The transcription of Karaman Ahkâm Register Numbered 1 (pp.122-197)

The Ottoman Empire is one of the greatest states which survived for six centuries with its diverse language, religion and ethnicity. There are undoubtedly various reasons behind this success. The management sense based on "justice", "principle of merit" and " law of embezzlement" are among the most important factors. The empire for it's time was quite successful at including to the state system kind of people who regardless of race and religion would benefit the empire. Another distinguishing feature of the Ottoman state-society organization lies in its flexibility in management and pragmatism-based approach. The head of the judicial mechanism in the Ottoman state system was the sultan and this responsibility was carried out in his behalf by judicial and administrative officials. The empire was very sensitive in protecting all citizens under its rule against injustice, cruelty and disservice. In this manner, citizens who were persecuted, aggrieved or did not like the decision given by the local court, without any intermediary had the right to appeal to sultan or to authorities or organizations which were authorized by sultan to relief the grievances. At first, the complaints on the Divan-ı Hümayun (supreme court in Ottoman Empire) and their solutions were written in Mühimme Registers. Starting from the second half of the XVII. century, issues related to the complaints began to be recorded in registers without any distinction of province. In the following periods, along with the weakening of the central authority, the number of registers increased, and in parallel to this, the work load on the register numbers increased. For this reason, a separate register for each province was created and outcome of proceedings coming to the center started to be recorded in these registers. Thus, in the supreme court, the ahkâm registers came into existance when a series of decisions given after the public's complaints were recorded in registers belonging to different regions. This work is based on ahkâm registers archival sources that contain important indications of the functioning of the Ottoman bureaucracy and of the existence of the Ottoman law. Owing to the study of Karaman Ahkâm Register (pp. 122-197): Numbered 1, it is possible to see the functioning of the state-nation organization in the Ottoman Empire and to determine the approach of citizens to state and the state to citizens in the context of the legal background. Under the favour of these records, it is also possible to reveal the political, economic, cultural and cultural processes of the Ottoman country side over time. After all, this study reveals the organization experience of state-nation system besides the practice of Ottoman state-nation organization; so to speak, pictures us that historical period. In this respect, Karaman Ahkâm Register (pp. 122-197): Numbered 1 is important because it sheds light on the political, economic and cultural aspects of Karaman Province.