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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
The administrative system imposed by the Turks was typical of
that found elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire. Tripolitania, as all
three historic regions were collectively designated, became a
Turkish vilayet (province) under a wali (governor
general) appointed by the sultan. The province was composed of four
sanjaks (subprovinces), each administered by a
mutasarrif (lieutenant governor) responsible to the governor
general. These subprovinces were each divided into about fifteen
districts.
Executive officers from the governor general downward were
Turks. The mutasarrif was in some cases assisted by an
advisory council and, at the lower levels, Turkish officials relied
on aid and counsel from the tribal shaykhs. Administrative
districts below the subprovincial level corresponded to the tribal
areas that remained the focus of the Arabs' identification.
Although the system was logical and appeared efficient on
paper, it was never consistently applied throughout the country.
The Turks encountered strong local opposition through the 1850s and
showed little interest in implementing Ottoman control over Fezzan
and the interior of Cyrenaica. In 1879 Cyrenaica was separated from
Tripolitania, its mutasarrif reporting thereafter directly
to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). After the 1908 reform of
the Ottoman government, both were entitled to send representatives
to the Turkish parliament.
In an effort to provide the country with a tax base, the Turks
attempted unsuccessfully to stimulate agriculture. However, in
general, nineteenth-century Ottoman rule was characterized by
corruption, revolt, and repression. The region was a backwater
province in a decaying empire that had been dubbed the "sick man of
Europe."
Data as of 1987
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