Effect of abolition of tithe tax on the peasant and socio-economic reflections (1925-1950)

"Tithe", wich is the plural of "öşür" meaning "one tenth" in Arabic, was tax of 10% for land products from the peasansts during the Ottoman State. This tax, wich constitutes an important source of income for the state, was collected from the peasantry by various methods. This economic structure, inherited from the Ottoman State, has continued its existence since the first years of the Republic. This tax, wich was allocated in kind with the tax farming method, was an important source of income for the treasury in the first years of the Republic. One of the issues that was emphasized in the periods when the Republic was declared was to ensure the development and progress of the existing economic structure. However, the economy of this state, where the majority of the population was peasants, was based on an old, primitive economy. This situation was a problem for new economic policies. The new state, which sees modernization as a duty, aimed to determine economic policies that would increase the welfare level in line with its age. When the "Turkey Economy Congress" was held in İzmir on February 17 1923, the basic economic characteristics of the new Turkey were determined; among the economic measures taken, decisions regarding the abolition of tithe were also taken. Tithe tax was abolished with the law enacted in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1925, thus the tax burden of the peasant was alleviated. This revolutionary decision temporarily eliminated the troubled period in the economy, but the state wanted to compensate for the loss in the economy by imposing new taxes. The fact that tithe was an important source of income for the Ottoman State and the Republic of Turkey made the phases and results of the abolition of this tax important. Especially during the Ottoman State period, this tax, which was directly transferred to the treasury, started to put pressure on the peasantry over time, and the tithe was collected again in various ways and methods. However, as with every institution, method and policy, the fact that the tithe tax, which constitutes one of the dynamics of the economy, went beyond its purpose, or the mistakes made in the procedure filled the expiry date of this tax. The tithe that ends an empire and continued with a new state, will be doomed to change or disappear altogether. The new state envisaged to be built on solid economic foundations and planned to destroy everything about the old one. The Republican regime, which sees economic independence and political independence as equally, has taken steps towards becoming a strong economy and a fully independent state by taking the people with it. Did the peasent, who trusted they state find what they hoped after these measures were taken? Or did the newly implemented policies search for the old ones? In order to find answers to these questions, preparations were made in the light of the Ottoman-Republic archive documents and the parliamentary minutes of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In addition, this thesis aims to present a new point of view based on the periodical sources that hold the social and economic pulse of the period, works written about this process, various articles and theses. Keywords: Tithe, Tax, Ottoman State, Republic Period, Socio-Economic