Urban Patterns in Anatolia

13 Pages·2011·1.09 MB·English

15 Urban Patterns in Anatolia:
Organization and Evolution
ilhan Tekeli
I was asked to survey the changes that have tion will be considered in terms of the set crease the surplus which was controlled by
occurred over time in the organization of tlement pattern and the demographic the central powers of the empire, and to
urban life in what now comprises modern processes it creates, and the changes it secure a regular flow, the amount of land
Turkey, and I shall treat this subject in induces in the structure and the forms of and labour under imperial control had to
rather broad historical perspective. From cities. We shall see how communities within be increased and the arrangement of land
the sixteenth century to the present day, five cities are organized to meet common needs, labour relations made more rational. The
different periods and five corresponding and the main characteristics of urban Ottoman Empire achieved this through two
transformations can be distinguished in the government and its leadership; we shall also institutions: gaza, or military conquest; and
urban settlement patterns of Anatolia. They review major features for each period of timar, or fiefs, whose revenues were handed
are: (I) the classical Ottoman period of the urban planning, an activity that is not so over in return for military service. Through
sixteenth century; (2) the period in the much a determinant of how cities are them the imperial administration was able to
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when formed as it is itself determined by the social realize continuous growth, keep order in the
central control weakened while the control system. empire and maintain maximum surplus
of the ayan, a group of community notables, production for export between east and
increased; (3) the period in the nineteenth west (there were no north-south interna
century when the system came under the tional trade routes within its boundaries).3
influence of Western imperialism and was Urban Form and Government in the Stability in the division of labour in this
semi-colonized; (4) the period between the Sixteenth Century rather static production system depended
national War of Independence and the
upon a rigid class structure, but the
Second World War, when the integration of Production and transportation technologies Ottoman Empire was both religiously and
the domestic market was achieved; and in the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth ethnically too heterogeneous to maintain a
finally, (5) the period of rapid urbanization century were limited by available energy strict social order. A special type of social
that followed the Second World War. We sources, which in agricultural production, organization, the millet, evolved to resolve
shall devote most of the discussion to the the primary source of surplus, was restricted the conflicts among these multifarious
first and third periods and deal with the almost entirely to the ox-drawn plough.' groups. Millets were formed along both
others only in passing. This far-reaching
Land transportation and communication communal and religious lines,4 for the
perspective will make the main determinants
were by caravan and messenger. Sea Muslims, the Greek Orthodox, the Ar
of urban life more comprehensible.
transport was beginning to shift from oar to menians and the Jews, and each of them
Settlement systems, as a rule, involve a sail-from galley to galleon-making long developed its own social class differentia
hierarchy. Significantly different characteris distance trade possible. Peddlers were being tions. Ranked according to their relative
ti<;s are found among cities located at the replaced by sedentary merchants.2 To in- proximity to the sultan or their prestige in
highest and the rural village at the lowest
levels of the hierarchy; varying combinations
of these differences are found in the levels in
between. The most logical approach to our
subject would be to study the changes ob
served on each level of this hierarchy, but
such a study would take us too far afield. : ': sDvi~r
) voJiooJ
Instead, we shall focus our discussion on the
.
largest cities, both because data are more "~..
readily available for them and because, ;'::"
owing to their size, urban characteristics
relevant to a particular period and the
characteristics of their institutions are more
apparent. Differences are not so obvious in
smaller settlements, and the significant
changes in each period become correspond
ingly more difficult to discern. =o -16= -16oXto1
Who controlled the economy and how, and Principal routes
the social stratification in the cities resulting Great crossroads
from that power structure, will be indicated
Roman Roads in Turkey, 2nd-3rd centUlies AD
for each period studied. The influence of the
social structure on urban spatial organiza- Ajier FA 0, Turkey Country Report (Rome, 1959)
Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution 16
the society, these classes were the military,
the ulema (learned ones), the merchants and
craftsmen, and the peasants or re'aya. Since
the Ottoman Empire included important
trade routes within its borders, the popula
tion also included many foreigners, es
pecially Venetians and Genoese, in addition
to its tebaa or sUbjects.
Preindustrial societies made no abrupt
advances in transportation or production
technologies. Anatolia's population and rate
of urbanization consequently tended to be
rather stable. Its population in the sixteenth
century was somewhere between eight and
eleven million.s Various studies have shown, ~D I T ~ K " A N - ", ..' --Principal Ottoman routes in the 17th century
, --- Principal Ottoman routes in the 16th century
however, that there were significant in
creases in population between 1520 and
Ottoman Roads
1580; considering the technological con
straints of the period,6,7 it is unclear whether
After Tugrul AkcUla, "Ankma et Ses FonUions Urbaines." La Vie Urbaine 1(1960), p 46
these should be explained by the pax
Ottoman or simply as part of a more general
population increase manifested in all
Mediterranean countries at that time.8
The Ottoman cities developed their spatial settlement hierarchy. The population growth point along the route. Without this inter
organization during this period of popula in the rural areas in the sixteenth century mediate trade the cost of transportation by
tion growth (population increases often spur was reflected in the increase in the number camel would have been prohibitive.I2
changes in urban structure). While the urban of villages; it also encouraged their forma Caravan trade led to specialization of
population in Anatolia remained at about tion in unoccupied lands previously re production in the cities along the caravan
eight or nine percent of the total, important garded as unsuitable for both health and routes, as the Anatolian cities began pro
changes can be seen when the cities are security reasons. ducing goods not only for their own popu
ranked according to size. I,n 1500 the popu The larger centres were clustered along the lations but for specialized long-distance
lation of Istanbul was 400,000; by 1570 it rivers of central Anatolia which formed the trade as well.I3
had reached 700,000, a number representing caravan routes and provided a water supply Like other preindustrial societies, the
40 percent of the total urban population of as well. A few port cities, in addition to Ottoman Empire had certain institutions
the empire and a classic example of a Istanbul, grew up at points where the designed to control the size of the urban
single-city-dominated urban system. The caravan routes reached the coast.1O population and prevent the peasants from
ratio of the population of Istanbul to the leaving the land.I4 But despite these mea
Like any city, the Ottoman city was a place
secondary cities had increased from 7 in sures, there was still a surplus of people in
where the surplus product was controlled by
1520 to 10 in 1580.9 This distribution sug the urban areas who could not be employed
the requirements of the prevailing mode of
gests an empire that was growing and whose or otherwise assimilated into the city
production and where non-agricultural
trade was government controlled. It also structure.
