Osmanlı Devleti’nde Gayrimüslimlerin Temel Hak ve Hürriyetleri Bağlamında Vakıf Kurma Hakkı

The Ottoman Empire is one of the strongest and longest lasting Islamic states in history. The most important factor that ensures the longevity of the Ottoman Empire is that it has adopted the understanding of tolerance that gathers people of different ethnic and religious structures under the same roof. The Ottoman Empire governed its non-Muslim subjects according to the millet system, which was a manifestation of this understanding of tolerance, which was compatible with the general understanding of Islamic culture and was made more systematic during the reign of Fatih. Millet system refers to the form of government in which each religious group has a semi-autonomous administration under the leadership of its own clergy, under the control of a strong central government. Another reason why human communities of different structures lived together in peace in the Ottoman Empire is that the Ottoman Empire, despite being an Islamic state, gave almost all the rights it gave to Muslims to non-Muslims. The most important of these rights is the right to establish a foundation. Foundation, the property of a property for the purpose of doing good to Allah; its interests are left to the public. Foundations in the Ottoman period provided the execution of many public service activities such as education and training services, health services, cultural services, security and transportation services, social security services, urban services and economic services, which are among the most important state activities today. Considering these services and effects of foundations in Ottoman society; The recognition of the right to establish foundations for non-Muslim communities gives the impression that non-Muslims are given a separate administrative autonomy through foundations. This situation contradicts the administrative understanding of the Ottoman Empire, which had a centralized and authoritarian structure. In this context, the Ottoman State established a balance between the right of non-Muslims to establish foundations and the state authority, and the right of non-Muslims to establish foundations was subject to different restrictions than Muslims. However, these restrictions imposed on non-Muslims were not such as to prevent them from establishing foundations, and they were able to meet the public service needs of the society through foundations.