The Tangled Ends of an Empire: Ottoman Encounters with the West and Problems of Westernization—an Overview

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Volume 26, Number 3, 2006, pp. 353-366 (Article)

Published by Duke University Press

Engin Deniz Akarlı

ort cities were the main beneficiaries of the rapid growth of maritime trade between Ottoman lands and the industrializing countries of Europe during the nineteenth century. By the turn of the twentieth century, the principal ports of foreign trade had become bustling economic, cultural, and political centers with larger and more cosmopolitan populations than ever. Istanbul led the way, as it had done for so long in the past, as a city con- veniently located at the juncture of major sea and land routes in the eastern Mediterranean region and as the seat of an imperial government that ruled over far-flung territories. Istanbul’s population increased from about 375,000 in the 1830s and 1840s to 1.125 million in 1912. Its composition, including a significant number of foreigners, reflected the rich ethnic and religious tapestry of the empire’s population.1 More monumental buildings were built in Istanbul for private, public, business, and religious uses in the nineteenth century than in any other comparable stretch of time in the city’s past.2 Its urban infrastructure saw significant improvements. New means of transportation and communications connected Istanbul to the provinces and also to other countries more effectively. These developments 3 made Istanbul a better place to live as well as an economically and culturally livelier city. But the empire of which it was the capital disintegrated in the same period. At the end of World War I, in November 1918, the victorious European powers occupied Istanbul and contemplated transforming it into an international city. Instead, in October 1923, the Turkish nationalist forces liberated the city, if only to subordinate it to Ankara, the capital of a new state established in the heart of provincial Anatolia. Between the hammer of international designs and the anvil of a successful nationalist movement, Istanbul’s sixteen-hundred-year- old history as an imperial city came to an end.

An earlier version of this essay was presented at the Harvard 2. See Pars Tuğlacı, The Role of the Balian Family in Ottoman Ar- Academy Symposium ―Anti-Western Critiques in Turkey, Iran, chitecture (Istanbul: Yeni Çığır, 1990). and Japan: Historical and Comparative Perspectives,‖ Harvard 3. See Ilhan Tekeli, ―Kentsel Dönüşüm‖ ( ―Urban Transforma- University, 30 April 2005. tion‖), in Tanzimat’tan Cumhuriyet’e Türkiye Ansiklopedisi (Ency-

1. Donald Quataert, ―The Age of Reforms, 1812–1914,‖ in An Eco- clopedia of Turkey from the Reform Era to the Republic) (Istanbul: nomic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300 –1914, Iletişim, 1985), 4:878–90; and Zeynep Çelik, The Remaking of Is- ed. Halil Inalcık and Donald Quataert (Cambridge: Cambridge tanbul (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993), among University Press, 1994), 781. Compare with Stanford Shaw, ―The numerous other sources. Population of Istanbul in the Nineteenth Century,‖ International Journal of Middle East Studies 10 (1979): 265–77. Also see Kemal Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830 –1914: Demographic and So- cial Characteristics (Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 86–105.