goods and services were supplied to the
attests to the superior geographic position of
ruling classes and, to a more limited degree, Before the sixteenth century the Ottoman
Istanbul as a seaport, which enabled it to
the rural areas. Cities also displayed a good city was divided into two parts, that inside
control the surplus product.
deal of agricultural activity, however; some the castle and that outside the castle, long a
The amount of the surplus produced for recent studies of Ottoman cities show that common type in the Middle East.IS Inside
export under the Ottoman land-tenure agricultural taxes represented a considerable the castle walls the area was also divided
system and its total control by the central share of the revenues collected from them. I I into two sections: the inner-castle area
government kept the second-ranked cities, Still other functions were determined by where the administrators lived and adminis
the provincial capitals, at a population level Anatolia's caravan routes. Caravans were trative functions were carried out, and an
of around 50,000 inhabitants each. The trade, rather than simply transport, organi outer area whe:-e artisans pursued their
third-level centres, or Sanjak capitals, were zations. They did not move with a fixed load activities and the upper-echelon city resi
settlements of around 10,000. The small between two points, but traded goods as dents lived. Outside the castle walls, in the
villages occupied the lowest level in the they went along, buying and selling at every part called takht-al-qala (the section below
17 Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution
the fortress walls) non-stationary trading The most important mosque was usually and a large and steady supply of food.23
activities and the market were located. also located in the centre, as were the inns
The particular character of the Ottoman city
There, caravanserais accommodating trav where the unattached men who formed part
cannot be attributed entirely to the problems
elers, settlements of agricultural workers, the of the labour force of the city lived. These
of intramural transportation, however, or to
tekke (a chapter of the Dervish order) and a hostels were generally built as part of the
the castle walls that prevented its expansion
zaviye (a Dervish hospice) were located. imaret system of the centre. The residential
into the surrounding countryside. The land
areas around the centre were organized into
All this changed in the sixteenth century, in the city was either mulk (privately) owned
neighbourhoods, known as mahalles, ac
when the bedesten (covered market) took or vakf owned; in the countryside it was miri
cording to religious or ethnic group rather
the place of the temporary-trade area out (state) owned,24 which halted expansion and
than class. There were Muslim, Greek,
side the castle walls. 16 This new town section led the city to continually divide its land
Armenian and Jewish quarters. With rare
was developed in a comprehensive manner into even smaller plots, inducing both over
exceptions, most of them in Istanbul,
through imaret, that is, complexes of public crowding and the typical cul-de-sac pattern
foreigners were generally too few to form
buildings and institutions, mosques, public mentioned earlier. There were no public
separate mahalles. The location of the
baths, inns and the like, supported by a vakf green areas, though there were small gardens
various mahalles also followed a standard
(religious foundation). 17 The bedestens, or other greenery in the inner courts of
pattern. for example, the neighbourhoods
particularly of the large cities, offered individual houses, and open areas in the
around the castle were mostly Muslim;
security for merchandise and a depository courtyards of the mosques and around the
foreigners lived together near the centre, and
for wealth with their stone domes and iron neighbourhood fountains in the built-up
the Gypsies on the outskirts. Since the
gates. Thus they also acquired a new parts of the city.25 In its outskirts and
mahalles were not differentiated according
prestige as a dwelling place, usurping the sometimes even within its boundaries, fruits
to social class, rich and poor lived side by
role of the inner-castle area, and this and vegetables that could not be transported
side, though differences were readily ob
produced a change in urban form. Crafts over long distances were cultivated for the
men concentrated around this central servable in the quality of their houses and population.26 The town carefully guarded
were reflected in the terminology used to
bazaar. The streets near the bedesten began these green areas set aside for food.
describe them: siijli (single-story), ulvi
to specialize in one particular production, (two-story), and mukellef(large, spacious).21 The policies of the Ottomans also led oc
trade or service, and new residential neigh casionally to urban changes. For example,
bourhoods began to evolve.18 As the city grew new mahalles were formed after the imperial government imposed
around an already established nucleus,
One factor encouraging these new devel internal customs duties on caravans entering
which included a mosque, masjid and tekke;
opments was social stability. As order in the the town, the inns and caravanserais to
these complexes were erected by the vakf
empire was maintained, the castle lost its accommodate them were built outside its
organization. The imaret complex was
raison d'etre and settlement beyond the walls. The trader could then bring in only
found not only in town centres but in
castle walls became possible for the growing those wares intended for sale in the par
mahalle centres as well. If the city was large,
urban popUlation. But still more funda ticular town and avoid payment on the rest.
markets might also be built in the mahalle.
mental were the changes taking place in Similarly, some tekkes were located nearer
trade, particularly the shift from travelling Ottoman cities were generally crowded. The the areas of agricultural production. As a
to resident merchants. Their importance in inner roads of the cities were shaded, a result, the peripheries of the Ottoman cities
sea trade encouraged the development of the narrow cul-de-sac leading up to each house. were quite thickly settled, providing a
Turkish port-city centres located near the The houses themselves had a closed-in nucleus for future urban expansion.
new sailing ship harbours. The obsolete character and were, for the most part, of Ordinary city dwellers had no institutional
galley harbours were closed and turned into timber construction. Movement was almost ized role in the city's governance; their
commercial areas.19 entirely on foot. Only members of the participation, where it existed at all, was
Manufacturing and commercial activities in military class were allowed to ride inside the minimal. Although the imperial government
an Ottoman city were kept quite separate cities22-a restriction that served also to was centralized, the responsiblity for urban
from the residential districts, except in the limit a city's size, because it was believed services and public works was not assumed
case of the administrative class. Aside from that the presence of animals increased the by the state, as it had been in the Sasanian
a few locations like Bab-l Me~ihat and Aga likelihood of epidemics. In addition, the tradition.27 Instead, administrative functions
Kaplsl in Istanbul, the administrators did food supply, already difficult enough to were performed through the vafks, which
not have separate offices, but carried on maintain for the human popUlation, would were founded and autonomously governed
their administrative duties out of their own have posed almost insurmountable problems by the people. Most of them were set up by
mansions-which explains the absence of if livestock had to be fed as well. Istanbul members of the military class who con
administrative quarters in the town could only become as large as it did owing trolled the surplus product. They were the
centres.20 to its harbours and waterways, which pro means of keeping family control over the
vided both transportation for its inhabitants savings accumulated in the Ottoman system,
Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution 18
as well as a way of providing services for the possibility of his growing to favour anyone The fehremini was yet another officiaL This
cities. In 1546, there were 2,517 vakfs in group. The kadl was not only a judge office already existed in the Byzantine
Istanbul, not counting those controlled by enforcing religious law; he had a variety of period, when its function was to maintain
the imperial family. By 1600, 1,600 more financial, administrative and municipal city roads, waterworks and state buildings.
