The role played by a class of local notables termed "âyans" in the modern history of the Middle and Near East is attracting attention among the researchers recently. It is a well-known fact that in Turkey, too, they were possessed of a significant political role from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. The Turkish âyans are characterized by the fact that the role discharged by them in the local communities had won recognition by the central government as "official service"; it is referred to as "âyanlik" in Turkish history. Research on this subject is under way by the Turkish, Jugoslavian and Bulgarian historians. All their studies, however, treat of âyanlik as a problem of local power in the individual cases; they have not yet given a place to it in the general framework of Turkish history. In the present paper which pays principal attention to the development of âyanlik during the decade of 1765 to 1774, the author intends to assert the following:
(1) Ȃyanlik relates, basically, to a form of kazâ administration; in the history of development of Turkish local administration, it lies midway in the stage of transition from the traditional Islamic kazâ administration by the kadis to the European, secular kazâ administration by the kazâ müdürs.
(2) While the political voice of the local notables in Turkey became remarkably strengthened after the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774, not a few of them built up their political and social influences by obtaining the posts of the âyanlik during the war.
The present paper is divided into the following headings:
I. Setting Up of Problems
II. Existing Trends of Research on Ȃyanlik
III. Description of Historical Data
IV. General Outline on Ȃyanlik
V. Promulgation of Edicts in 1765
VI. Development of Ȃyanlik during Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774
VII. Conclusion