OSMANLI DEVLETİ’NDE TAŞRADA MUHTARLIK TEŞKİLATININ KURULUŞU: BOLU ÖRNEĞİ
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF MUKHTAR IN THE PROVINCES IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE: THE EXAMPLE OF BOLU

Summary/Abstract: Sultan Mahmut II (1808-1839) innovated in economic, military, governmental, legal, education and social areas. The most characteristic feature of most of these innovations is that they are first in their areas. One of these innovations is the establishment of the organization of mukhtar in the Ottoman Empire. In Ottoman Empire, Imams had been responsible for the administration of the village/neighborhood until the first half of the 19th century. The organization of mukhtar was established for the first time in 1829 in Istanbul. The first practice of this organization in the province was in Kastamonu. Kastamonu Sanjak governor Dede Mustafa Aga started the first mukhtar practice in the province in 1833 by following the example of mukhtar practices in Istanbul. Dede Mustafa Aga documented the works and the obtained results in Kastamonu and presented them to the central office in İstanbul. Sultan Mahmut II, the ruler of the period, was satisfied with the works and ordered that the organization of mukhtar shall be established in the provinces. Bolu was a Sanjak, regarded as a part of Kastamonu province during the Ottoman period. Thus, Bolu was one of the towns in which the organization of mukhtar was established for the first time along with Kastamonu. The names of mukhtars elected in Bolu Sanjak were reported to Istanbul on June 19, 1834. The purpose of this study is to explain the establishment of the organization of mukhtar in Bolu and give information about the practices throughout this establishment in the province. Also, different approaches relating to the subject were tried to come to a conclusion by giving some examples from the practices of the establishment of the organization of mukhtar in the province in Anatolia and Rumelia. Similar explanations were given for kocabaşı or chamberlain elections in nonMuslim neighborhoods.

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