Vilayet Law

The 1864 “VIlayet Law” (Turkish: Teskil-i Vilayet Nizamnamesi, translated to “Statute for Formation of Province”) was introduced during the Tanzimat era of the Ottoman Empire administration. This era of administration was marked by reform movements, with provincial movements led largely by Midhat Paşa, a key player in the Vilayet Law itself. The Vilayet Law reorganized the provinces within the empire, replacing the eyalet system.

Instituted by Murad I, the eyalet system divided the empire into provinces, beginning with Rumelia in the Balkans and Anatolia in Asia Minor. Eyalets were governed by a beylerbey, or “lord of lords.” The eyalet contained subdivisions, called sanjaks.

Considered by some to model closely after the French Prefet system, the “Statute for Formation of Province” subdivided the provinces of the empire further than the eyalet system had. Where the eyalet system had only sanjaks as subdivisions, the vilayet system included kazas (smaller administrative units), towns (kasabat), villages (karye) or village clusters (nahiye). Although the organizational titles were not created as a result of the Vilayet Law, the hierarchy in which they were set was.

Each vilayet was divided into numerous integral units. Within each sanjak was a city center. Furthermore, each sanjak contained smaller administrative units, called kazas. Sanjaks, as administrative units, had existed within the empire for centuries.

The term kaza was originally used to designate areas of jurisdiction particular to each individual Islamic (Shari'a) court. The kaza, as an administrative unit, had existed within the empire since 1840. A particular and key feature of a kaza was that it was easy to reorganize at the discretion of the government: villages could be transferred between the existing kazas of a sanjak, while not necessarily eliminating a kaza in the process.

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