Kırım Savaşı, ıslahat fermanı ve Osmanlı eğitim düzeninde dönüşümler

This article elaborates the impact of the Crimean War (1853-1856) and the Reform Edict of 28 February 1856 on the educational modernization in the Ottoman Empire. Until 1856 Muslim education was primarily understood in terms of religious schools, controlled by pious foundations (vakıf). The existing modern schools were mainly founded for raising professionals (civil servants and military officers) for the Ottoman administration. The Reform Edict of 1856, which was to a certain extent imposed upon the Sublime Porte by the allies of the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War, provided non-Muslims legal equality with the Muslims, the right to found their own schools and to enter the civil service. These new conditions forced the Ottoman administration to accept a new educational approach which would provide public education for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.