A Sample of Compulsory Work in the Last Periods of Ottoman Empire: Compulsory Work in Road Construction (1861-1908)

Throughout the history, several countries made it compulsory for their citizens to do some kind of public services. It’s also possible to see these kind of samples in Ottoman Empire. Compulsory works are generally encountered in agriculture, mining, construction works and military industry. Among these, the first sample of compulsory work in road construction category is seen in legislative regulation in 1861. According to this regulation, all the men who are between 18-60 and who don’t have any injuries or illnesses are obliged to work in road construction for 20 days in a year. However, some are exempt from compulsory road construction works such as public officers, imams, teachers, priests and rabbis. Besides, due to a change made in 1890, an exemption procedure in return to pecuniary consideration is brought as alternative to compulsory work in road construction. Ones who are obliged, either work for 4 days a year or pay 12 kurus as tax to be exempted. Finally, it can be seen in “Umûr-i Nâfia Regulation” dated 1908 that the importance of pecuniary consideration surpasses physically compulsory work. In this study, it is aimed to put forward a sample of compulsory work implementations by examining regulations about compulsory works in road construction during the last periods of Ottoman Empire.