Non-Muslim civil servants born in Aleppo in the Ottoman bureaucracy according to the registered Ahval Records

Manpower is the most important element in the management of states. It is aimed both to strengthen the central- provincial relations and to speed up the bureaucratic work. In doing so, there is the reality of people contributing to the administration and being a part of the state. The governed play an important role in the continuity of the state by having a say in the administration in line with the merits and needs, with the opportunities provided. Of course, in order to achieve such developments, management and employment systems need to be adapted. The period in which such developments took place in the Ottoman Empire corresponds to the 19th century. The state, which has a very wide geography, also had a rich citizen portfolio. While it was present in many continents, it cared about the feeling that there would be no provincial state with a strong central authority. In doing so, the state increased diversity in employment. Two important legal regulations such as Tanzimat and Reform Edicts formed the basis of this diversity. With this development, non- Muslims were also given the right to take part in the state administration. With the inclusion of the non- Muslim element in the bureaucracy, the diversity of personnel has increased in the lands of the state. Contributions have been made to this diversity from many parts of the state. Generally, the provinces with high cultural development came to the fore here. Aleppo is one of these provinces. Being on an important trade route and hosting members of different faiths and languages has been effective in this sense. Moreover, its superiority in educational institutions is also important. For this reason, the study focused on the non- Muslims who were employed in the Ottoman bureaucracy and those who were born in Aleppo. The main idea of the thesis is that non- Muslim civil servants had career opportunities in the Ottoman Empire and most of them were successful in this. At the end of the determinations, the records of 66 officials belonging to 25 Greek, 41 Armenian, Jewish and other non- Muslim elements were examined. The study was mostly produced by making use of the Registry Ahval records in the Ottoman Archives where the CVs of the civil servants were taken. Other copyrighted works were used. The important findings of the study can be counted as the non- Muslim civil servants who were born in Aleppo received significant education, most of them had more than one death, most of them were successful in their duties, legal proceedings were carried out in case of irregularities and they were rewarded in cases of success. Keywords: Ottoman Empire, Tanzimat edict, Aleppo, Non-muslim, Sicill-i Ahvâl, Bureaucracy.