had been added.28 Certain requirements had responsibilities32 as well. He oversaw the In the Ottoman Empire these responsibilities
to be fulfilled if this system, left to the craftsmen and the merchants, enforced the had been absorbed by other offices, and its
control of private individuals, was to carry rules and regulations of the guilds, regulated function was limited to that of caretaker for
out public functions In such a system, a the food supply, fixed commodity prices, the sultan's buildings. Though the mimar
section of the population accumulates a enforced building regulations, controlled the ba~i was still theoretically subordinate to
significant amount of surplus, and vakf boards, maintained the urban infra him, the fehremini, caught between the
limited alternatives must be available for structure and kept order. To carry out these authority of the kadl and the expertise of the
disposing of it. tasks he employed both the military class mimarbafi, had no opportunity to develop.
and local organizations. His position as
The running of the Ottoman city was This mode of administration, based on the
intermediary and role as conciliator in many
determined by a city administration that was imaret and the kadl, left little room for
cases led him to follow secular rather than
compatible with a centrally organized citizen intiative; what little there was oc
religious norms of conduct.
empire. Every local government is at least in curred at the mahalle level. Public solidarity
some respects based on representation, but The kadl cooperated with the subasi was achieved through policies developed and
the controlling classes of the central govern (commander), a member of the military class advocated in the tekke and the guilds, and
ment also wanted to have a say in its who, together with his ase (guard), was was probably more coherent at the sub
running. In the Ottoman Empire, a solution responsible for keeping order in the city as district than at the city level. Although there
was found in the kadl, or administrative well as maintaining the roads and water is no firm evidence, it seems safe to assume
judge, who had a well-defined position with works in good repair. The kadl's assistant, that the Ottoman city had a strong sense of
respect both to the vakfs and the central the muhtesip, or superintendent, controlled community within the mahalles, based
government. In addition, each section of the the merchants, collected the bac-i bazar partly on religious allegiance.
town had a representative called the (market dues) and fixed commodity prices. There are some indications that a large
kethilda, selected by its residents, as did His chief assistant for the supervision of urban consciousness was not lacking. The
each guild.29 The guilds also had an avanz building in the city was the mimarbasi (chief continuous conflict between the city admin
sandlgl (communal coffer), some of whose engineer or architect) or the mimar (e'ngineer istrators of the military class and the city
funds were allocated for the maintenance of or architect). The mimar was a member of dwellers would probably have encouraged
the area. Each mahalle had a similar the military class and not a trained guild the rise of such a consciousness. When the
organization. The head of the community member,33 but along with joining military demands of the central authority seemed
organization was the imam (religious expeditions, he repaired roads, built water impossible to meet, the kahya called the city
leader), subordinate to him were the kahya ways and killliye (building complex for the council, including the mufti (Muslim legal
(superintendents) selected by the mahalle sultan) and usually became a trained tech advisor), together, and they often decided
residents. The mahalle also had its avanz nician in the process. He also controlled and against the desires of the central government
sandlgz for neighbourhood maintenance.3o supervised all construction activity, both and were able to bring their case to the
Above the kethildas in rank was the sehir rural and urban, including that of the sheikh al-Islam.36 In later periods, when the
kethildasi, the city representative,31 whose masonry guilds. He set workmen's wages ayans began to gain in importance, they
job it was to reconcile the demands of the and standards for the quality and cost of made good use of these conflicts. Finally,
central government with the interests of the construction materials. With his assistant or the existence of a city or commercial centre
city's residents. One of his functions was to foreman, the mimarbafi inspected the city around a complex of public buildings could
determine the amount of taxes to be col on horseback, seeing to it that any additions only contribute to the development of an
lected from each resident. to houses were within the prescribed limits, urban consciousness.
that buildings did not encroach upon the
The representatives of the central govern
streets, that no construction was undertaken
ment and members of the military class
near the castle walls, and that tanneries and
such as the Beylerbeyi or Sancakbeyi also
kilns, which presented a fire hazard, were
lived in the cities; they were the adminis located well away from residential areas.34 Urban Form and Government in the
trators in charge of the surplus product. Nineteenth Century
He made proposals for demolishing build
Their interests were often in conflict with
ings and moving marketplaces and bazaars,
those of the inhabitants, and the kadz's To study the changes in the Ottoman cities
but these were subject to the approval of the
function was to reconcile them. A member during the nineteenth century, one has to
kadl, and in the case of the location of the
of the ulema class, he held his post in each market areas, of the palace.35 consider the changes in the economic struc
city for a maximum of one year to avoid the ture of the empire and the millet, and the
19 Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution
class differentiations that they induced in the The result was not the immediate disap French and Dutch capital. These Western
society. The industrial revolution, the de pearance of the traditional social structure powers controlled Mediterranean trade, but
velopment of capitalism in Europe and its within each millet, but the formation of a they still depended on local agents to collect
expansion into the Ottoman Empire, com new one that existed alongside it. When the the raw materials from rural areas for
bined with the internal upheavals in the administrators of the central government, all export and to distribute the industrial
empire itself, resulted in significant struc members of the military class, lost their products of Europe back to the hinterland.42
tural changes in the organization of trade. position of control over the economy to the These middlemen were chosen only from
There were no significant improvements in ayans, they gradually became salaried civil certain millets (the majority were Greeks or
the basic production technologies. servants of the sultan. This fulfilled the Armenians), and a protege status was
requirements for a large and well-trained created to protect them with foreign
The growing demands of western Europe for
bureaucracy to serve the centralized ad capital.43 Muslim merchants were for the
food and raw materials led the agricultural
ministration initiated by the Tanzimat, and most part restricted to trading outposts
production of the empire to be increasingly
in turn led to the development of an educa within the Muslim settlements.
