The last regulation on pharmacy issued by the Ottoman State: Eczacılar ve Eczaneler Hakkında Karaname (1922)

 Nuran Yıldırım

First regulation on pharmacy issued by the Ottoman State was the Nizamname-i Eczacıyan Der Memalik-i Osmaniye (Réglement sur la pharmacie civile) dated 1852 (h.1268). The second regulation Beledi İspençiyarlık Sanatının İcrasına Dair Nizamname (Réglement sur l'exercice de la pharmacie civile came out in 1861 (h.1277). Although the latter underwent diverse changes, it was effective for a long time. Finally it was replaced in 1927 by "Eczacılar ve Eczaneler Hakkında Kanun" (The law on pharmacists and drugstores) that was prepared by the republican government within the framework of reforms.

A third regulation the Eczacılar ve Eczaneler Hakkında Karaname (The regulation on pharmacists and drugstores) was issued in 1922 in the last year of the Ottoman State. The present study aims to introduce this regulation that was not surveyed in the Turkish literature of pharmaceutical history. The process followed in its preparation, its legal position and the renovations it brought to the practice of pharmacy in Turkey will also be examined.

The regulation was published in the Takvim-i Vekayi following the decree dated 1 July 1922 and became valid from this date on. It includes 46 paragraphs concerning the qualifications of pharmacists, drugstores, preparations of drugs, prescriptions, drugstores located in official and private hospitals, inspection of pharmacies and the penalties to be applied in case of non-conformity to the regulation.

In the year the regulation was issued, two governments (the "Ottoman Government" in Istanbul and the "National Assembly Government" in Ankara) were acting in Turkey. A few months later, the decree legalising the regulation became invalid since the Ankara government refused to adopt the laws issued by the Ottoman Government in Istanbul . According to the continuity principle in State affairs, the 1861 dated regulation on pharmaceutical issues (Beledî İspençiyarlık Sanatının İcrasına Dair Nizamname) continued to be applied until the 1927 law passed.