Dynamics of legal and economy-political confiscations in the Ottoman Empire (1770-1839)

This thesis is written with the aim of categorizing confiscations implement-ed by seizing assets in the Ottoman Empire into two categories: legal and econom-ic-political and determining the dynamics behind this categorization. The problem of the thesis can be formulated as the analysis of similarities and differences be-tween legal and socio-economic-political confiscations and the identification of the dynamics behind such confiscations. To solve the stated question and achieve the purpose of the thesis, 344 regis-ters located in the State Archives Directorate Ottoman Archives D.BŞM.MHF.d fund were examined, and confiscation cases covering 26 provinces from 1770 to 1839 were investigated. Philosophical and historical grounding, descriptive analy-sis, and statistical methods were employed to reveal the confiscations and identify the dynamics shaping them. In this context, the first section provides the historical, theoretical, and practical background of the confiscation phenomenon, forming a conceptual framework for confiscation. In the second section, legal and economic-political confiscations are defined, and descriptive analyses are conducted. The third section compares confiscations based on parameters and investigates the dy-namics influencing their emergence. As a result of the comparisons, it was found that confiscations differ accord-ing to dynamics. Moreover, it was observed that the dynamics influencing legal confiscations remained within the boundaries of Ottoman state mentality, while in economic-political confiscations, there were situations pushing the boundaries of state mentality.