3 5 4 The nationalist movement was a reaction and his personal impressions of the develop - not only to Western European designs on Ana- ments taking place around him until his death tolia but also, quite explicitly, to the hegemony in 1918. of Istanbul and other port cities. I argue that in the late 1830s, the Ottoman leadership had Growing Up in a New Era (1842–1872) opened the ports to Western European technol- Abdülhamid w a s t he second son of Sultan ogies, knowledge, and ideas, convinced of their Abdülmecid,5 whose reign (1839–61) witnessed promise for a brighter and mutually beneficial the initiation of the series of reforms known as future. Further development of Western Euro- the Tanzimat, intended to reorganize the Ot- pean countries deepened and expanded the ap- toman government, law, and society along lines preciation for their achievements, but there also inspired by Western European experiences. began to emerge a feeling that the progress of Closer economic and diplomatic ties with major certain countries happened at the expense of European powers accompanied the reforms. others. The unabashedly self-serving policies of The lifestyles of the elite also began to change the so-called Great Powers, especially in the last under the influence of French and British ideas, quarter of the century, fanned the feeling. The tastes, fashions, and commodities. For about increasingly arrogant, self-righteous, and racist two decades, a generally optimistic outlook on attitudes toward other cultures and peoples that life and the future of the empire prevailed in became fashionable even in scholarly circles in Istanbul and other major urban centers and to Western Europe during the same period en- a certain extent found its way even into the hanced the frustration. countryside. There was ground for hope. The Istanbul and other Ottoman port cities exhausting civil w a r between Istanbul and Cairo were sites where the growing differences be- and the long autocratic rule of Mahmud II tween natives and foreigners were most visible. (1808–39) were over; the empire’s resources Unlike the outright colonial cities of North Af- appeared abundant, and the new economic op- 6 rica and India, the European and the native portunities looked promising. could not be tot ally segregated in Ottoman Great Britain, unquestionably the leader ports, and the local populations could not be to- of Europe and the world since the end of the tally marginalized. Instead, a semi-colonial situa- Napoleonic Wars, maintained a friendly policy tion emerged, which arguably allowed a broader toward t he Ottoman state. Other European space for mixing and interaction.4 All the same, powers acted in concert with Great Britain. In- the original hopes for a shared sense of human- deed, this was a generally peaceful and hopeful ity, which the opening and expansion of port period for Europe, at least for its middle and cities had kindled, gradually dimmed and seem- upper classes. Liberal ideas and confidence in ingly evaporated in the flames of World War I. modern scientific and technological achieve- The Anatolian hinterland took over its ports. ments inspired a sense of common destiny for The following pages describe the broader con- humankind and t he possibility of building text of this development, with an emphasis on heaven on earth. Borrowing and learning from the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876–1909) one another, but especially from the most suc-

4. Özdemir Kaptan (Arkan), Beyoğlu (Istanbul: Iletişim, 5 . Based on the following works by Engin Deniz ternational d’Etudes Pré-Ottomanes et Ottomanes, 1988); and Zeynep Rona, ed., Osman Hamdi Bey ve Akarlı: ―The Problems of External Pressures, Power 1988), 3 : 41–56 ; and The Long Peace: Ottoman Leba- Dönemi (Osman Hamdi and His Era) (Istanbul: Struggles, and Budgetary Deficits in Ottoman Politics non, 186 1 – 1920 ( Berkeley: University of California Yurt, under Abdülhamid II (1876–1909): Origins and Solu- Press, 1993), 22–45. 1993) . Compare with Gwendolyn Wright, The Poli- tions‖ (PhD diss., Princeton University, 1976), 10–23, 6. This optimistic mood is evident not only in many tics of Design in French Urban Colonialism (Chicago: 77– 94 ; Belgelerle Tanzimat (Documents on the Re- contemporary accounts such as J. H. Abdolonyme Ubi- University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Zeynep form Era) (Istanbul: Bosphorus University, 1978); ―The cini’s Lettres sur la Turquie (Paris: Chez Guillaumin, Çelik, Urban Forms and Colonial Confrontations : Ot toman Government and Semi-Nomadic Tribes in 1851) and David Urquhart’s Turkey and Its Resources Algiers under French Rule (Berkeley: University of Northern Jordan, 1846–1851‖ (in Arabic), in Ottoman (London: Sunders and Otley, 1833) but also in Ahmed California Press, 1997). Documents on Jordan (Amman: University of Jordan Cevdet Pasha’s critical recollec tions in his Tezakir Press, 1989); ―Provincial Power Magnates in Ottoman (Recollections) and Ma‘ruzat (Reports). See, for in- Bilad al-Sham and Egypt, 1740–1840,‖ in La vie sociale stance, the modern Turkish edition of the latter by dans les provinces arabes à l’époque ottomane, ed. Ab- Yusuf Halaçoğlu (Istanbul: Çağrı, 1980), 8–9. deljelil Temimi, vol. 3 (Zaghouan, Tunisia: Comité In-

