Efforts to transition to the modern education system in the Ottoman Empire and its reflections on the country: The case of Alanya

Starting from the early Ottoman period, the role of statesmen and intellectuals was more decisive in the decision-making processes of the institutionalization and transformation activities of the education system in the line extending to the Tanzimat and Meşrutiyet periods. The political dominant power that assumed this role, as a classical Ottoman educational institution, mainly based on Islamic references in the formation process of madrasahs. The Sunni-Hanafi understanding inherited from the Seljuk madrasah tradition was influential in all processes, from the determination of the course curricula to the formation of the educational staff. This understanding was maintained as an official state tendency in the Ottoman classical era, that is, in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, in the same period, it is seen that the mental sciences began to appear in the curriculum of the courses. As of the 17th century, especially in madrasa education, deterioration began in parallel with the political and military problems experienced by the state. Afterwards, the 18th century brought with it a great transformation: Westernization. The state has achieved remarkable results to the extent that it has been able to cope with the problems posed by the processes of change and development in education. The process of modernization of education during and after the Tanzimat era coincided with the spread of primary and secondary education to the provinces. In this study, the phenomena that evolve the education process -from the center to the provinces- to modernization, have been tried to be handled in Alanya, based on archival records and research works. The reflections of the transition to the modern education system in the countryside, the institutionalization of education in Alanya, schooling, the supply of teachers and educational materials, although they will be scaled within the scope of micro-history, when considered together with other regional studies, show parallelism with the practices throughout the country.