export-oriented, as it sought to satisfy
tional system, in addition to the traditional
foreign markets rather than meet the re The rising non-Muslim trade bourgeoisie
madrasas,39 to train the new bureaucrats. In
quirements of its own population. The sought to control the administration, to
both the civilian and the military bureau
European-manufactured products which it influence the church and to encourage
cracy the new administration produced an
received in return for exported raw materials nationalistic movements by trying, in effect,
effective petite bourgeoisie.
began to compete with the traditional crafts to transform the millets into separate
of the empire, narrowing the scope of its The ulema, traditionally the second level in nations. The development of trade in the
domestic markets still further. In its later the class system, lost power in all the millets non-Muslim millets also speeded up the
stages, European capitalism turned the of the empire. In the Muslim section, the
development of the bureaucracy. Although
Ottoman empire more and more into a newly established central administration
generally speaking the Western-dominated
semi-colony by exporting its products and took over the resources of the ulema and
economy discouraged manufacturing, there
investing in its domestic enterprises. Capi absorbed them into the vakfs under its own
was some limited development of industry
talist market mechanisms replaced the control. Many of their functions were
(mainly in the preliminary processing of raw
traditional feudal institutions as the con handed over to the new bureaucracy, leaving materials for export)44 which gave rise to an
trollers of the economy. When this hap the ulema to decline as a class.40 They joined Ottoman working class.
pened, property ownership and wealth forces with the other traditional groups that
superseded caste as the determinant of social had found no place in the new society. In The development of international trade and
stratification.37 The traditional society could the non-Muslim millets the rising merchant its dependent industries, and an agriculture
neither adapt itself to the new economics or class reorganized the church, thus diminish open to international commerce increased
to the needs of the new classes gaining in ing its authority and limiting the control of the need for capital. On the highest level this
power, nor withstand the pressure of an the ruhban, or religious leaders.41 resulted in the establishment of a group of
imperial administration trying to strengthen banks and foreign investment firms which
The artisans also lost out to the merchants.
an empire disintegrating in the face of the were cooperative and not competing organi
Surely the most significant transformation
growing nationalist movements of its subject zations Below them and under their control
in traditional Ottoman class structure tbok
peoples. were the local finance companies, such as
place within the merchant group, primarily
the Galata bankers, which grew up among
because Western colonial control was es
New institutional structures were finally set
the non-Muslim groups. Lowest in the
tablished through this group and forced it
in place by the reformist (Islahat) move
hierarchy were the money lenders, who were
into rapid change. Trade in the nineteenth
ments of the Tanzimat period. The Western
found among all national groups and who
century bore little resemblance to trade in
concepts of individual rights and the new
cannot easily be distinguished from the
the sixteenth. The concentration upon
land code introduced by the Tanzimat traders.45
agricultural raw materials for foreign
brought the production relations of the
markets, rather than on manufactured goods
society into harmony with its development. The re'aya had come to own their own land
for the domestic one, increased foreign trade
Tanzimat's efforts to increase the control of by the nineteenth century, but the country
but simultaneously discouraged the devel
the central authority in public and military side underwent no significant changes until
opment of industrial production and
administration and in communications were the foreigners appeared and, along with the
internal markets. This led to the impov
aimed at preventing, or at least postponing, Muslim e~raj (landed gentry), collected
erishment of the artisan class and the decline
the empire's disintegration. These new enormous land holdings. This situation led
of the lonca (guild) system.
organizations accelerated the changes that to the appearance of seasonal farm labour, a
were already apparent in the society, and led N or did the commercial sector grow group made up primarily of landless
to modifications of the millet and class uniformly among all national groups. Trade peasants. They had their counterpart in the
systems.38 was in the hands of primarily English, growing popUlation of the cities, in the large
Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution 20
number of urban underemployed engaged in Anatolia reached 25 percent, far above the 9 The distribution of the rural settlements also
marginal activities.46 percent level of the sixteenth century.47 In changed. Villages in the lowlands, already
addition to the general growth of the cities, limited in number in the sixteenth century,
Foreign merchants and capitalists generally
certain areas showed a particularly marked had become even rarer after the large-scale
maintained close relations with the new
increase. The inland cities of the sixteenth migrations (buyuk ka¥gun) of the seven
non-Muslim merchant bourgeoisie. The
century lost out to the coast. The old port teenth and eighteenth centuries sent their
latter were open to Western ways and
cities flourished, and new ones grew up. The inhabitants to the highlands. But the low
Western culture and sought to introduce
popUlation moved into the coastal areas,48 lands were ideally suited for growing crops
them into the empire. The attitude was
changing the ranking of the cities and for export,51 and Ottoman administrators,
somewhat different among the small bureau
bringing their popUlations closer to a anxious to reestablish control over their own
crats and traders,' whose opportunities for
log-normal distribution. The population of territories, regarded the settlement of
expansion were more limited, and even for
Istanbul, which had dropped to 350,000 at Turkish migrants in them as a means of
the esraf of the Muslim population. While
the beginning of the century, had reached 1 doing so. They encouraged both nomads
their'livelihood also depended on capital
million by the end of it-but that million and immigrants from elsewhere in the
istic development in the country and they
still only represented 27 percent of the total crumbling empire to settle in Konya, Adana
favoured both modernization and Western urban population of Anatolia, in contrast to and other coastal plains, despite the fact that
ways, they resented the fact that the
the 40 percent of the urban popUlation that the area was unhealthy and the mortality
country's economy was in the hands of
Istanbul's 300,000 represented in the six rate high. This did not discourage successive
non-Muslims and foreigners.