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3 5 6 The Crisis of the Tanzimat for a bicameral parliament with an elected as- The optimism that the Tanzimat policies had at sembly and an appointed senate. first generated was gradually replaced by con- Insofar as it had been designed to fore- fusion, suspicion, and finally despair, as these stall foreign intervention in internal affairs the policies led to unexpected developments and constitution was a failure. A disastrous war with eventually to a profound economic and political Russia nearly brought the Ottoman state to an crisis.9 Commercial and legal privileges granted end in 1877–78. Large tracts of territory were to the European powers, the open-door policy ceded not only to Russia and the Balkan States pursued in the Tanzimat era, and other changes but also to Great Britain and Austria-Hungary. ruptured the Ottoman social fabric. Trade and The Ottoman government agreed to pay a huge budget deficits soared. Heavy government bor- war indemnity to Russia and to allow the forma- rowing at high interest rates abroad and at home tion of an international agency to ser vice the delayed the inevitable financial crisis until 1875, payment of the Ottoman public debt. when the treasury was forced to declare insol- More directly, t he constitution was in- vency. Havoc erupted among European credi- tended as a solution to the authority crisis af- tors, and the Russians seized the opportunity to flicting the Ottoman state. As such, it was the advance their influence in the Balkans, threat- product of intensive discussions and reflected a ening the Ottomans with war. Unrest mounted consensus reached among the political elite every where, fanning nationalist revolts among (i.e., the senior bureaucrats and bureaucrat- Christians in the Balkans and anti-Tanzimat intellectuals). The constitution set certain limits movements among Muslims. on executive authority, but it left the sultan with The government in Istanbul lost control of great powers vis-à-vis both the cabinet and the events. The Tanzimat leaders had streamlined parliament. It was on the basis of these consti- the government but had failed to create an in- tutional prerogatives that the sultan suspended stitutionalized structure of authority and policy the assembly a year later. Few influential f ig- making. Since the death in 1871 of the last pow- ures objected to the sultan’s decision. They had erful Tanzimat minister, Âli, senior statesmen viewed the activities of the assembly with con- had been engaged in a struggle to control the cern, partly because of the divisive nationalistic government. In May 1876, a group of ministers feelings aired at some of its meetings, but espe- led by Midhat Pasha cooperated with the army cially because of its members’ enthusiastic (and to force the abdication of the reigning sultan often well-justified) criticism of the ministers Abdülaziz. His successor Murad V suffered a and provincial administrators.10 This first ex- mental collapse and was deposed three months perience with a parliament clearly contradicted later. On 31 August, Abdülhamid II succeeded Ottoman traditions of statecraft, which consid- him on the throne. ered government the prerogative of a properly Meanwhile, nationalist uprisings in the trained elite. Abdülhamid, who shared this per- Balkans turned into bloody ethnic and reli- spective, appeared to the Ottoman statesmen gious confrontations. The European powers in general to be a sensible sovereign who could joined forces to bring pressure on the Ottoman provide the leadership necessary to deal with government to grant autonomy to the Christian the grave problems facing the government. In population in those areas where they lived in this he did not disappoint his colleagues. In the large numbers. On 23 December 1876, Midhat early 1880s, the Ottoman government finally responded by promulgating a constitution that managed to bring its long crisis under reason- assured basic civil liberties (including the equal- able control, gaining a new lease on life, with ity of all subjects before the law) and provided Abdülhamid in charge.

9. Roderic Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, Ilber Or taylı, Imparatorluğun En Uzun Yüzyılı (The 1856–1876 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, Longest Century of the Empire) (Istanbul: Hil, 1983), 1963), 270–408; and Akarlı, ―Problems,‖ 23–40, 94–104. 116–17, 192– 93 ; and Ortaylı, ―Ilk Osmanlı Parlamen- tosu‖ (―The First Ottoman Parliament‖), in Armağan: 10. Hakkı Tarık Us, ed., Meclis-i Meb‘usan, 1293 :1877, Kanun-u Esasi’nin 100. Yılı (A Commemorative Volume: Zabıt Ceridesi (The Minutes of the Representative As- The 100th Anniversary of the Constitution) (Ankara: sembly, 1877) , 2 vols. (Istanbul: Vakit, 1940 and 1954); Sevinç, 1978), 169–82.

