Kavass

A kavass or cavass is a Turkish name for an armed police-officer, also for a courier or guide such as it is usual to engage when travelling in Turkey.[1]

The name is used, inter alia, for the guards that traditionally preserve public order at the important worship spots of the Holy Land (formerly under Ottoman Turkey jurisdiction), such as the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Nativity Church in Bethlehem.

More generally, in the words of the famous spy Elyesa Bazna ('Cicero'), "in Turkey anyone who serves a foreigner is known as a kavass."

References

One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kavass". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 701.

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[1] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kavass". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 701.