Crime and punishment in the Ottoman Empire: Aleppo and Konya in the second half of the 19th century

This thesis aims at investigating the juridical reforms in the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century in context with the penal laws and practices. The Ottoman society, which was exposed to sharp administrative, legal, and economic changes in this period, lost its Muslim dominant structure whose authority is superior in political and administrative areas. Therefore, the demands of non-Muslims inaugurated for a new political and administrative status in the society which unearthed the political crimes. In addition to political crimes set in due to the Muslim and non-Muslim tension, it is demonstrated that ordinary crimes increased during periods of war, famine, epidemic and economic crisis. This situation has been attempted to be revealed by using Ottoman archive documents, French and British consular records, contemporary journals, and published materials, and travel books. The patterns of Aleppo and Konya Vilayets have been chosen to display to what extent geographical location, demography, commercial activity and social structure effective on crime, and criminal practices. While the heterogeneous population structure, migration movements, commercial activity and demography of the Vilayet of Aleppo cause a more intense amount of political crime, it has been observed that the more homogeneous population structure, limited migration movements and economic closure in the Vilayet of Konya precipitated the intensification of ordinary crimes. The cogency of the mentioned factors in court decisions and the regional differences in the trial results were evaluated in this context.