The postal history of Turkey and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, dates to the 18th century when foreign countries maintained courier services through their consular offices in the Empire. Although delayed in the development of its own postal service, in 1863 the Ottoman Empire became the second independent country in Asia (after Russia) to issue adhesive postage stamps, and in 1875, it became a founding member of the General Postal Union, soon to become the Universal Postal Union. The Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and in the following years, its postal service became more modernized and efficient and its postage stamps expertly designed and manufactured. The Ottoman Empire's early or "classic" stamp issues between 1863 and 1888 are popular among philatelists, and its postal cancellations have received extensive study. Philatelists collect stamps used in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, such as Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Greece. Turkey's stamps also have a complex history of overprints of interest to philatelists. Ottoman Empire Early mail service In the 18th century, foreign countries maintained courier services through their official missions in the Empire, to permit transportation of mail between those countries and Constantinople. Nine countries had negotiated "Capitulations" or treaties with the Ottomans, which granted various extraterritorial rights in exchange for trade opportunities. Such agreements permitted Russia (1720 & 1783), Austria (1739), France (1812), Great Britain (1832) and Greece (1834), as well as Germany, Italy, Poland, and Romania, to maintain post offices in the Ottoman Empire. Some of these developed into public mail services, used to transmit mail to Europe. The Ottoman Empire itself did not maintain a regular public mail service until 1840, when a service was established between Constantinople and other major cities in the country. As late as 1863, there were only 63 domestic post offices in the entire empire, and service was sporadic and slow. Tughra issue On January 1, 1863, the Ottoman Empire issued its first adhesive postage stamps. It was the second independent country in Asia to issue adhesive stamps, preceded only by Russia in 1858, and two British colonies, Scinde District of India in 1852, India itself in 1854 and Ceylon in 1857. The Ottoman Empire's stamps came less than two years after its neighbor and former territory, Greece (independent 1832), issued its first stamps. The design consists of the tughra, the emblem of sovereignty, for the then current ruler