Avret Pazarları

Avret Pazarları (Ottoman Turkish: پازار, romanized: Avret Pazarları), or female slave bazaar, was a market of female slaves located in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey), operating from the mid-15th century to the early 20th century. Many households owned female slaves, employing them as domestic servants. The Ottoman state regulated the slave market and imposed taxes on every slave transaction.

Women were captured from diverse African, Asian, and European regions and traded in Istanbul markets. In contrast to male slaves, women were often subject to sexual exploitation, with their sexuality considered the personal property of their owners. Female slaves were frequently valued based on physical attributes like beauty and entertaining skills, especially when chosen by elite men as slaves or concubines.

Slaves were sold to both commoners and the elite, including members of the Imperial Palace. Turkish media often overlooks non-elite or commoner women in slavery, instead focusing more on relatively privileged slaves in the Ottoman Imperial Harem. However, descriptions of Ottoman times do mention slaves owned by commoners in contemporary slave narratives, travelers' accounts, folk songs, late Ottoman Turkish novels, and 20th-century poems.

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