Türk Hukuk Tar!h! Araştırmaları, Sayı 7, 2009 (Bahar), 21-45 Corrupt!on of a Soc!al Inst!tut!on From a Protect!ve Fam!ly System to Servanthood Abdullah Bay* Besleme uygulaması, zeng!n k!mseler!n, hem eğ!tmek ve korumak, hem de ev !ç! h!zmet yaptırmak üzere, fak!r a!le çocuklarını anne-baba veya vas!ler! !le anlaşarak bell! ücret karşılığında k!ralamaları ve bu anlaşmayı kadıya tesc!l ett!rmeler! esasına dayanır. İs- lam hukukunda kend!ne has özell!kler! !le koruyucu a!le-h!zmetç! şekl!nde düzenlenen uygulama, zamanla sosyal kurum hal!ne dönüşerek, bazı dönemler kölel!k kurumundan z!yade rağbet görmüştür. On dokuzuncu yüzyılda kölel!ğ!n yasaklanması, !ç ve dış göç- ler ve yeters!z kurumsallaşma g!b! çeş!tl! toplumsal sebepler!n etk!s!yle, kurum koru- yucu a!le özell!ğ!n! y!t!rm!ş ve g!tt!kçe gelenekselleşerek kölel!k kurumunun üstlend!ğ! fonks!yonları yer!ne get!rmeye başlamıştır. Bu aşamadan sonra, kız çocukların çeş!tl! şek!llerde !st!smar ed!ld!ğ! ve emekler!n!n sömürüldüğü b!r sosyal sorun hal!ne dönüş- müştür. Anahtar kel!meler: Besleme, çocuklar, koruyucu a!le, h!zmetç!, ev !ç! h!zmet, !car-ı sa- ğ!r, tebenn! On the Concept of Besleme In the eighteenth century, the word besleme1 was defi ned as “domestic servant”,2 while the verb beslemek (to feed) from which the word was derived was defi ned as “to feed someone, to provide one’s needs for subsistence”.3 In addition to the word besleme commonly used to refer to the institution, the words kapı kızı, beslek, görme, kızlık, emeksiz, beslengi were also used in * Yrd. Doç. Dr., Recep Tayy!p Erdoğan Ün!vers!tes!, abdullahbay1973@gma!l.com 1 In my v!ew, !t would be better to use the or!g!nal name s!nce the !nst!tut!on has !ts pecul!ar character!st!cs. If I used the word evlatlık (adoptee), the best poss!ble equ!valent of the term, th!s could st!ll cause m!sunderstand!ng. However, as !ts mean!ng suggests, !t could be def!ned as “servant g!rl adopted at a young age both to be looked after and to be used !n serv!ce”. Hereafter, !t w!ll be th!s very mean!ng to be referred. 2 D"z"onar"o Turgo, Arabo e Pers"ano (M!lano: Presso Lu!g! Nervett! T!pografo-L!brajo, 1832), 72. 3 Yaşar Çağbayır, Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük I (Istanbul: Ötüken Neşr!yat, 2007), 562; Pars Tuğlacı, Okyanus Ans"kloped"k Sözlük I (Istanbul: Cem Yayınev!, 1983), 280. 21 Türk Hukuk Tar!h! Araştırmaları Anatolia as traditional expressions.4 Although common male equivalents of the word included ahiret evlatlığı, can evlatlık, manevi evlatlık and oğulluk,5 the word besleme was sometimes used for boys as well in the pre-Tanzimat era.6 However, as a result of the social transformation that took place after the abolition of slavery, the word was confi ned to girls and defi ned as “a g!rl kept at home to work for peanuts”.7 The main reason behind the emergence of the institution was the pro- hibition of the longstanding tradition of classical adoption among the Arabs.8 In the pre-Islamic era, the Arab community had institutions that resembled the adoption practices around the world. In such practices, an adopted child was considered as a permissible intimate (mahrem) for the family members 4 Şer!f Al! Bozkaplan, “Anadolu Ağızlarında Güzel Adlandırma Örnekler!,” Turk"sh Stud"es: Internat"onal Per"od"cal For the Languages, L"terature and H"story of Turk"sh or Turk"c 4/3, (Spr!ng 2009), 385-390; Özhan Öztürk, Karaden"z Ans"kloped"k Sözlük I (Istanbul: Heyamola Yayınları, 2005), 180. 5 BOA (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arş!v!), NFS.d. (Nüfus Defterler"), no. 1143, 10,17; Abdurrahman Kurt, “Tanz!mat Dönem!nde Koruyucu A!le Müesseseler!,” !n Sosyo-Kültürel Değ"ş"m Sürec"nde Türk A"les" II, ed. Hakkı Dursun Yıldız (Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık A!le Araştırma Kurumu, 1992), 549-561. 6 In the Trabzon Populat!on Reg!ster (Trabzon Nüfus Defter") of 1834, a certa!n f!ve-year- old Mehmed, who was l!v!ng w!th the muhtar of the Ş!r!n Hatun Mahalle was recorded as besleme. NFS.d, no.1149, 64. 