Regulations on the social and economic rights of orphans from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic on the social and economic rights of orphans from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic

Due to the great difficulties that occurred in the Ottoman political, social and economic life regarding orphans in the 19th century, the state had to deal with this issue after the Tanzimat. The state considered the orphan issue as a social and economic phenomenon rather than a religious one. For this reason, he tried to find solutions to the problems with reforms that took the methods applied in the West as an example, as well as traditional solutions. For this; initially orphans, then widows (female) and finally the insane and the elderly, to protect the property of other people in need of care and to evaluate them economically. For this purpose, Eytam Nezareti (Directorate), Eytam Council and Eytam Funds have been established since 1851.

It is seen that these institutions, which were established within the framework of the social state understanding, tried to protect the rights of all citizens in need of protection with laws and regulations, without discriminating between Muslim and non-Muslim citizens. The assets of these people were evaluated in the ballot boxes and the economy was tried to be revitalized. These institutions, which initially operated only for civilian citizens, expanded their fields of activity to include the widows and orphans of official state officials, upon the spread of social security with the succession funds that were started to be established as of the mid-1860s.

It is seen that these institutions have not been able to fully fulfill their functions in the historical process. There are many reasons for this. It is understood that the first and most important reason is the organizational structure. Other reasons are; fraud, corruption and other misconduct. The Ottoman Empire went to a reorganization in every field with the westernization movements that started with the Tanzimat. The old management system was gradually abandoned and a new western style system was tried to be introduced. These are issues such as the establishment of ministries in the administrative structure and the creation of provinces. As in the past, the İlmiye class stood against these innovations made in this period as well. This class is a powerful class that dominates the administrative structure of the state. For this reason, the state tried to control the civil servants by establishing some inspection institutions in order to neutralize the resistance against innovations and to break the power of this class. In this context, it was aimed to break the power of the judges and ulema, who were active in the foundation and legal system, and to bring the eytam system to a regular bureaucratic structure by establishing a supervision on the issue of Eytam.

While the state introduced the Western-style legal system, it left the civil law part of the shar'i law entirely to them in order to break the resistance of the ulama. In a way, this situation can be seen as a political bribery of the state to this class. For example, with the Tanzimat, the state attached regular salaries to civil servants. However, he did not give a salary to this class, allowing them to continue to receive their wages in return for the work they had done according to the old order. These fees do not have a floor or ceiling limit. In fact, it is seen that some taxes are increased in order to increase their incomes at intervals of every five or ten years.

Despite this, we see that this class has shown its reaction against the new structuring in one way or another in every period. For example, Eytam Nezareti had to be closed one year after its establishment. The directorate, which was created after the closure of the Ministry, operated only in Istanbul for a long time and its organization in the provinces could not be made until very late. As a matter of fact, when we look at the regulations of the Ministry and the ballot boxes, it is understood that it is trying to fight against irregularities and corruption rather than the organizational structure of this institution.

This class, which refused to enter the central system at every opportunity, was the last institution to join the social security or pension fund system, which was tried to be established since the mid-1860s. While those who worked in other institutions retired after twenty-five years of service, this class continued the tradition of working for life or getting paid. Those who entered the social security system from this class were only those who worked in the back service or in lower positions.

The effectiveness of this class, which had a monopoly on the administration of the Eytam and its funds, increased even more in the provinces after the First Constitutional Monarchy and the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-78. Deaths increased due to the war and epidemic diseases that emerged in this period, and the remaining orphans' property remained in the orphan's chests. However, this money collected in the ballot boxes was operated arbitrarily. As a result, the orphaned children of rich families became poorer, while the children of poor families became even poorer. It can be considered that one of the most basic reasons for this is that the ilmiye class, which is only affiliated with the Sheikh al-Islam authority, is outside the control mechanism of the state. As a result, since the control mechanism could not be carried out in a healthy way, many provincial administrations and ballot boxes orphan law and property could not be protected. Some managers who take advantage of the weakness of the control mechanism; local officials, in cooperation with the notables and notables, corrupted and transferred these goods and money to themselves. These irregularities and corruptions continued until the last periods of the state. These increased even more during the World War I and the Armistice periods.

From the beginning to the last period, the money accumulated in the Eytam chests was given to the citizens, mainly with an annual interest of fifteen percent. If court, ballot box fees, court fees tax and other government taxes are factored in, the interest rate rises to a very high annual rate. However, according to an article in the Eytam Regulation, a large part of the managers of the ballot boxes made an agreement with the local treasury, because the money could be loaned at lower interest rates if the buyer of the money was not found. As stated in a report sent by one of the Provincial Provinces, the orphan received only half or even a quarter of the income from interest.

As the state could not control this institution, it also tried to use money from the ballot boxes in every period. The state used the money it used from the ballot boxes with an annual interest of twelve percent. This interest income is exempt from fees and taxes. On the other hand, civil servants preferred to pay the orphans gradually by not paying in advance to the ballot boxes. In short, although the state established these ballot boxes to stimulate the economy, it has always been the biggest customer of the ballot boxes. In fact, it has also benefited from the taxation arising from all kinds of purchases and sales of the ballot boxes.

I and II. Due to the political, social and economic problems during the constitutional monarchy periods, the ballot boxes suffered for a long time. Although the state covered most of the losses of the ballot boxes, it did not intervene much in the system. However, by intervening in the imperial administration and ballot boxes since 1915, it connected the ballot boxes and the religious courts to the Ministry of Justice in 1917. However, it cannot be said that the Ministry had much effect on this institution due to the hardships caused by the war.

During the World War I and the Armistice, the problems of the imperial administrations and the ballot boxes increased. On the one hand, the occupying forces and non-Muslims looted the ballot box money, on the other hand, with the effect of the occupation, the central government constantly drew money from the ballot box to find resources. Moreover, despite the fact that the funds were obliged to deposit the money in Ziraat Bank or send it to the center, local administrators did not send the money to the bank or the center, and due to the illegal use of the money, the problems increased. The problems experienced in this period were transferred to the republican administration. The republican administration did not interfere much with the eytam administrations in the beginning. However, he was able to make payments within the means at his disposal so that the orphans would not be victimized. In this period, the privileges of the ilmiye class continued until the closure of the eytam administration and ballot boxes in 1926.

After the Civil Code was enacted in 1926, the social and economic rights of orphans were tried to be protected under stricter control. Real Estate and Eytam Bank was established on June 3, 1926 in order to evaluate the money of orphans. Its initial capital is 20 million TL. It differs from other banks in that it is a public bank that lends money in return for real estate mortgages. Saracoglu Neighborhood with 434 residences, the foundation of which was laid in 1944 by the then Prime Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu and completed in 1946, is one of his famous projects.