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28-468: At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had an area of 62,180 square kilometres (24,009 sq mi), while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 1,000,000. The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered. In 1864, the Vilayet Law

56-440: A kaza was that it was easy to reorganize at the discretion of the government: villages could be transferred between the existing kazas of a sanjak, while not necessarily eliminating a kaza in the process. The Vilayet Law created a bureaucratic hierarchy within each province, with many of the upper-level offices appointed directly from Constantinople (now Istanbul ). The list of upper-level, Ottoman government appointed officials

84-671: A key player in the Vilayet Law itself. The Vilayet Law reorganized the provinces within the empire, replacing the medieval eyalet system. Its date of initial publication in the Gregorian calendar was 8 November 1864, and the Turkish date was 7 Cümadelahir (Djem. II) or Jumaada al-Akhir ( Jumada al-Thani ) 1281. The law was modified in 1867. The Ottoman Turkish version was first published in Takvim-i Vekayi No. 773, and

112-461: A self-governing mutesarrifate in 1864. In 1872, a new administrative region was created, with its center in Ma'an , but the costs for the new administrative unit far outweighed the revenues, and it was closed the following year. In 1884, the governor of Damascus made a proposal to establish a new vilayet of southern Syria , though nothing came out of this. In 1888, a vilayet of Beirut was formed from

140-524: Is as follows: Lower-level officials appointed directly by the Ottoman government are as follows: Midhat Paşa, through his time as the vali of the Danube Vilayet came to institute other offices and institutions within the vilayet system. The list is as follows: The office of the governor had been reorganized into departments of civil, financial, police, political, and legal affairs. Officially,

168-429: Is to say that there was a failing in those appointed to the offices. Many officials were known to be incompetent, reluctant to leave Constantinople for a far-flung province, or susceptible to the existing political intrigue and struggle with the local notables ( ayans ) in the newly reorganized provinces. Kaza A kaza ( Ottoman Turkish : قضا , "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative division of

196-485: The Baghdad area. Midhat's successes have been attributed to his imaginativeness in governing and creating new offices and institutions, as well as his ability to heavily influence those directly appointed from Constantinople. The Vilayet Law of 1864, although a strong reform movement in concept, has been seen as largely unsuccessful. That is not to say that there was failure in the division of offices and structure. It

224-640: The Ottoman Empire . It is also discussed in English under the names district , subdistrict , and juridical district . Kazas continued to be used by some of the empire's successor states. At present, they are used by Iraq , Lebanon , Jordan , and in Arabic discussion of Israel . In these contexts, they are also known by the Arabic name qada , qadā , or qadaa ( Arabic : قضاء , qaḍāʾ ). In

252-717: The Porte to establish uniform and rational administration across the empire. The 1871 revisions removed the kazas' responsibility for direct supervision of their villages, placing them all under nearby nahiyes instead. The subdistricts of Mandatory Palestine were known as nafa ( נָפָה‎ ) in Hebrew but as kaza, qada, etc. in Arabic. The same terms continue to be used in present-day Israel and Palestine . Syria used kazas, qadas, etc. as its second-level administrative division after independence but later renamed them mintaqahs . The Republic of Turkey continued to use kazas until

280-507: The kaza müdürü , the kadi , the mufti , the imam , kaza scribes, and religious leaders of non-Muslim residents. The commission was charged with compiling a list of suitable candidates, 30 years of age or older who paid a sum of 150 piastres in direct yearly taxes and who were preferably literate. This list was then submitted to the Council of Elders, where about one-third of the candidates would be voted out. The list then passed for review to

308-411: The Council of Elders for their specified village. To stand for office, a male had to be thirty years of age or older with "ties" to the locality, paying a sum of 100 piastres in direct yearly taxes. These elections were held yearly and had to be verified by the superintendent of the kaza. At the kaza level, the elections were held every two years by an electoral commission. This commission was made up of

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336-564: The Ottoman Empire, a kaza was originally equivalent to the kadiluk , the district subject to the legal and administrative jurisdiction of a kadi or judge of Islamic law . This usually corresponded to a major city of the empire with its surrounding villages. A small number of kazas made up each sanjak ("banner") under a sanjakbey . Each kaza was in turn made up of one or more nahiyes ("districts") under müdürs and mütesellims and several karyes ("villages") under muhtars . With

364-409: The Vilayet Law also included the institution of councils as advisory boards to government officials. These councils were made up of both elected and appointed officials, seeking a balance between the people and the Ottoman government. Each council had its own specific and fixed proportion of elected to appointed officials. The councils themselves were praised and mentioned by Ottoman statesmen as being

392-620: The coastal areas of the vilayet of Syria. In May 1892, another proposal was made for a regional government centered in Ma'an, which was approved in August. In mid-1895, the centre of this mutasarrifiyya was moved to Karak ( Mutasarrifate of Karak ), marking the southernmost extent of Ottoman rule in the vilayet of Syria. As of 1897, the Vilayet Syria was divided into four sanjaks : Damascus , Hama , Hauran and Karak . The Vilayet's capital

