Aksaray Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi

Abstract

After the
declaration of the Second Constitutional Monarchy, some important changes were
made in the central and provincial organizations of the courthouses. In this
context, the lack of personnel of the organization was tried to be solved, new
courthouse buildings were built in the provinces and courts were opened and
attention was paid to make the inspection mechanism operational. In addition,
measures have been taken to reduce the workload of the courts and to carry out
the procedures quickly. What were the consequences of all these steps in the
work and proceedings of the courts in Anatolia? The answer to this question was
largely learned from the letters of Ahmet Şerif Bey, an author of Tanin newspaper, to his newspaper during
his Anatolian trip. Since Ahmet Şerif's travel letters were written immediately
after the 1908 revolution, he gave valuable information about how the
political, social and economic structure of the period was reflected in
Anatolia. In particular, his determinations of the fundamental elements of the
justice system, such as the courts, court personnel and the proceedings, are
quite striking. Although he was a Unionist himself, Ahmet Şerif expressed her
views on these issues with an objective view and he did not fail to criticize
the governments and rulers of the time.In this study, Ahmet Şerif’s opinions
about the physical situation of the provincial courts, working environments and
how the proceedings are conducted are evaluated with examples. In this study,
the book titled Tanin in Anatolia,
that contains Ahmet Şerif Bey's letters were published in Tanin, archival
documents and some research works were used.