Kaymakam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A kaymakam (also spelled kaimakam and caimacam) is the title used for the governor of a provincial district in the Republic of Turkey; additionally, it was a title used for roughly the same official position in the Ottoman Empire.

1 Etymology
2 History
3 Kaymakams as an official rank
4 Kaymakams as a military rank
5 See also

[edit] Etymology

The modern Turkish term kaymakam or kaimakam originally comes from two Arabic words as used in Ottoman Turkish: kâim (قائم), meaning "in the place of"; and makâm (مقام), originally used for "place" but, in this context, used with the sense of "office", "position", or "state". Thus, in Ottoman times, a kâim-makâm was a state officer who was considered a representative of the sultan at a local level; today, a kaymakam is a representative of the government or state at a local level.

[edit] History

According to some, the first kaymakam in history was ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who is supposed to have been appointed by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, as the first rightful caliph. Thus, ‘Alī was considered to be serving "in the place of" Muhammad.

The term has a more specific meaning in Moldavian and Wallachian history, where it refers to a temporary replacement for a Hospodar ("prince"), in and after Phanariote rule, as well as the delegates of the Oltenian Ban in Craiova after the main office was moved to Bucharest during the same period (1761). In this context, the word may be spelled caimacam, while the Romanian term for the office is căimăcămie.

In the Ottoman army, as well as in the Egypt of Muhammad Ali, the title of kaymakam came to be used for a lieutenant colonel; it was also applied to naval commanders in the same context. Mustafa Kemal, the founder of modern Turkey, also served as a kaymakam for the 57th regiment in the Battle of Gallipoli.