Establishment, development and function of direction of Orphans' Property

The protection of orphan's property has been an issue that the authorities have focused on since the old times of the Ottoman Empire. The understanding of the modern state, which was developing in Europe, began to settle in the Ottoman Empire with the reforms of the nineteenth century. With the reforms made, the state has tended to consolidate its power by directly intervening in many areas that it did not see the need to intervene before. In this direction, the Ottoman government also intervened in the old practices related to the management of orphans' property towards the middle of the century and took the administration of orphans' property under its own control. Just like in the establishment of the Ministry of Foundations, the Ministry of Orphans' Property was established with the idea of taking the enormous amount of money that could not be controlled by the state to control and operate it, and this Ministry was converted to the directorate after a short time. The arrangement, which was only specific to Istanbul in the beginning, spread to all provinces over time. During the process, many legal arrangements were made regarding the status of orphans' property; Eytam directorates began to be established in the center and in the provinces. This study has been written with the intention of examining the establishment, development and function of the orphan administration, which is responsible for the protection and management of orphans' property.