420-531: The decisions or resolutions passed by the sanjak and kaza level idare meclises . The council election process was highly elaborate and involved. While being closest to democratic on a village level, the process became much more stringently controlled by the government as upper-level elections took place. At the village level, the enfranchised were males with "ties" to the village who were over 18 years of age, paying 50-plus piastres in direct yearly taxes. These men were able to elect headmen and those sitting on

448-579: The eyalet system divided the empire into provinces , beginning with Rumelia in the Balkans and Anatolia in Asia Minor . Eyalets were governed by a beylerbey , or "lord of lords." The eyalet contained subdivisions, called sanjaks . Considered by some to model closely after the French Prefet system, the new regulation subdivided the provinces of the empire into smaller subdivisions than

476-424: The eyalet system had. Where the eyalet system had only sanjaks as subdivisions, the vilayet system included kazas (smaller administrative units), towns ( kasabat ), villages ( karye ) or village clusters ( nahiye ). Although the organizational titles were not created as a result of the Vilayet Law, the hierarchy in which they were set was. Each vilayet was divided into numerous integral units. Within each sanjak

504-545: The first round of Tanzimat reforms in 1839, the administrative duties of each district's kadi were transferred to a kaymakam ("governor") appointed by the Ministry of the Interior and a treasurer, with the kadis restricted to solely religious and judicial roles. Kazas were further emended and distinguished from the kadiluks under the 1864 Provincial Reform Law, implemented over the following decade as part of efforts by

532-438: The fulfillment of the promises made in the 1856 Hatt-i Hümayun for equal representation of both Muslim and non-Muslim members of the councils. However, there existed problems with this framework; the equality applied only to elected members ( âza-yi müntahabe ) of the councils, not the entire membership of the councils. This "promise", was not applied systematically throughout the vilayet system. The administrative councils of

560-505: The governor (vali), the kaymakams (sanjak governors), and the superintendents of the kazas. At the village level existed a Councils of Elders ( Ihtiyar Meclisi ) made up of entirely elected members with the purpose of advising the village headmen ( muhtar ). The upper-level idare meclises acted as "control organs" for the decisions of the lower councils. For example, the Meclis-i Idare-i Vilayet routinely reviewed

588-399: The governor had authority over all officials within the province, having held the highest office. However, the governor did not appoint sanjak and kaza officials, appointed directly by the sultan . Furthermore, the governor's authority is blurred when it comes to those officials who also reported to the respective ministries they served. In addition to reorganizing the provincial government,

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616-500: The guidance of appointed officials." Wherein some semblance of participation was allowed. Another more likely reason for this election system exists as well: to "ensure that the meclises would no longer be hijacked by narrow local interests," thus allowing the meclises to serve the vilayet as they should. Midhat Pasha presided as vali over the most successful of the vilayets, initially the Danube province and then five years later over

644-415: The kaymakam of the sanjak, where another third of the candidates would be eliminated. The remaining one-third of candidates made up the list of possible members. This same process was repeated for the sanjak- and vilayet-level councils. Higher property qualifications existed for each successive level of the hierarchy. This election process was to make the institutions "more amenable to state control under

672-516: The kaza level were exempt, having only three elected members of unspecified faith. Furthermore, the Muslims wound up maintaining the majority in most provinces when the appointed positions came up, as most appointed officials wound up being Muslim. The administrative councils served in an advisory capacity to the various provincial offices. Each provincial level (vilayet, sanjak, kaza, etc.) had its own advisory council. There were specific councils for

700-595: Was Damascus. 33°30′47″N 36°17′31″E  /  33.5130°N 36.2920°E  / 33.5130; 36.2920 Vilayet Law The 1864 Vilayet Law ( Ottoman Turkish : ولایت نظامنامه‌سی , Vilâyet Nizamnâmesi ), also known as the Provincial Reform Law , was introduced during the Tanzimat era of the late Ottoman Empire . This era of administration was marked by reform movements, with provincial movements led largely by Midhat Pasha ,

728-418: Was a city center. Furthermore, each sanjak contained smaller administrative units, called kazas. Sanjaks, as administrative units, had existed within the empire for centuries. The term kaza was originally used to designate areas of jurisdiction particular to each individual Islamic ( Shari'a ) court. The kaza, as an administrative unit, had existed within the empire since 1840. A particular and key feature of

756-473: Was promulgated. The new provincial law was implemented in Damascus in 1865, and the reformed province was named Suriyya/Suriye, reflecting a growing historical consciousness among the local intellectuals. Jerusalem was separated from the rest of the province, and made into an independent sanjak of Jerusalem that reported directly to Istanbul , rather than Damascus. Mount Lebanon had been similarly made into

784-621: Was published in Düstur Volume I, pages 517–538, and the 1867 version was printed in the Düstur Volume I, pages 608–624. The Greek version was published in Оθωμανικοί Κώδηκες ("Othōmanikoi kōdēkes", meaning "Ottoman Codes", with Demotic Greek using "Οθωμανικοί κώδικες"), page 2911. The French version was published in Législation ottomane , published by Grégoire Aristarchi Bey , Volume II, page 273. Instituted by Murad I ,

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