Council of Ministers (Ottoman Empire)

The Council of Ministers (Ottoman Turkish: Meclis-i Vükela or Heyet-i Vükela‎) was a cabinet created during the Tanzimat period in the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mahmud II in what was the Empire's first step towards European modernization. It was formed to coordinate the executive activities of the ministry and form the policy of the Ottoman power structure, as well as approve or disapprove legislative proposals before being presented to the Sultan.

With its members appointed by the Sultan, the Meclis-i Vükela's duties were an extension of his executive power and agenda, however they often added their opinions to proposals before passing them along to the Sultan. Culminating the executive organs of government on a central level, it was the principal executive and legislative coordinating body of the Ottoman . The exact composition of the Council of Ministers varied, but it usually consisted of leading ministers of the Ottoman state, the Shaykh al-Islām, the Serasker and the Grand Admiral, or more often their undersecretaries: the directors of the police and arsenal of Istanbul, the undersecretary of the Grand Vizier, the heads of the department of excise taxes (Rusumat Emini) and the lieutenant (Kethüda) of the queen mother, who represented the Sultan's palace.

Because members were appointed by and responsible to the sultan for their departments, they were relatively independent of the Grand Vizier, although he often chaired the Meclis-i Vükela cabinet. The lack of central leadership within the Meclis-i Vükela frequently allowed for individual and party politics to predominate in its work, often making it difficult to conduct business. The Meclis-i Vükela however performed a number of important ceremonial, legal and political functions. After 1850, it was the Council that swore fealty to new Sultans in the official ceremony of enthronement, followed by the more general oath taken by all ruling class members of Ottoman society that where present during the ceremony.

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