Kara Kh. Institutional peculiarities of charity in Turkey

Abstract: This article analyzes the institution of mutual aid – waqf. The author examines the example of the Turkish waqfs. The subject of the research is the history of development of the waqf system in Turkey, while the object is the Turkish waqfs. The author thoroughly examines the types and functions of the waqfs, and gives special attention to the legal aspect of the question. He also describes the gradual evolution of the waqf system within time and under the influence of the changing political and socioeconomic conditions. A peculiar attention is also given to the types of social aid, which the waqfs historically provide to people in need. As the methodological base the author uses the comparative method for comparing the waqf system in the Ottoman Empire and in the modern Turkey, as well as the principle of historicism for tracking the emergence and development of the analyzing phenomena with consideration of a specific historical situation. If in the Ottoman Empire, the waqfs were primarily the religious institutions, then with the collapse of the Empire and with the arrival of nationalists to power led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, we can observe the processes of secularization of the waqf system. With the codification of the new legislation in 1967, the activity of waqfs takes on commercial character. And within time, the majority of waqfs have lost their religious nature. On the new stage of historical development, the waqfs in its own way become the triggers of the social mobilization and the means of realization of civil activity. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that the topic of charity in the Muslim societies is very little-studied within the Russian historiography. This article can be interesting for the historians, sociologists, as well as specialists majoring Turkey and Near East.

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