Akhi Principles According to the Perceptions of Local Tourists: The Case of İstanbul Grand Bazaar

Abstract

The understanding of Akhi, which regulates social and economic life with its philosophy and
activities in the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, is one of the important institutions that contributed
to the development of tradesmen and craftsmen in particular and the whole society in general.
Many practices implemented by today's craftsmen and craftsmen show themselves as the
continuation of the Akhi tradition. But in time, the principles of the Akhi understanding were
abandoned and the principles introduced by the capitalist order were adopted. The aim of the
study is to evaluate the status of the İstanbul Grand Bazaar Tradesmen and Craftsmen, which has
a great importance in terms of tourism, the principles of akhism according to the comments made
by local tourists on the Tripadvisor travel site. Qualitative research approach was used in the study. 727 comments created by users on Tripadvisor were examined, 47 comments with the
keywords of tradesmen, craftsmen and sellers were analyzed with content analysis. As a result
of the study, it can be stated that İstanbul Grand Bazaar Tradesmen and craftsmen have some
problems about having Akhi principles.