teenth century. waves of immigration, however, and the
plains villages rapidly increased both.in
Those groups who had entirely lost their The second largest city in Anatolia was now
number and size.52
status and functions as a result of the advent not Bursa, but Izmir. At five, the ratio of
of capitalism were even more hostile to the the first-rank city to the second-rank city How were all these changes reflected in the
new society and its way of life. The changes was far below the ratio of ten in the six cities themselves? Throughout the seven
could not come rapidly enough to allow teenth century.49 Istanbul's slip from its teenth and eighteenth centuries the structure
them to reap the benefits of the new system, primary position is explained by the trading of the city essentially retained its sixteenth
so they defended the advantages of the old. system in use. Each of the significant port century form, the only significant difference
The ulema, artisans, and the marginal urban cities of the empire and its hinterlands was being the abandonment of the inner-castle
sector formed this anti-Western alliance. controlled entirely by one Western power; area as the military class lost its importance
its rivals were not permitted to do business and the power of the ayan increased. The
The economic structure, the class structure
in lands under its control. Within these mansions of the ayans were located near the
that reflected it and the pattern of alliance
spheres of influence each port city was city centre. But the nineteenth century
that resulted from it all influenced patterns
connected to its hinterland by a railroad brought many more changes. The port cities
of settlement. The period of unrest in
constructed with foreign capital, which were now connected by railroad to their own
Anatolia in the seventeenth and eighteenth
brought raw material to the port for ship interior and by steamship to the rest of the
centuries had resulted in a shrinking of both
ment abroad. The result was that these areas world. Communication was no longer with
rural and urban population, though we do
were often in closer contact with the menzil and ulak messengers controlled by
not know the magnitude of this decrease. In
controlling Western power than they were the military but by a postal system open to
the nineteenth century, however, the popula
with one another or with the Ottoman all and particularly useful to the growing
tion began to grow again until it reached the
government. Because of the limited avail number of traders. These new channels of
level of 11.5 million. There were several ability of foreign capital, the system was not communication required new railroad sta
reasons for this increase. They include the
entirely self-sufficient and relied to some tions, quays and post offices. The old
relative success of the state in maintaining
extent on more traditional methods. caravanserais were differentiated into
internal order, improvement in health condi
Caravans, for example, continued to func warehouses and hotels. 53 The banks that
tions in the cities and immigration from
tion as a supplement to the railroads. grew up to serve foreign capital were
lands outside Anatolia that were falling
concentrated in one particular section of the
The port cities were similarly organized to
away from the empire. These migrations
city alongside a new type of structure, the
ensure control of trade by the foreign power.
caused the Muslim millets in the population
office building, made possible by new
The agricultural products of the interior
to grow much faster than the others.
methods of commerce that freed the
were bought up to fill the requirements of
merchant from having to be near the goods
The opening of the country to external the controlling country, collected by finan
he was trading. The merchant had instead
markets and the appearance of a well-devel cial and trading companies in the port city,
become a negotiator and a coordinator, and
oped transportation system led to an warehoused, processed using cheap local
location near a bank rather than a market
increase in the rate of urbanization. The labour and then shipped out to the home
ratio of urban to rural population in land.50 place best suited his manner of business. The
21 Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution
bazaar was no longer the most prestigious Topkapl Palace for a palace on the aried civil servants there was no longer any
business centre in the city; it had been Bosphorus. difference between them and the rest of the
replaced by this new banking and commer town residents. The lanissaries were dis
In the meantime, immigrants arriving from
cial district. 54 banded, and their urban functions abol
the outlying regions of the empire were also
ished. The muhtar (head man) replaced the
The affairs of state were no longer con settling around the cities, building settle
mahalle kethiidasl, and the avanz sandlgl
ducted from the mansions of the military ments in a gridiron pattern that differed
were taken over, diminishing the power of
leaders, but were carried out by the new greatly from the pattern of the old neigh
the imam. A secularized legislative system
bureaucracy of the Tanzimat in public bourhoods. In spite of restrictive measures,
eliminated the basis for the municipal or
buildings of the central city. The centre also people continued to abandon the country
juridical functions of the kadl
soon attracted luxury shops, theatres, cafes side and move to the towns, settling around
and other recreational facilities to serve the cities in a fashion rather similar to the The new municipal system developed in
these new groups. However, the new insti squatters of today. The narrow streets and stages, from the ihtisap nazlrllgl (inspection
tutions of the nineteenth century did not cul-de-sacs began to disappear as the city office for the market), to the expansion of
entirely replace the traditional ones. Instead, spread out, thanks to foreign-operated the functions of the ~ehremaneti (town
the old and new coexisted. In the city steamships and streetcars and to the intro prefecture) and the formation of the
centres the new commercial buildings duction of the horse-drawn carriage. Even intizam-l !jehir Komisyonu (the Commis
stretched from the old centre along the the sultan went to his prayers in a carriage sion of City Order). The first municipal
streets to the areas where the foreigners and rather than on horseback. The rich and government to be established was the Altmcl
national groups who controlled foreign prominent all owned carriages, and these Daire-i Belediye (the sixth office of
trade lived. This pattern can still clearly be required wider streets. In some cities the Belediye), which administered the Galata
discerned in the Galata and Pera sections of outer castle walls were torn down to allow and Pera districts of Istanbul beginning in
Istanbul and the Punta of Izmir. At the the city to spread out more easily into the 1856. It was followed by other municipalities
same time the central city's old functions did surrounding flat lands. This expansion was in port cities, and with the first Mesrutiyet
not entirely disappear. The inns and board made possible by new technologies that (reform period) these were extended over the
ing houses for workers remained, although provided ways to drain the marshes, as well whole empire. The growth of municipalities
some were torn down or abandoned. 55 A as transportation to the reclaimed land.58 was encouraged by the widespread inade
transitional zone often grew between the The green areas in the city that had been quacy of urban services such as roads,
areas devoted to old and new functions. The used to grow produce for the urban popula sidewalks, water sewerage, street lighting
direkler arasl (entertainment area) built in tion could now be turned into residential and street cleaning under the old system.6!
the nineteenth century in the old city of districts. Municipal parks for the use of all At first these new municipal governments
Istanbul was formerly one of these transition residents were created out of the old ceme were rather weak. Despite the kadl tradition
areas.56 teries that were incorporated into the city as of the Ottomans they had no juridical
it expanded.59 Other recreational areas were functions, their sources of income were
Changes were also apparent in the resi limited and, since the vakfs were not incor
established around the city for the use of the
dential districts. Ethnic neighbourhoods porated into the municipalities, a rival
urban population. The few factories that
were still the rule, but they no longer authority remained.
