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In the publications of the Second Constitutional period, there was an agenda that the Ottoman population has generally decreased, the age of first marriage has increased, the rate of marriage fell and the family structure began to deteriorate. This agenda played an important role in shaping the policies of Union and Progress government on population and family and marriage as a topic became a public matter to be discussed on. In 1911, Yusuf Cemil Bey established The Office of Facilitating Marriage and Family Formation to promote marriage and family establishment in Çemberlitaş, Istanbul. In its published program, the Office claimed that it is performing its national duty by referring to the incentive population and marriage promotion policies of the Union and Progress government and evaluated its initiative as a private enterprise, which is the achievement of the Second Constitutional era. Ottoman political authorities, on the other hand, described this institution, which they cannot define as a community (cemiyet), as a kind of commercial club. This article examines the establishment, status and working manner of the Office of Facilitating Marriage and Family Formation by focusing on the writings and documents issued by political authorities and the Program published by the Office to introduce itself to the audience. In this context, it claims that although the Office legitimized its establishment according to the policy of facilitating marriage to increase population, the Office operated as a commercial enterprise that turned the search for marriage into a market in the atmosphere of Second Constitutional period and thus introduced the Ottoman society to a new practice of seeking marriage. • [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

İstanbul which was tried to increase its population by different ways after sovereignty of Otoman started to shelter a huge crowd of people in a short period. After the second half of 16th century, the population had exceeded the limits of The State that it could hardly cater for; thus, the problems such as security, food supply, providing domicile arose. The situation lasted increasingly in the following centuries. In 18th century, the crucial case for İstanbul, capital, to abate the augmenting population of city or to curb it. A spate of measures were taken and practiced for solution of this issue. Nevertheless, the excessive population growth seen in İstanbul could not have completely been hampered. In 18th century, similar cautions could be observed intermittently. Assorted violations constituted the leading reason of abolition of the issue. In this article, the justifications of banning migration from the outside to İstanbul, the measures taken for this aim and the encounterd difficulties are tried to be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]