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3 5 8 dülhamid II’s reign, particularly after the 1890s. this task involved the generation of a modern This development, combined with other factors, body politic that was bound together not only by led to an outcome quite different from that de- the coercive powers of the central government sired by the sultan. Rising economic prospects but also by a network of social alliances and a in certain parts of the empire fanned the de- shared sense of identity. sire for autonomy from a government incapable Heterogeneity of the Ottoman population, of protecting local economic interests against the poor state of the economy and government foreign ones.15 Ever y where, the desire to have a finances, and vulnerability to external pressure larger or fairer share of the resources led to the rendered the political integration of the Otto- formation of new political alliances in oppo- man empire a gigantic task, if not an impos- sition to the existing regime. Organized labor sible one. The Ottoman leadership recognized movements emerged in virtually all the major these problems. Although the Ottoman state in urban centers. In short, far from soothing polit- the end proved unsalvageable, the solutions it ical ambitions, economic development and new sought have had important repercussions for opportunities accelerated the politicization of the people living in Ottoman lands. the population. After extensive debates and some failed experiments, and by force of circumstances, a Problems of Internal Integration and Islam strategy took shape. Basically, it involved an ap- A not her serious problem t hat t he Ottoman peal to Islam in order to win the united support government faced at the beginning of Abdül- of the Muslim population while upholding the hamid II’s reign was the alarming erosion of its principle of legal equality in order to safeguard authority.16 Tanzimat reforms had aimed at cre- the loyalty of non-Muslims. Economic devel- ating an effective and efficient central govern- opment, improvement of public services, and ment that also commanded the respect of the curtailment of foreign intervention in internal population through their equitable treatment affairs were seen as equally essential for rally- before the law and incorporation into the ad- ing the population around the Ottoman cause. ministrative cadres. By the 1870s, however, the Winning the support of Muslims without further Ottoman state appeared to friend and foe alike alienating other subjects, however, was a goal closer to disintegration than ever. Turning the that deserves independent treatment, because it tide, restoring the prestige of the government, was mostly around this point that Abdülhamid and then enhancing it to avoid a similar abyss earned his image as a ―reactionary‖ ruler. became a major concern of Ottoman states - The idea of appealing to Islam as a force men and intellectuals. They looked to distant for sociopolitical solidarity was by no means days when Ottoman prestige had been at it s restricted to religiously or politically conserva- height, studied successful governments of their tive elements. It seems to have developed first times, and took stock of the Tanzimat policies in among the so-called Young Ottomans who led t search of the most effective ways of dealing with he constitutionalist opposition against t he the problem. The challenge they faced was to Tanzimat ministers in the late 1860s and early strengthen the social base of the government by 1870s.17 Similarly, the constitutionalist Midhat rallying as much of the Ottoman population as clearly enjoyed the support of the seminary stu- 18 possible around a common cause. Clearly, dents when he vied for power in the mid-1870s.

15. See, for instance, the case of Mount Lebanon dis- 16. This section is based on my work. See Engin Deniz Ottoman Documents on Jordan (Amman: University cussed in Akarlı, The Long Peace. Akarlı, ―Abdülhamid II’s Attempt to Integrate Arabs of Jordan, 1989); and The Long Peace. Also see Cezmi into the Ottoman System,‖ in Palestine in the Late Eraslan, II. Abdülhamid ve Islam Birliği (Abdülhamid Ottoman Period, ed. David Kushner (Leiden: E. J. Brill, and Pan-Islam) (Istanbul: Ötüken, 1992), and other 1986) , 740 –89 ; ―Abdülhamid II’s Islamic Policy,‖ in works mentioned in the following notes. Türk-Arab Ilişkileri (Arab-Turkish Relations), proceed- 17. S e e Mardin, The Genesis o f Yo ung O t to man ings of the conference ―Arab-Turkish Relations‖ held Thought; and Türköne, Siyasi Ideoloji. at Hacet tepe Universit y, Ankara, 18–22 June 1979 (Ankara: Hacettepe University, 1979), 44–60 ; ―The 18. Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 325– Defense of the Libyan Provinces, 1882–1980,‖ Stud- 30. ies on Ottoman Diplomatic History 5 (1991) : 75–85;

