'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎142] (151/568)

142
ADMINTSTRATIOX
Local Government
I!
In the following sketch of Turkish administration in Mesopotamia ii[
the paper scheme of government is described. But it is to be Hi
remembered that ' no country which turned to the eye of the world i
an appearance of established rule and centralized government was to it
a greater extent than the Ottoman Empire a land of make-believe. 1
... It [the Empire] ran not on the paper ordinances, but on unwritten Is
law, unrecorded provisions of Government, habits of command and a
of obedience inherited from a remote past and applicable to an f
immediate present which was not so very dissimilar from the past; up
it was founded, not on the power and efficiency of Vali and Com-
mandant, but on the authority of village headman, tribal sheikh, and ik
local Seyyid. . . . The power of sheikh or headman was derived II
neither from the Sultan nor from the Constitution, nor can it fall with «
them. It is deeply rooted in the life of the people, and with wise pi
supervision will form for several generations to come the staple of law ■
and order.' Turkish administration was more or less effective in I
certain limited areas—chiefly in some of the larger towns ; but even i
in many of the towns mujtahids, sheikhs, begs, and aghas were often «
more influential than the local officials. Over by far the greater fe
part of the country it was not Ottoman jurisdiction that held society til
together, but tribal or local custom, administered by sheikhs and a
headmen, or the arbitration of holy men (compare pp. 99-100). As for »1
taxation, a large proportion of the population only made irregular and A
partial payments extracted from them by force or management; many |t
tribes and districts could escape taxation altogether for years on |
end. The dealings of the Turkish Government with the Arab and nl
Kurdish tribes were a mixture of diplomacy and spasmodic displays m
of force which generally had little or no permanent results, and |
were as likely to do harm as good. It was neither strong enough
nor wise enough to maintain a proper supervision of the sheikhs and
aghas, and on the other hand it cherished an ideal of centralization
which fed it to interfere with them clumsily and ineffectually. ]
Every civil officer from the vali down to the mukhtar was assisted i
by a civil administrative council, of which he was president, us
composed in part of officials and in part of non-official members who ml
were selected by the local government from short lists of names sub- jf
mitted by the communities concerned. These councils had only |
advisory powers, and met about four times a year. The head-quarter ml
towns of sanjaqs and kazas were organized as municipalities, and *]
the affairs of each were supposed to be administered by a municipal fc
committee. These committees had no more powers than the admini- m
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