Turkey's national credit agency, Japan Credit Agency JCR Eurasia, has determined its board members, according to a statement released by the agency on Jan. Prostitution in the Ottoman Empire Niki Gamm Prostitution, they claim, is the oldest profession in the world, but when it comes to Ottoman times very little is known - not just because little research has been done on it.
While marriage, divorce, slavery and adultery are extensively regulated in Ottoman customary law and Muslim law, the sharia, prostitution is not. The complaint was that these women were openly engaged in prostitution. Of the five women, only Arap Fati refused to appear before the judge when summoned. It was decided that the houses of these women would be sold and the women expelled from the city. Her anger arose over the fact that she had had the same situation occur to her in a different area of Istanbul and, as her husband was a Janissary and therefore out on one of the many military campaigns, she had turned to prostitution to survive.
Needless to say, her house was sold and she was remanded to prison until her husband returned. Just two years after the anecdote cited above, Sultan Selim II r. Obviously, the call to stamp out prostitution was not very successful because it was too easy to bribe the related officials into looking the other way.
The author also cites the instance of the governor of Damascus in the 18th century who gave up on decrees and punishments and instead demanded a monthly payment from each prostitute. Usually the servants in these places were beautiful young boys, although the entertainment might be provided by women dancing and singing.
By this time trafficking in women from the Balkans was well established in Istanbul, with gangs recruiting and circulating women through a number of destinations such as Izmir and Trieste. Foreigners were granted permission to work out of whore houses in certain areas while Muslim women were technically forbidden from engaging in prostitution. However, the latter were known to be operating in houses in Muslim districts such as Aksaray with the full knowledge of neighbors.