7 Andreas T!etze, Tar"h" ve Et"moloj"k Türk"ye Türkçes" Lügatı I/A-E (Istanbul-W!en: S!murg Yayınları, 2002), 223; James W. Redhouse, Redhouse’s Turk"sh D"ct"onary, Engl"sh and Turk"sh and Turk"sh and Engl"sh (London: Bernard Quar!tch, 1882), 30. The !nst!tut!on !s often confused w!th the word ah"retl"k. Imply!ng larger and d!fferent mean!ngs, the term ah"retl"k, when used !n the mean!ng of besleme, referred to “g!rls who are adopted and ra!sed w!th the hope of good deeds !n the afterl!fe (ah"ret)”. As a result of the had"th, there emerged the colloqu!al term ah"retl"k !n the mean!ng of “!nvestment for the afterl!fe, sav!or !n the afterl!fe”. Part!cularly besleme ch!ldren around the same age, who were adopted to look after young ch!ldren, could also be made ah"retl"k to each other. In th!s sense, !t was establ!shed as a sub-category of the concept besleme. Mehmet Zek! Pakalın, Osmanlı Tar"h Dey"mler" ve Ter"mler" Sözlüğü I (Istanbul: MEB, 1971), 30. 8 The Holy Qur’an, al-Ahzab, 33/4-5; There !s a s!m!lar relat!on between besleme and evlatlık (adoptee) as !s the case w!th the concept ah"retl"k. Through a verbal dec!s!on, the servant g!rl brought home as besleme could usually end up w!th the status of an adoptee depr!ved of off!c!al r!ghts. On the other hand, the terms evladlık and ker"me-" manev"ye were used for g!rls who could !nher!t property by a donat!on contract and oğulluk for boys. Edhem Veys!, Besleme (Samsun: Şems Matbaası, 1339), 23-25, 69; BOA, A.MKT.UM (Sadaret Mektub" Kalem" Umum V"layet Belgeler"), no. 392/50; The pejorat!ve connotat!ons of the word besleme led fam!l!es to use the term evlatlık, wh!ch !mpl!ed a softer mean!ng, wh!ch brought about the replacement of the latter w!th besleme over t!me. Bülent Davran, “B!r Sosyal Davamız: Beslemeler!n Hukuk! Durumu,” Sosyal Hukuk ve İkt"sat Mecmuası 2 (October 1948), 51. 22 Corrupt!on of a Soc!al Inst!tut!on From a Protect!ve Fam!ly System to Servanthood and an heir of the adopter and legally accepted as a child of the family.9 Af- ter these types of adoption were forbidden by the Quranic verse “Nor has He made your adopted sons your sons. Call them by their fathers: that is juster in the sight of Allah. But if ye know not their father’s names, (then they are) your brothers in faith, or your friends”,10 adoption practices based on the principle of blood child disappeared and were replaced by the institutionalized prac- tice of protective family without bringing about any relationship of permis- sible intimacy (mahremiyet) and inheritance.11 The institutionalization process is closely related to the ijtihad (juris- prudence) process of Islamic jurists. In particular, the fatwas issued about young children and servants at the time of Islamic jurists such as Numan ibn Thabit, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, Ya‘qub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansa- ri, and Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi ‘ both led to the institutionalization of the practice and to the merging of the protective family system with servant status.12 Legal Rights of a Besleme: Working for Peanuts Observed as a social institution in Ottoman social life, the besleme in- stitution is a practice devoid of legal implications of adoption. Therefore, al- though certain documents refer to tabanni in relation to the concept of bes- leme, it di& ers from the practice of tabanni prohibited in the Qur’an.13 Since Islamic law put a ban on the institution of adoption, neither can adopted chil- dren be heirs to their adopters; nor can they be named after their biological 9 Ülker Gürkan, “Evlad Ed!nme ve Beslemeler!n Hukuk! Durumu,” !n Türk Hukuku ve Toplumu Üzer"ne İncelemeler, ed. Adnan Gür!z and Peter Bened!ct (Ankara: Türk!ye Kalkınma Vakfı Yayınları, 1974), 170-171; Ferhunde Özbay, Türk"ye’de Evlatlık Kurumu: Köle m", Evlat mı? (Istanbul: Boğaz!ç! Ün!vers!tes! Yayınev!, 1999), 6-7. 10 The Holy Qur’an, al-Ahzab, 33/4-5. 11 The Holy Qur’an, al-Kahf 18/82; an-N!sa 4/2-6; al-Duha 93/6-8; Kurt, “Tanz!mat Dönem!nde,” 548-567; Hamza Aktan, “İslam A!le Hukuku,” !n Sosyo-Kültürel Değ"şme Sürec"nde Türk A"les" II, ed. Hakkı Dursun Yıldız (Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık A!le Araştırma Kurumu, 1992), 397-433. 12 Ans"kloped"k İslam Fıkhı (Fetavay-ı H"nd"yye) IX, trans. Mustafa Efe (Istanbul: Akçağ Yayınları, 2005), 426-443; see Vecd! Akyüz, “A!le S!yaset!ne Da!r R!sale (er-R!sâle f!’s s!yâset!’l-menz!l!yye),” !n Sosyo-Kültürel Değ"şme Sürec"nde Türk A"les" III, ed. Hakkı Dursun Yıldız (Ankara: T.C.