MODERNLEŞME OLGUSUNUN OSMANLI TOPLUM YAŞAMINA YANSIMALARI V E TA'ADDÜD-İ ZEVCAT (ÇOKEŞLİLİK) SORUNU

From the Middle Eastern Islamic societies point of view, polygamy had always been seen as a primary characteristic of the family institution. Taking this thesis into account, the Orientalist tradition that studies the family institution in the Ottoman Empire, presented that polygamy was a common concept within the Ottoman society. However, contrary to this, the latest research revealed that even though polygamy was present in the Ottoman Empire, it was not the common style of marriage. Marriage with more than one female differed from district to district and also the economics status was also essential in such kind of marriage. The modernisation process, while reforming the agricultural structure and causing a change in the structure of the society, also brought up the argument concerning the legal status and the composition of the marriage. As modernisation process referred to the status of women within the family, intellectuals of different ideologies begun to question the suitability of polygamy to the new social structure. Even though different views appeared, they all was presented in the Hukuk-u Aile Kararnamesi (Civil Code) approved in 1917, which did not abolished polygamy, but left it under the consent of the female; also for the first time this civil code gave the female the right to propose a divorce. However this code was a short lived experience during the extraordinary years of the First World War. Even though, this code appeared as a short lived experience, it was a primary step towards the modern Civil Code which was approved in 1926. This article discusses different approaches that concern polygamy and the family structure in the Ottoman society during the modernisation process.