TRENDEFRAtlas of the Sultans · Glossary
Term · Sovereignty and central government
Also known as: chief military judge
A senior judicial official on the Imperial Council who heard the cases of the military class and had a say in the appointment of kadis.
The title, formed from the words “kadi” and “army”, took the form kazasker among the Ottomans. In the last year of Mehmed the Conqueror's reign the office was split into two: the kazaskers of Rumelia and of Anatolia. The kazaskers were the highest members of the learned class after the şeyhülislam.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, article “KAZASKER” (in Turkish); text condensed for the atlas.