same color as the coat collars. Officers have gold (non-combatants silver) ornamental bands on the crowns. But the rank and file were supplied in 1913 and 1914 with a new head-covering (bashlik), a long strip of khaki cloth tied spirally on the head and forming a sort of soft helmet, which can easily be mistaken for the British khaki helmet in a bad light. It is however, more pointed and falls particularly in front and behind.” 2

There is a footnote to this description, stating that the “bashlik” is also, “known as the Enverie or ‘Enver Helmet’ after the war minister who introduced it”. However, this paragraph is actually describing two entirely different types of headgear, as will be seen.