The State and “Gypsies” in the Late-Ottoman Empire: The Issues of Tax, Military Service and Denomination

The modernization movements in the 19th century affected fundamentally the peripatetic and late-peripatetic groups who were denominated as K？bt？ (Gypsy) or ？ingene by the Ottoman Empire. The changes regarding the policies of tax and military service and the issue of denomination were not just formal innovations, but they also resulted in crucial changes concerning the life trajectories of individuals belonging the peripatetic and late-peripatetic groups. Thus, the events such as the decision of Muslim K？bt？s’ conscription and the abolition of specific K？bt？ poll-tax in 1873, the disuse of the term K？bt？-i Müslim in terms of securing the integrity of Muslims in the census of 1881 and the reinclusion of the term into the census terminology on the purpose of protecting the nation (muhafaza-i kavmiyyet) in 1905 were amongst the crucial events of the period. In this study, I will historicize the relations between the state and “Gypsies” in the context of the aforementioned events drawing upon archival documents, majority of which are examined for the first tim