Kaza

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This article is about the Ottoman and Arab administrative unit. For other uses, see Kaza (disambiguation)

Kaza, qadaa, qaza, qazaa, or caza (Arabic: قضاء‎ qaḍāʾ [qɑd̪ˁɑː], plural أقضية aqḍiyah [ɑqd̪ˁijɑ]; Ottoman Turkish pronunciation [kazaː]) is a term for a subnational entity in the Arab world and formerly throughout the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman pronunciation gives the usual English forms, kaza or caza.

In the Ottoman Empire, it was an administrative district subject to the jurisdiction of a judge (qazi) and governed by a kaymakam. It was a subdivision of a sanjak and corresponded roughly to a city with its surrounding villages.

The early Republic of Turkey continued to use the term kaza, but renamed them to ilçe in the 1920's.

The qadaa is used for:

• The Districts of Lebanon
• The Districts of Iraq
• Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire