Osmanlı Kudüs’ünde Mülkiyetin İzinde: Babü’l-Hıtta ve Babü’l-Halil Mahallelerinde Tapu İşlemleri (1875-1917)
Tracing Property Ownership in Ottoman Jerusalem: Land Registration Processes in Bab al-Hitta and Bab al-Khalil Neighborhoods (1875-1917)

Summary/Abstract: This study aims to offer a new perspective on the Ottoman property system by examining property relations and land registration practices in Ottoman-era Jerusalem at a micro level. The primary source of the research is the Jerusalem Deeds Record Registers (Zabıt Kayıt Defterleri), which document individual property relations, local administrative practices and the impacts of the Tanzimat reforms at the local level. These registers not only shed light on how property policies were implemented in Jerusalem but also provide valuable insights into the socio-economic and cultural dynamics of the period. The study seeks to understand the effects of Ottoman property policies on local communities and offers a complementary perspective to the predominantly macro-level analyses in existing literature. The research examines a total of 45 deed registers kept in Jerusalem, focusing on their structural and content features. This analysis explores the transition from traditional Ottoman Tahrir (survey) registers to printed land records and relates this shift to the administrative changes unique to the 19th century Ottoman governance. The land registration transactions in the neighborhoods of Bab al-Hitta and Bab al-Khalil constitute the sample of the article. The findings reveal that the Tanzimat reforms not only restructured the central administrative framework but also profoundly transformed local social and economic relations. The reliance on personal declaration-based system in land registration was found to enhance flexibility in local practices. This article makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing a detailed examination of the localized impacts of Ottoman property policies in a strategically important city like Jerusalem.

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