Land Registration in Former Ottoman Lands: Salonica and its Environs 1917-1922

Year 2022, Volume: 32 Issue: 1, 33 - 60, 30.06.2022

Can Eyüp Çekiç

Abstract

Due to the pressure of migration and to solve the question of landless farmers, the Venizelos administration passed a Land Reform in 1917. It also offered the government a chance to secure its rights on the former Ottoman lands in Thessaly. According to the new law, one-fifth of the çiftliks shall be national property. The law further provides that the Greek Government is authorized to expropriate çiftliks at their pre-WWI value. While the lands of the Ottoman subjects absent from Greece were sequestered, British subjects applied British authorities to support their cases. Depending on British documents, this study first claims diverse issues such as the influence of Britain in Greece following WWI, the operations of the British legations in the region, the post-Ottoman statue of old çiftliks, the Levantine presence in the region, and land values in postwar Salonica constituting a single pattern that represents the transition from the empire to nation-states. Second, the study aims to expose how Britain, besides its military presence, tried to protect its economic interests in the region.

Keywords

Salonica, Levantine, Ottoman, Greece, Farm

Project Number

2219

Eski Osmanlı Topraklarında Mülkiyet Davaları: Selanik 1917-1922

Abstract

Bu çalışma Balkan Savaşları sonucunda bölgenin Yunan Devleti hakimiyetine giren Selanik ve çevresinde yaşanan mülkiyet sorunlarını inceliyor. Makale genel olarak 1917’de Venizelos Hükümeti’nin hem topraksız köylülere toprak verip hem de Osmanlı’dan kalan toprakların millileştirilmesi amacıyla uygulamaya koyduğu toprak reformunun sonuçlarını irdeliyor. Yunan Hükümeti bu kararla Osmanlı vatandaşlarının mülklerinin müsadere edildiğini açıklarken, geri kalan arazilerin ise beşte birinin kamulaştırıldığını ilan ederken, karşısına Osmanlı döneminde mülk sahibi olmuş İngiliz vatandaşlarının şikayetleri çıkıyor. Söz konusu İngiliz vatandaşları, Birinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında bölgedeki en önemli güç olan İngiltere’nin İstanbul’dan Malta’ya uzanan egemenliğine güveniyor ve davalarını savunması için İngiliz temsilciliklerine başvuruyor. Büyük ölçüde sözü geçen dava kayıtlarına dayanan bu çalışma ilk olarak, savaş sonrasında İngiltere’nin Yunanistan üzerindeki nüfuzu, İngiliz temsilciliklerinin çalışma biçimi, Osmanlı’dan sonra uzun bir süredir bölgede hâkim toprak rejimi olan çiftliklerin statüsü, bölgedeki Levanten yatırımları ve Selanik’teki arsa rantı gibi birbirinden farklı görünen konuların Osmanlı’dan ulus-devlete geçiş açısından belirli bir örüntünün parçaları olduğunu iddia ediyor. İkinci olarak ise savaş sonrasında İngiltere’nin bölgede en az askeri varlığı kadar ekonomik çıkarlarını da nasıl koruduğuna dikkati çekiyor.

Keywords

Selanik, Levanten, Osmanlı, Yunanistan, Çiftlik

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK

Project Number

2219

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