THE PRACTICE OF THE OTTOMAN LEGAL SYSTEM IN IRAQ IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

Abstract

Having been home to important civilizations throughout history, the geography of Iraq has been the scene of constant power struggle due to its rich natural resources. The fact that the communities living in this geography consist of diverse ethnic groups affiliated with different religions has led their exposure to foreign interventions with various excuses. Witnessed many times throughout the history, today the interventions in question still continue. Foreign interventions generally constituted the usual policies of the imperial states and the leading actor of these operations has been Britain. The issue has become more complex following the insatiable appetite of some countries for oil resources in the 21st century. Conflict of interests in this regard has led to instability and chaos in the region. The intensity of the conflict has reached a level that may lead to the formation and fragmentation of the countries in the region depending on the conditions of the day and the power and shaping of the local authorities. By bringing the cultural heritage and differences in the social structure to the forefront rather than the common values shared by the communities, the conflict has been flared up increasing its intensity and thus, human tragedies based on ethnicity, religious and sectarian affiliations have become unavoidable. The intervention of the colonialist states continues in different forms and intensities in Iraq, which has shared the same fate with the region. During the period of the Ottomans, which dominated the region for centuries, such negativities were least experienced, and even owing to the legal order of the period, the phenomenon of the Pax Ottomana occured at the highest level when the Ottoman state were powerful in the region. The decline in the power of the Ottomans has been a major factor in the fate and drama of the region.