were built were also located in the outskirts
included all classes of a given group. The
near a source of public transportation,60 in The municipal government was drawn en
rich were beginning to move to the suburbs
contrast to the manufacturing activities of tirely from the propertied classes62 at a time
that were opening up to settlement as
the sixteenth century town, which were when class cleavages were becoming more
transportation improvedY Distinctions of
almost entirely restricted to the city centre. and more pronounced, and this prevented
national background could be found in the
In the nineteenth century only small crafts the new urban elements from having any
suburban quarters as well, but the lines were
remained there. voice in the new city administration. The
not as rigidly drawn as they were in the city.
effectiveness of the new municipal govern
The terminology also changed, reflecting the City government also changed. The re
ments was also limited because services were
new suburban style of living: a house could formers assumed control of the vakfs in
largely in the hands of foreign monopolies.
be a konak (mansion), or a kjj~k (villa), or a 1826. Western notions of individual rights
The quays, streetcars, gas, electric and water
yah (seaside villa). Among the Muslims, a introduced by the Tanzimat allowed people
supplies and even the roads had proved to
konak was still a mansion located in the old to pass their accumulated wealth on to their
be highly profitable investments for foreign
neighbourhood of the city, but it was now families, and made the vakfs inadequate for
entrepreneurs, and the management of these
usually occupied only in winter; for them as providing the necessary urban services. The
urban services had grown into one of their
well, a villa for summer living was main reforms of the Tanzimat also left the kadl
more lucrative undertakings.
tained in the suburbs. The sultan was without a function, as both the mahalles and
probably the last member of the military the guilds were absorbed into the Tanzimat At the same time some effort was made to
class to abandon city living, when he left the system. When administrators became sal- establish a planning apparatus for the city.
Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution 22
authorities were eventually added, were not
entirely opposed to capitalism and Westerni
zation, but frowned upon changes wrought
in traditions and the foreign influence in the
country. A third group, comprising the
ulema, the craftsmen and the urban poor
who had been squeezed out by Westerniza
tion and had nothing to gain from the new
commercialism, rejected any change and
sought a return to the past.
Eventually, the second and third groups
would join together to drive out the first and
establish a strictly Turkish bureaucracy and
culture. When they emerged victorious,
Istanbul, a port city symbolic of Western
influence, was abandoned for the interior
city of Ankara. The railroad, which had
served only to connect the hinterland of
Roads passable by motor vehicles. ca 1915
each area to its own port city, was rebuilt to
After Resin! Datkot. Turkiye lktisadi Cografasi (Istanbul. 1958). p 165 become a network that would draw the
internal markets of the nation together.
Industries were set up in the small Anatolian
cities along the new railroad lines. Cultural
centres, halkevleri, were established
throughout the country to spread the new
In 1831, the office of mimarbasi was were laid down, such as that determining the
abolished and replaced by the ~bniye-i amount of land that had to be left to the urban culture of the national bourgeoisie,
and new laws relating to municipal buildings
hassa, or director of construction. After the municipality for public facilities. Fees were
and roads were passed to create cities more
Tanzimat movement, the office was attached also established for the use of city facilities.
in harmony with Turkish cultural norms.
to the Ministry of Commerce and Public All these measures were introduced both to
The preparation of town plans was made
Works and, until 1861 when these responsi control the changes in the city and to
compulsory. All these efforts were at least
bilities were assumed by the municipality, regulate its expansion.
partly effective, and their influence was felt
was responsible for all construction and
up to the end of the Second World War.
municipal building activities for the gov
After the war, however, the national
ernment.63 Toward the end of the century,
city maps, which until then had been Responses to Change bourgeoisie became more open to the out
side, and foreign influences and ideas could
supplied by foreign military and civil engi
again enter the system, although this time
neers, were drawn up for the first time by The changes that occurred in the Ottoman
they were not limited to changes in trans
Turkish officers and engineers.64 On them cities between the sixteenth and the nine
portation and trade, but included pro
we can see some primitive efforts at urban teenth century were changes typical of cities
duction technology as well. The changes that
planning, including the opening of new in a traditional society when it is exposed to
followed were more rapid than those of the
roads and widening of existing ones.The the influences of Western capitalism. These
nineteenth century, though they still resulted
first planning codes were also promul influences were more far-reaching in the
in a dual social structure, part traditional
gated65-the building regulations (ebniye) of large port cities than in the interior, al
and part modern, and were in other respects
1848, the regulations for building and roads though some reflections of them eventually
similar to those seen in the nineteenth
(turuk ve ebniye) of 1864, and the building filtered to these as well. Each group in the
century. Having taken an anti-imperialist
code of 1882. These codes included measures new social structure had its own attitude
stand and having gained national inde
such as compulsory mapping of fire sites, toward these changes. The commercial class
pendence, Turkey is now back on the road
authority to expropriate land for widening of non-Muslim peoples was fully integrated
to capitalism and is reviving the once
streets, permit requirements for construction into the foreign-dominated commercial life
rejected spatial organization of the past. But
and rules relating to street width and build and wholeheartedly welcomed both Western
this revival is not unmarked by the inde
ing height. Public approval was also re capital and Western ways. The small
pendence the country has since gained.
