"كردستان والأكراد" [ظ‎‎٣] (١٢٢/٦)

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Territory in the Ottoman Empire* was divided for the purposes of
government into four administrative units, called the vildyah, the sanjaq,
the qaza and the nahiyah ; these were borrowed from the French system,
and they corresponded respectively to the departement, arrondissement,
canton and commune. A vildyah was governed by a vdli, assisted by a
provincial council, known as 'idarat majlis, a sanjaq by a mutesarrif, a
qazd by a qaimmaqam (or prefect), and a nahiyah by a mudir (or mayor).
The chief official through whom the government acted was, of course, the
governor {vdli), who was appointed by the Sultan himself ; he controlled
all branches of the administration except the military and judicial
.officials. The gendannerie, the civil police, and the collection of the
revenue in particular were in his hands. He was assisted by a defterdar
(accountant-general), and a mektubji (secretary-general), who was above
all the chief of police. The vali had also an advisory council, an
institution which is characteristic of the Turkish system ; for the
mutesarrif, the qaimmaqam, the mudir and the mukhtar, who was the
headman of the village {qariyah) had all their advisory councils. These
councils were composed partly of regular officials in the administration and
partly of local representatives ; but they possessed only advisory powers.
The unsuccess of the administration was due not so much to causes of failure
inherent in the system, but to the Turkish method of carrying it out.
The authority of the vali was weakened by the fact that many other
officials were appointed directly from Constantinople ; he had consequently
very little influence over subordinates who were often nominated without
reference to, or directly against his wishes. Further, a whole army of
spies pervaded the country and sent in direct reports to the government.
And, lastly, the local bodies were useless; officially they had no powers;
practically, they were in many cases deeply interested in local politics,
and used their influence with the governor to further the wishes of
a particular faction or in the interests of their own business.
The provincial gendarmerie, called zaptiah, was half infantry, half
cavalry in character. The organisation was military and was in the hands
of a special branch of the War Office; the officers were partly regular
soldiers and partly civilians. The gendarmes were dispersed in small
groups, on such miscellaneous duties as the collecting of taxes, hunting
criminals, escorting visitors across the country, or garrisoning outlying
posts. The men were sturdy and often courageous, but they were too
scattered to form a strong body and were almost always incapable of
dealing with the lawlessness that prevailed in Kurdistan. And the fact
that their pay was generally in arrears formed a strong temptation to
accept bribes in return for the escape of criminals and other nefarious
practices. In the towns also the civil police were normally too weak to
exercise any effective control over the population.
* Kurdistan was annexed to the Ottoman Empire by the Sultan Selim I.
(A.D. 1512-1520).