The Ottoman Turkishvilayet (ولایت) was a loanwordborrowed from Arabicwilāya (وِلَايَة), an abstract noun formed from the verbwaliya (وَلِيَ, "to administer"). In Arabic, it had meant "province", "region", or "administration" as general ideas, but following the Tanzimat reforms the Ottoman term formalized it in reference to specific areas in a defined hierarchy.[3] It was borrowed into Albanianvilajet, Bulgarianvilaet (вилает),[4]Judaeo-Spanishvilayet, and Frenchvilaïet and vilayet, which was used as a lingua franca among the educated Jews and Christians. It was also translated into Armenianasgawaŕ (գաւառ), Bulgarian as oblast (област), Judaeo-Spanish as provinsiya, and Greekaseparchía (επαρχία) and nomarchía (νομαρχία).[5]
The early Republic of Turkey continued to use the term vilayet until it renamed them il in the late 1920s.[when?]
The Ottoman Empire had already begun to modernize its administration and regularize its eyalets in the 1840s,[6] but the Vilayet Law extended this throughout the empire, regularizing the following hierarchy of administrative units.[1][7]
Each vilayet or province was governed by a vali appointed by the sultan.[7] Acting as the sultan's representative, he was notionally the supreme head of administration in his province,[8] subject to various caveats. Military administration was entirely separate,[7] although the vali controlled local police.[7] His council comprised a secretary (mektubci), a comptroller (defterdar), a chief justice (mufettiş-i hukkam-i Şeri'a), and directors of foreign affairs, public works, and agriculture and commerce,[8] each nominated by the respective ministers[8] in Istanbul.[7] The defterdar in particular answered directly to the finance minister rather than the vali.[7] A separate vilayet council was composed of four elected members, comprising two Muslims and two non-Muslims.[8]
If the vali fell ill or was absent from the capital, he was variously replaced by the governor of the chief sanjak (merkez sanjak) near the capital,[8] the muavin, and the defterdar.[7] A similar structure was replicated in the lower hierarchical levels, with executive and advisory councils drawn from the local administrators and—following long-established practice—the heads of the millets, the various local religious communities.[8]
Each vilayet was divided into arrondissements,[2]subprovinces, or counties known as sanjaks, livas, or mutasarrifliks. Each sanjak or liva was administered by a sanjakbeyormutasarrif personally appointed by the sultan and a council (idare meclisi) composed of a secretary (tahrirat müdürü), comptroller (muhasebeci), deputy judge (naib), and representatives of the public works board (nafia) and the educational system (maarif).[7]
Each sanjak was divided into cantons[2]ordistricts known as kazas. Each kaza was under a kaymakam and a council composed of a secretary (tahrirat kâtibi), comptroller (mal müdürü), deputy judge, and representatives of the public works board.[7]
Each kaza was divided into parishesorcommunes[2] known as nahiyes. Each nahiye was under a müdir appointed by the vali but answerable to the regional kaymakam.[7] He was responsible for local tax collection, court sentences, and maintaining the peace.[7]
Each nahiye was divided into wards and villages (kariye). Each kariye was under a muhtar ("headman") chosen by its inhabitants and confirmed by the regional kaymakam.[7] He was assisted in his duties by a local "council of elders" (ihtiyar meclisi).[7]
Eastern Rumelia (Rumeli-i Şarkî): autonomous province (Vilayet in Turkish) (1878–1885); unified with Bulgaria in 1885
Sanjak of Benghazi (Bingazi Sancağı): autonomous sanjak. Formerly in the vilayet of Tripoli, but after 1875 dependent directly on the ministry of the interior at Constantinople.[11]
Sanjak of Biga (Biga Sancağı) (also called Kale-i Sultaniye) (autonomous sanjak, not a vilayet)
Sanjak of Çatalca (Çatalca Sancağı) (autonomous sanjak, not a vilayet)
Cyprus (Kıbrıs) (island with special status) (Kıbrıs Adası)
Sanjak of Izmit (İzmid Sancağı) (autonomous sanjak, not a vilayet)
Mutasarrifyya/Sanjak of Jerusalem (Kudüs-i Şerif Mutasarrıflığı): independent and directly linked to the Minister of the Interior in view of its importance to the three major monotheistic religions.[12]
^ abcBirken, Andreas (1976). Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (in German). Vol. 13. Reichert. p. 22. ISBN9783920153568.
^ abcdOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Caillard, Vincent Henry Penalver (1911). "Turkey". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 428.
^Birken, Andreas (1976). Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (in German). Vol. 13. Reichert. pp. 19–20. ISBN9783920153568.
^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hogarth, David George (1911). "Bengazi". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 736.
^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Socin, Albert; Hogarth, David George (1911). "Lebanon". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 348.
Sublime Porte (1867). Sur la nouvelle division de l'Empire en gouvernements généraux formés sous le nom de Vilayets. Constantinople.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - About the Law of the Vilayets
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Caillard, Vincent Henry Penalver (1911). "Turkey". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 428.