quired for the settlement of large parcels of bureaucrats, the Muslim businessmen and
undeveloped land, and land use regulations the efra/, a group to which the municipal
23 Urban Patterns in Anatolia: Organization and Evolution
Reference Notes 19 Miibeccel B. Klray, Orgutlesmeyen Kent (Ankara, 42 T raian Stoianovich, "The Conquering Balkan
1972) , Orthodox Merchant," Journal of Economic History,
June 1960
20 ilber Ortayh, "istanbulun Mekansal YaplSlmn
I Miibeccel B Klfay, "Toplum YaplSlndaki Temel Tarihsel Evrimine Bir Baki~," Amme [daresi Dergisi 10:2 43 E Engelhardt, Tanzimat (Istanbul, 1967)
Degi~imlerin Tarihsel Perspektifi," Mimarlar OdaSl (June 1977)
Mimarhk Semineri (Ankara, 1969) 44 Orhan Kurmus, Emperyalizmin Turkiye'ye Girisi
21 Ibid (Istanbul, 1974) ,
2 H Moyse Barlet, A History of the Merchant Navy
(London, 1937) • 22 Bahkhane Nazlfl Ali Rlza Bey, Bir Zamanlar 45 Burhan Ulutan, Bankaclligm Tektimillil (Ankara,
Istanbul (Istanbul, 197-) 1957)
3 Halil inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: The Clossical
Age 1300-1600 (Worcester, 1973) • 23 Cengiz Orhonlu, "Osmanh Tiirkleri Devrinde 46 N Todorov, "The Balkan Town in the Second
Istanbul'da KaYlk~lhk ve Kayik i~letmeciligi," iUEF Half of the Nineteenth Century," Etudes Balkaniques I
4 Kemal H Karpat, An Inquiry into the Social Tarih Dergisi 16 (March 1966), pp 109-134 (1969)
Foundations of Nationalism in the Ottoman State from
Social Estates to Classes, from Millets to Nations 24 Halil Cin, Mir! Arazi ve Bu Arazinin Mulk Haline 47 Leila Erder, "Tarihsel Bakl~ A'ilsmdan Tiirkiye'nin
(Princeton, N J , 1973) Donufumu, Ankara Universitesi Hukuk Fakiiltesi Demograflk ve Mekansal YaplSl," in IIhan Tekeli,
Yaymlan (Ankara, 1969) Yerle~me Y!'plsmda Uyum Silreci Olarak If Goc,
5 Leila Erder "The Measurement of Preindustrial Hacettepe Universitesi Niifus Etiidleri Merkezi (Ankara,
Population Changes in the Ottoman Empire from the • 25 Reinhard Stewig, istanbul'da Clkmaz Sokaklar, 1978)
15th to the 17th Century," Middle Eastern Studies 11:3 Istanbul Fetih Cemiyeti istanbul Enstitiisii Nesriyah
(October 1975) (Istanbul, 1966) " Tekeli, cited above, n 47
6 Orner L Berkan "Tiirkiye'de imparatorluk .. 26 Goniil A~lanoglu Evyapan, Eski Turk Bah~eleri ve 49 Erder, cited above, n 9
Devirlerinin Biiyiik Niifus ve Arazi Tahrirlerinin ve Ozellikle Eski Istanbul Bah~eleri (Ankara, 1972)
Hakana Mahsus istatistik Defterleri" Istanbul 50 Klray, cited above, n 19
Universitesi fktisat Fakultesi Mecm~asl 11:1 pp 20-29, 27 Halil inalcik, op cit
and 12:2, pp 214-247 51 Wolf Dieter Hiitteroth, "Future Trends in
'" Osman. N. Ergin, "Tiirk Belediyeciligi ve Settlement Development; Urbanization and Integral
7 M A Cook, Population Pressure in Rural ~ehirciligi," Iller ve Belediyeler Dergisi, nos 15-16 Migration in Turkey" (unpublished paper, 1973)
Anatolia: 1450-1600 (London, 1972) (1947), pp 605-620
52 Wolfram Eberhard, "Types of Settlement in
, Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the 29 Haim Gerber, "Guilds in Seventeenth Century Southeast Turkey," Sociologus, 3:1 (1953) pp 49-64
Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (London, Anatolian Bursa," Asian and African Studies II: I (1976),
1972) pp 60-86 53 Klray, cited above, n. 19
9 Leila Erder and Suraiya Faroqhi, "The Develop • .'0 Os!"an N ~rgin, Tilrkiyede $ehirciligin T,arihi 54 Kemal H Karpat, 'The Social and Economic
ment of the Anatolian Network in the Sixteenth [nklfafi, Istanbul Universitesi Hukuk Fakiiltesi Iktisat ve Tranformation of Istanbul in rhe Nineteenth Century,"
Century," Journalfor the Economic and Social History Iytimaiyat Enstitiisii Ne~riyah (Istanbul, 1936) Association Internationale d' Etudes du Sud-Est
of the Orient (forthcoming) Europeen Bulletin 12:2 (1974), pp 267-308.
J] Yiicel gzkaya, Osmanh imparatorlugunda
10 Ibid Ayanllk, A U Oil ve Tarih Cografya Fakiiltesi Yaymlan 55 Metin And, Tanzimat ve istibdat Doneminde Turk
(Ankara, 1977) Tiyatrosu (Ankara, 1972).
in SIiIx tSeuernatihy aC eFnatruorqyh iA, n"aTtaoxliaat"i o(nu napnudb lUisrhbeadn pAapcteirv,i ties 32 iIber Ortayh, "Osmanh Kadlsmin Tasra 5. IIber Ortayli, cited above, n 20
1978) Yonetimindeki Rolii Uzerine," Amme idar~si Dergisi 9:1
(March 1976) 57 Apostolos E Vacalopoulos, A History of
12 ilhan Tekeli, "On Institutionalized External Thessaloniki, Institute for Balkan Studies (Thessaloniki,
Relation of Cities in the Ottoman Empire," Etudes 33 ilber Ortayh, "Tarihsel Evrimi kinde Mimarlar" 1963)
Balkaniques, no 2 (1972) Mimarbk 14:148 (1976), p 3' '
" Ebubekir HOzlm Tepeyran Hatlralan, Tiirkiye
13 iIhan Tekeli, "Evolution of Spatial Organization in 34 Ahmet Refik, Turk Mimarlan (Istanbul, 1937) Yayinevi (Istanbul, 1944)
the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic," L Carl
Brown, ed , From Medina to Metropolis: Heritage and 35 Ortayh, cited above, n 32 59 Operator Cemil Pafa Hatiralari, Tiirkiye Yaymevl
Change in the Near Eastern City (Princeton, 1973), pp (Istanbul, 1945)
244-273 .. 16 A Nesimi, Tilrkiye'de Yerel Yonetim Tarihi
Ustilne Notlar (unpublished paper, 1978) 60 Leila E~~er, "Factory Districts in Bursa during the
14 Orner Liitfi Berkan, "Osmanh imparatorlugunda 1860s," ODTU Mimarltk FakUltesi Dergisi 1:1 (Spring
<;:ift~i Smlflanmn Hukuki Statiisii," U/ku, nos 49-59 J7 Kemal Karpat, "The Transformation of the 1975), pp 85-94.
