Abstract:

The smallest unit that constitutes the Ottoman social structure is the family. Since the continuity of the family means the continuity of the generation, it is very important to maintain it. However, in cases where the sustainability of the marriage has disappeared, divorce events have/had to be experienced. Divorce in classical Ottoman society was generally monopolized by men. Based on this sentence, divorces were common in the form of men divorcing women by using their talaq authority. Another possibility is an uncontested divorce. Men and women can get divorced by mutual agreement with each other. The practice of Muhâle'a means an uncontested divorce and whichever of the parties wanted the divorce would take the financial burden of the divorce. Particularly in the muhâle'a practice, which is shown as a way of divorce for women, the party wishing to divorce must submit an offer to the other party. However, in the Üsküdar records examined, the situation was reversed and it was determined that although there were women who wanted to divorce with muhâle'a, conditional offers were sent from men to women. At this point, the question of whether women are divorced or forced to divorce has emerged. The third form of divorce is separation. Divorcing men by women could only happen if the man gave this right to his wife at the time of marriage. The court records of the Üsküdar kadi, which is one of the three great kadi (Eyüp-Galata-Üsküdar) and expressed as bilad-ı selâse, were used. Thanks to the data obtained by scanning some books from the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, which were reflected in the Üsküdar court, the disputes experienced during and after the divorce were evaluated and tried to be explained under the relevant headings.

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