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The Council of Ministers () was a cabinet created during the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mahmud II in what was the Ottoman 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. == Membership == With its members appointed by the Sultan, the Meclis-i Vükela political duties were an extension of the Sultan's executive power and agenda, however they often added their opinions to proposals before passing them along to the Sultan. Climaxing and culminating the executive organs of government on a central level, it was the principal executive and legislative coordinating body of the Ottoman plutocracy. The exact composition of the Council of Ministers varied however 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 department and arsenal of Istanbul, the undersecretary of the Grand Vizier, the directors of the departments 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, though 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 deliberative duties, 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 Meclis-i Vükela 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. Despite its dysfunction, innate to any bureaucratic body, the Meclis-i Vükela's role in the Ottoman government was of substantial importance. The Meclis-i Vükela acted as the closest governmental body of advisement to the Grand Vizier and Sultan on important issues as well as legislative proposals. The Meclis-i Vükela approved state budgets and parts of the legislative process and had the power to initiate state legislation. Decisions made by the Meclis-i Vükela were communicated in the form of discussion protocols (''muzakat zabut varakas'') and were presented for each matter brought before the Sultan. These formal protocols contained summaries of the issues, arguments pro and con and the council's final opinion.〔 Additionally, when legislative matters were involved these written protocols were accompanied by separate statements called ''mazabatas'', which contained the final versions of the laws as well as regulatory concerns and the principal arguments. The Meclis-i Vükela could and often did propose changes to laws received from adjacent legislative councils. However, the Sultan made the final decisions of these proposed laws with recognition to the advisement of the Meclis-i Vükela. As modernization forced changed within the socio-political structure of the Ottoman Empire, its government cabinets followed, often being dissolved and reintroduced only years later. In 1866, Sultan Abdülaziz, son of Mahmud II, the Sultan who created the Meclis-i Vükela, changed the political role of the Council of Ministers. Sultan Abdülaziz consolidated his personal Privy Council along with Meclis-i Vükela into his own personal advisory cabinet known as the Yaveran-I Ekrem.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Council of Ministers (Ottoman Empire)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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