(Ankara, 1937-1938) Ottoman State, 1789-1908," International Journal of
Middle East Studies 3 (1972) 61 iIber Ortayh, Tanzimattan Sonra Mahalli idareler
IS Dogan Kuban, Sanat Tarihimizin Sorunlan, (1840-1878) (Ankara, 1974)
(Istanbul, 1975), pp 115-161 " Halil inalcik, "Capital Formation in the Ottoman
Empire," Journal of Economic History, May 1969 62 iIhan Tekeli and ilber Ortayh, Tilrkiye'de
16 Berge Aran, "The Evolution of Urban Forms in Belediyeciligin Evrimi (Ankara, 1978)
Anatolia" (unpublished paper, 1974) 39 Joseph S Szyliowicz, "Education and Political
Development in Turkey, Egypt and Iran," Comparative 63 Osman N Ergin, "Tarihce," iller ve Belediyeler
17 Osman Ergin, Turk $ehirlerinde fmaret Sistemi Education Review, June 1969 Dergisi 2:3 (October 1946), pp' 502-503
(Istanbul, 1939)
411 Ergin, cited above, n 30 64 Kadri Tan, "Mod~rn Tiirk Haritaclhgmm
IK Sevgi Aktiire, "17 YiizyIl Ba~mdan 19 YiiZYll Kurucusu ~evki Pasa," Iller ve Belediyeler Dergisi 264
Ortasma Kadarki Donemde Anadolu Osmanh ~ehrinde 41 N J Pantazopoulos, Church and Law in the (January 1968), p 14
~ehirsel Yapmm Degi~me Siireci," ODTU Mimarhk Balkan Peninsula during the Ottoman Rule, Institute for
FakUltesi Dergisi I: I (Spring 1975) Balkan Studies (Thessaloniki, 1967) 196;; Sadlk Artukma<;, Turk imar Hukuku (Ankara,
Comments 24
Comments the environment that might be accomplished environment. The Award can and should be
through architecture are secondary. used strategically. It is your thinking that is
going to help us understand the basic
Problems may alternately be seen in terms
Porter problems and mediating influences that
of administration; the people defining the
really bring about effective environmental
problems are the wrong people, or at least
Evidence of the problems involved in archi change, so that we can put the emphasis in
are insufficiently skilled. Ineptitude in
tectural transformation can be adduced just the right place.
administrative quarters is, of course, directly
from the experience of many of us in this
related to weaknesses in education. Others
room. What we consider the emerging
view the administrative system as inherently
contemporary architecture in the Islamic
corrupting; those who manage society in
Kuban
world has perhaps received too casual an
evitably find themselves in situations where
analysis. The many shortcomings of this
they must make choices that are disad
modern architecture have here been alluded Most of our difficulties stem from the word
vantageous to others. The solution to that
to or talked about, including the ignoring "preservation," but it is the only word we
problem is often found in a system of checks
of many traditional attitudes: toward the use have so we must use it. When I say
and balances that will work to the benefit of
of light, the relation of climate to buildings, "preservation," I do not mean "to preserve."
larger groups. Others see problems in terms
the traditional uses of materials, the tradi I might better say that I am talking about
of ideologies and motivations in society, and
tion of creating space in urban precincts, the the modern control of changes in the human
their solution is somewhat vague. Perhaps
intimate relationship to the paths of environment. This covers mostly the po
through education, more likely through
movement that much of Islamic architecture tential for change and only partly actual
inspiration, a transformation of ideologies
seems to have accomplished, and especially preservation; if this is accepted, then
that encourages people to choose their
the use of traditional forms and elements. Of everything is clarified. What is actually
direction is certain to occur.
course, there are many others; these are involved here is ideological argument.
merely symptoms of a larger concern. There is still an enormous variety of opinion Ideology grows out of every human situa
about what the immediate mechanisms are tion and controls people's behaviour and
The problems that underlie successful
that govern the relationship between these thinking; it is controlled by a dominant
architectural transformation are viewed by
influences on the environment, and the form group with some political and economic
some as primarily economic, particularly
which the environment actually takes. These assets.
evident in the abuses to cities created by
mechanisms include regulations and in
land speculation-for instance, the actions When we ·say we have to control our
centives, zoning or deed restrictions, envi
of large private or public corporations that environment and keep its identity separate
ronmental impact reviews and landmark
destroy the environment-and which mea from that of the West, in order to conserve
legislation All of these are familiar tools of
sures taken in the economic sphere will our own culture, this is a desire. There is a
government intervention in controlling
presumably solve. Others see the constraints motivation behind it; we want it. Why? We
development. Incentives to the public
as based upon societal pressures, in which are thinking according to a certain ideology.
and private sectors to build differently are
redistribution of wealth is the sole alterna If I say I must preserve this, I am speaking
another means of changing the present
tive. Still others see them in terms of the according to a personal ideology of what I
system. Another one is to create and support
way organizations work, and consider wish to preserve. What is meant by conser
intelligent and properly motivated clients.
radical political reform the prerequisite for vation is the continuity of the human
Other catalysts for environmental change
achieving a more satisfactory environment. environment. If we accept this, then the
are the great public and private builders.
Others see problems emanating from social solution to many problems is made simpler.
The evolution of environmental decision
structure, in terms of the haves and the I can then have a new building inside an old
making on the local level may be the answer
have-nots; they think that distinctions of an row of houses. If some part of the public or
which brings about lasting and improving
economic and social nature must be broken an elite corps want to save a town or part of
environmental changes.
down in order to increase valid use of the a town, they create a public opinion
environment. Some see change as part of an The Award can reinforce any of these favourable to that conservation and collect
environmental critique, in which the innate strategies. It can recognize policies that bear money to finance it; public opinion is
value of the natural environment is para fruit in a particular work. It can recognize thereby forced into acquiescence. if they
mount and the architectural environment, so special energies deservedly. In the course of cannot, time will destroy it. It is that simple.
often abusive to its users, is subordinate. this seminar it is important to begin, or in So you have to turn this wish into public
For them, solutions through corrective many cases to continue, thinking of the consensus. If you simply assume that
action that would prevent depletion of criteria that should govern this Award, so industry and industrial ideology is so
resources and improve environmental con that we will be able to apply maximum dominant that everything must change, that
ditions are required; any improvements in leverage to the forces that improve the everyone wants only new buildings, and