Supervision of foreign and minority schools in the Ottoman state according to archive sources
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22633/rpge.v29iesp4.20755Keywords:
Ottoman State, Foreign School, Regulation, InspectionAbstract
The issue of non-Muslim schools in the Ottoman Empire began after the conquest of Istanbul, when church-based religious classes gradually became schools. As the empire weakened and granted capitulations, foreign powers rapidly established private schools, especially after Article 129 of the 1869 Educational Regulations. The growing number of institutions created inspection challenges, leading to new regulations covering both school activities and related events such as theatre, ballet, and lotteries. This study uses qualitative document analysis from the Ottoman State Archives, including transcripts of the examined materials. The findings show that the empire’s religious tolerance allowed communities to open schools for their own religious education, but this also increased foreign influence over non-Muslim subjects. Despite efforts, effective control was not achieved until World War I and the abolition of capitulations. The Republic of Turkey later resolved the issue by unifying all schools under the Ministry of Education through the Law of Unification of Education.
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