OSMANLI’DA CEMAAT MECLİSLERİNE BİR ÖRNEK: 19. YÜZYIL SONLARINDA UZUNKÖPRÜ (CİSR-İ ERGENE) CEMAAT MECLİSLERİ (1883-1903)
Authors: SARIOĞLU Tarık 
Published: September 2023

Ottoman society was divided into Muslim and non-Muslim elements regardless of their ethnic origins. The Ottoman Empire, starting from the principle of respecting the religious beliefs of non-Muslims since its foundation, has paid attention to their freedom of worship and ritual. The expansion route of the Ottoman Empire was generally on the lands where Christians lived. On this occasion, it carried out a policy of complete freedom and tolerance on the non-Muslim population that it dominated and gave the necessary permission for these societies to perform their worship or rituals according to their own religions and sects. The Ottoman Empire expanded its borders to the Balkans during the reign of Murad I, and increased the population of the non-Muslim societies within its body through new conquests in the following years. From the period when the Ottoman Empire expanded its conquest movements in the Balkans until the conquest of Istanbul, the non-Muslims under its rule were governed according to Islamic law. The non-Muslim societies, which increased after the conquest of Istanbul during the reign of Mehmed II., began to be managed with an arrangement in accordance with the “nation system” policy from this date on. In line with this structure, it has managed to keep non-Muslims together for centuries by granting various rights (religion, worship, trade, social, cultural etc.). The source of this understanding is a legal structure formed by the principles laid down by the religion of Islam. In accordance with Islamic law, the status of non-Muslims living within the Ottoman borders was determined as zimmî (those who accepted the protection of the Islamic state), and accordingly, non-Muslims were divided into separate communities according to their religion and sect. With this system, the state, which brought a new perspective to the politics of tolerance, allowed a wide autonomy of the community, regardless of religion, language, race, tradition and custom. Although the communities ruled by this system for hundreds of years were caught up in the nationalist movement that flared up since the beginning of the 19th century, they still maintained the inviolability of their religious and cultural structures as a result of the rights determined by the Ottoman Empire with edicts and regulations.

The Ottoman State did not interfere in the internal organization and administration of these communities, and the administration of the places of worship was again left to the management organizations of the relevant communities. These religious communities, which continue to exist independently, separately and inwardly within the state, have formed the basis of the nation system as long as they fulfill their responsibilities towards the state. The weakness of the influence of this subculture on the communities, which emerged in the face of the dominant Islamic law, prevented a strong structuring that would develop against the state and strengthened the bond of the individual with the community. In this respect, the nation system has been effective in the emergence of a stronger structure in the relations of the individual, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, within the community, community-state, community-community.

The Ottoman Empire made the classification of non-Muslims in accordance with Islamic law. The ethnic (racial) origins of the nations were not taken into account, and they were determined on the basis of their religion or sect. Therefore, the people living within the borders of the Ottoman Empire were classified as Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish, not Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, Arab… etc. While the zimmîs, who were first classified according to their religion and sect in the Ottoman Empire, consisted of three separate nations as Greek, Armenian and Jewish, they have also classified different nations as Gregorian and Catholic Armenians and Protestants since the 19th century.

With the 11th article of Kanun-i Esasi, which was accepted in 1876, besides the emphasis on “the official religion of the state is Islam”, the right to worship was given on behalf of all religions recognized by the Ottoman Empire, provided that it was in accordance with public order and manners. In addition, various privileges were confirmed to all religious communities living under the roof of the Ottoman Empire. Again, with the decision to establish community councils in the provinces with the 111th article of the said law, the influence of the communities in local administrations was also increased. In this article, in the light of various sources and documents, it will be tried to give information about the establishment of provincial communities and the Islamic, Greek and Bulgarian community councils established in Uzunköprü at the end of the 19th century.

Keywords: Uzunköprü, Communities, Religion, Parliament, Ottoman.