Abolition of “the Sheikhdom System”: Initiatives of Land Reform in the Province of Basrah (1908-1914)

A large majority of the population of Basrah Province in the 19th century was constituted by tribes, mostly providing their livelihood with agriculture. The agricultural lands were owned largely by the tribal sheikhs in a system, which was named by the Ottomans as “the Sheikhdom System”. Midhat Pasha had attempted to finalize this system during his governorship of Baghdad (1869-72). In doing so, Midhat Pasha gave the right of use of land directly to small farmers by which he had aimed to establish a direct relationship between tribal members and the state. However, this attempt was interrupted due to annexation of large proportions of land in Iraq to the Saniyye Lands in the reign of Abdulhamid II, but revived during the Second Constitutional era. Therefore the land reform, which was tried to implement in Basra province by pro-CUP governments, and the reasons underlying the implementation and responses of the public and local authorities to reform scheme will be analyzed