THE HISTORICAL PROCESS OF THE REVOLUTION OF THE UNIT OF MEASUREMENT, ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON MEASUREMENT UNITS

Abstract

The units of measurement have been an indispensable requirement from the emergence of the first human societies to the present day. Each community has used different units for measurement purposes and the units of measurement have spread over the societies and different geographies with the introduction of the communicative tools. The holy books provided recommendations and order regarding the measurements and weights. The Turks have made use of such units of measurements from the very time of their history and encountered with different units as a consequence of the commercial deals, migration, acceptance of Islam and new conquests during Seljuk and Ottoman periods, not only were the traditional units of measurement in use, but also the local units within the regions already conquered. The surplus of the units of measurement and the fact that similar units valued differently in different districts of the country led to problems in commercial activities, industry and taxation etc. Although the contemporary measurement units were introduced by the Ottoman Empire through a Statue Book in 1869, it failed to settle the confusions in measurement completely. After the proclamation of the Republic, the Law of Measurement Units became effective starting as of December 31, 1933 following the bill was passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on March 19, 1931 as a consequence of the legislation studies.