bajraktar

…highlands, to tribal chieftains called bajraktars, who presided over given territories with rigid patriarchal societies that were often torn by blood feuds. Peasants who were formerly serfs now worked on the estates of the beys as tenant farmers.

…destroying the semifeudal class of bajraktars. The traditional role of women—namely, confinement to the home and farm—changed radically as they gained legal equality with men and became active participants in all areas of society.