International Scholars Journals Global Journal of Business Management ISSN 6731-4538 Vol. 6 (8), pp. 001-009, August, 2012. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. Full Length Research Paper Foundation administrations and foundation landownership in Turkey from past to present Faik Ahmet Sesli Department of Geomatics Engineering, Ondokuz Mayis University, 55139 Samsun, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected]. Accepted 15 April, 2012 The traces of foundation civilization are seen in every period of Turkish history. During the Seljuk period, the foundations occupied an important position in the community life and this importance peaked during the Ottoman period. During the last periods of the Ottoman, feeling the necessity to assemble the administration of the foundations under one center and administrate them, the Ministry of Imperial Foundation was established, and by this way, the foundations were assembled under the same roof for the first time. Since the proclamation of the Republic, the foundations have been serving the society by executing the purposes, written under the administration and control of the General Directorate for Foundations, contingent upon the Prime Ministry and in their endowment. It is possible to examine the foundations of the Ottoman period in various categories like their entities, landownerships, administrations, the way they are rented, benefitted and their incomes. Together with the laws, that were put into force during the Republic period, the administration and control of the foundations were put in order and the legislation of the foundations took its final form with the law no. 5737 that was put into force the rear. The foundations in Turkey are still under the administration and control of the General Directorate for Foundations, which is contingent upon the Prime Ministry and they execute the foundation services by evaluating their immovables, by favour of 25 Regional Directorates. In this study, the foundations in Turkey have been examined from the point of administration and landownership, from past to present; foundation occurance and basic problems have been tried to be revealed by making a detailed research about the foundations in the instance of the province of Samsun. Key words: Ottoman period, foundation, landownership, real estate. INTRODUCTION Considering the traditions of the Turkish nation, there are the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, the foundations had a humanitarian aids like helping the ones in need, feeding significant place in the social and economic life of the the ones that are hungry, dress one’s wound who is sick society (Barkan, 1963). Moreover, after the proclamation or wounded. This sense of cooperation, which lies in the of the Republic, the foundations were still paid a special national character of the Turkish people, has directly attention and they were enabled to provide a better affected the social structure of the established Turkish service with the new laws. governments and as a result, the Foundations emerged In Turkey, the Foundation (Waqfs) is described as a as essential cooperation and solidarity organizations. person’s allocating his movable and immovable pro- Particularly after the acceptance of Islam, everyone in the perties of his own accord and request by excluding from Turkish societies with opportunities established a his personal landownership, in order to enable them to be foundation and put the foundation works into the service used under the conditions and services, determined by of the deprived (Cezar, 1985). Developing rapidly during himself for the purpose of charity and good, forever. Foundation is an establishment, based upon the right of in the first place, grand viziers, all senior government landownership and is the use of this right for the benefit authorities and the wealthy could establish foundations in of the society (Veziroglu et al., 2000). Other concepts, accordance with their power (Malkoc, 2009). concerning the foundations are as follows: i. Endowment (Vakfiye in Turkish): Documents, The types of foundations during the Ottoman period containing the assests, foundation terms of the regular, appendant and community foundations and the requests It is possible to analyse the Ottoman period foundations in six groups, in terms of their entities, possessions, of the founder. ii. Charities (Hayrat in Turkish): Described as the property administrations, chartering patterns, utilization patterns or the service, presented by the regular, appendant, and their incomes (Figure 1). community and artisan foundations and new foundations, directly to the benefit of the society without any charge. iii. Real property (Akar in Turkish): Movables and In terms of their entities immovables, obliged to be evaluated in a way to yield a. Charity foundations: Foundations with incomes being money in order to accomplish the purposes and activities completely and partially allocated to various charity of the foundations. provisions and services. iv. Tithe (Asar in Turkish): The tax, collected from the b. Posterity foundations: Foundations with incomes being harvest products at the rate of tenth. completely allocated to the descents of the foundation Duties (Rusum in Turkish): The plural of duty. Duty without any charity provision. In case the descents of the means tax, here. foundation were dissolved, they could be allocated to a charity service. FOUNDATIONS IN THE TURKISH HISTORY In terms of their possessions The Old Turks gave place and importance to the establishment of foundation even during the civilisations, a. Precise foundations: Foundations with every kinds of they had founded before the acceptance of Islam. It is physical assets, whose landownership belongs to possible to see it on the scriptures, located at the Sou- themselves. In such foundations, the endowed movables thern front of Kül Tigin Monument, which is among and immovables constitute the property landownership of Orkhon Monuments (Ergin, 1973). As a result of the the foundation. excavations, carried out in the Eastern Turkistan, Uyghur b. Non-precise foundations: Foundations, established on Endowments of B.C 12th and 13th centuries were rev- the public land by the head of the state or with his ealed. The first Turkish Foundation in Anatolia was permission. If the right of utilization of tithe or duty from a established in Erzurum, Hasankale, in 1048 (Veziroglu et public land is endowed, then such foundations are given al., 2000). the name, Non-precise foundation. Here, the bare landownership of the land belongs to the government. Foundations during Ottoman period In terms of their administrations During the Ottoman empire period, all the services except of security and judicial services, from health to environ- a. Registered foundations: Foundations, established by ment, from substructure to urbanism, from education to the members of the palace and administered and social services, were carried out by foundations controlled by the charge of the pious foundations. (Yediyildiz and Ozturk, 1996). The cities in the Ottoman b. Appendant foundations: Foundations, conditioned to were generally established around foundation complexes the descendant of the endower, being administered by and the districts were founded around the structures like the administrators and controlled by the charge of the foundation mosques, Turkish baths, fountains and so pious foundations. forth. Nevsehir is a good example for the role, played by the foundations in the Turkish city life (Agmanvermez, 1999). The cities were deprived of the municipal organi- In terms of their chartering patterns zation until 1856. Examining the endowments, it is seen that the municipal services like water, transportation, a. Icare-i vahideli foundations: Foundations, leased in illumination, cleaning and public order were usually return for a certain leasing, temporarily. accomplished by the foundations before this date b. Icare-i vahide-i gradual foundations: Foundations, (Agmanvermez, 1999). The first foundation in the leased for an indefinite period of time. In such Ottoman belongs to Orhan Bey. The sultans, being in foundations, the right of tenancy is given for an 1 2 Figure 1. The types of foundations during the Ottoman period. Foundations, leased with a certain value, temporarily. Foundations of 3 4 leasing during the Ottoman period. An organization that is based on charity. A temporary tax, collected by the Ottomans from the public. indefinite period of time, by getting the current price for b. Avariz foundations: Foundations, established to meet once only and a determined hire purchase year by year. the urgent needs of the public or occupational groups in a In case of the death of the tenant, the right of tenancy is district or a village. inherited to his inheritors. During the Republic period, the leasing method of icare-i vahide-i gradual was abolished and the possessions of the immovables, having already In terms of their incomes been leased, started to be given to the tenants against a determined remuneration and such kinds of immovables a. Movable: Foundations, constituted of movables like were called the concessional immovables (Veziroglu et money, gun, machine, horse, etc. al., 2000). b. Immovable: Foundations, constituted of immovable properties like house, land, orchard. In terms of their utilization patterns Foundations during the republic period a. Muessesat-i hayriye: Foundations like sanctuary, madrassa, library,