Citizens' expectations, requests and complaints from the state in the light of the decisions of the Arzuhal Council of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (1925-1931)

The right to petition, which is one of the basic human rights, has emerged as a result of the relationship between the rulers and the ruled in the historical process. The governed felt the need to convey their expectations, demands and complaints to the rulers in various ways. As a result of this need, various application authorities have emerged within the state mechanism. These authorities were sometimes the palace of a ruler and sometimes a parliament. The right to petition was included in the 1876 Constitution for the first time as a constitutional right in Ottoman history, and it continued to exist as a constitutional right in the following periods. The people had the right to submit petitions to the Ayan and Deputies assemblies to convey their demands and complaints. Arzuhal Committee was one of the first committees that started to work after the opening of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and evaluated the petitions coming from the people. This situation continued in the period after the proclamation of the Republic, and since 1925, the decisions of the Arzuhal Committee began to be published every Saturday. In this study, the expectations, demands and complaints of the people from the state before the Turkish Grand National Assembly through the decisions of the Arzuhal Committee between 1925 and 1931 were analyzed and the most prominent topics in the period were selected. In the period we examined, special commissions and the demand for the medal of independence come to the fore in military requests. In social and economic requests, complaints were mostly made about taxes, and financial aid was requested from the state from time to time for various reasons. In the title of education, in addition to the complaints from the students whose registrations have been deleted from the schools, the requests of some citizens to open schools in the places where they live came to the fore. In requests regarding bureaucracy and administrative procedures, complaints were generally made about pensions, bonuses, underpaid salaries and allowances. In addition to these, issues such as unfair dismissal or assignment to an appropriate position are among the prominent topics. In judicial petitions, the main issues consist of complaints from judges and courts, requests for retrial and amnesty, and complaints about bar associations. Keywords: Right to Petition, Petition, Parliamentary Petitions Committee, Demands, Complaints