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3 6 0 to the role of religious feelings in political activ- use. Religious advisers close to the sultan were ity peculiar to Islam or the Ottoman Empire. It sent to the provinces regularly, partly as trou- was on the upsurge everywhere. ble-shooters and partly as propagandists. Efforts In contrast to the basically liberal mood were also made to bring the major Sufi orders that had prevailed earlier in the century, reli- closer together under the sultan’s sponsorship gious fervor was becoming an increasingly con- and, hence, indirect control. Religious educa- spicuous aspect of internal and international tion in the rapidly expanding public school sys- politics in the age of high imperialism w ith tem was standardized, and many of the old-style rapid industrialization and its concomitant so- primary religious schools were absorbed into cial problems. It is not a coincidence that the the public school system under the control of the 25 Dreyfus affair, the Zionist movement, and the Ministry of Education. Irish question emerged in this period, just as At another level, a deliberate effort was the laicist French government made peace with made to win the cooperation of the provincial the church and worked hand in glove with mili- Muslim notables.26 According to Abdülhamid, tant missionaries around the world. It is not a the attempt s to break the local influence of coincidence that a profoundly devout person notables earlier in the century, in an effort to like William Gladstone rose to prominence in strengthen the central government’s authority, British politics. The arrogantly intolerant, even had backfired. He considered the cooperation hatemongering, views of Gladstone and others of the notables essential to restore the respect- about ―the Turks,‖ which effectively meant ―Mus- ability of the Ottoman rule in the eyes of the lims‖ in the Ottoman context at this point, left common folk, to strengthen the latter’s attach- little room for dialogue.24 It is in this broader ment to the government, and to keep them from historical context that one must understand the ―inexpedient behavior.‖27 During his reign, in- rather defensive Islamism of Abdülhamid II’s fluential notables from distant provinces were generation. regular guests at the palace and maintained From about t he early 1880s, t he Otto - man correspondence with the sultan. Ever y where, government began to pursue a threefold provincial notables became directly involved in integration policy that emphasized Islam and the government, in local administration, as was coordinated directly by the palace. First, it tax farmers and collectors and as provisioners aimed at generating a consensus about the inter- to government offices. Moreover, their children pretation of Islamic political traditions in a way were provided attractive opportunities to enter that was favorable to Ottoman interests. Toward the central government service. Finally, during this end, religious dignitaries from around the Abdülhamid II’s reign, special attention was empire were invited to meetings in Istanbul and paid to the predominantly Muslim provinces, encouraged to prepare pamphlets for public which had been relatively neglected in the past.

24. See Owen Chadwick, The Secularization of the Eu- 25. In addition to the works mentioned in n. 16 above, 26. On notables, see, in addition to the works men- ropean Mind in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: see Butrus Abu-Manneh, ―Sultan Abdulhamid II and tioned in n. 16 above, Butrus Abu-Manneh, ―Sultan Cambridge University Press, 1975), esp. 229–66. For Shaikh Abulhuda al-Sayyadi,‖ Middle Eastern Studies Abdulhamid II and the Sharifs of Mecca (1800–1900),‖ Gladstone and the Irish question, see Ann P. Saab, 15 (1979): 131–53 ; Selim Deringil, The Well-Protected Asian and African Studies 9 (1979): 1–21; David D. Com- Reluc tant Icon ( Cambridge, M A : Har vard Univer- Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in mins, Islamic Reform: Politics and Social Change in Late sity Press, 1991); and Patrick Joyce, Democratic Sub- the Ottoman Empire, 1876– 1909 (London: I. B. Tauris, Ottoman Syria (New York: Oxford University Press, jects: The Self and the Social in Nineteenth-Century 1998); Bayram Kodaman, Abdülhamid Devri Eğitim 1990), esp. 104–15; Michel F. Le Gall, ―Pashas, Bedouins England (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, Sistemi (The Educational System of Abdülhamid II’s and Notables: Ottoman Administration in Tripoli and 1994), 204–26. For the historical background of the Reign) ( Istanbul : Ötüken, 1980) ; Azmi Özcan, Pan- Benghazi, 1881–1902‖ (PhD diss., Princeton University, Zionist movement, see Mitchell Cohen, Zion and Islamism: Indian Muslims, the Ottomans, and Britain 1986); S. Tufan Buzpınar, ―Abdülhamid II, Islam, and State: Nation, Class, and the Shaping of Modern Israel (1877–1 924) ( Leiden : E. J. Brill, 1997); and Benjamin Arabs: The Cases of Syria and the Hijaz, 1878–1882‖ (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987). For changing relations be- Fortna, Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Edu- (PhD diss., University of Manchester, 1991); Eugene L. tween the French government and Catholic missions, cation in the Late Ottoman Empire (Oxford: Oxford Rogan, Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Em- see John P. Spagnolo, France and Ottoman Lebanon, University Press, 2002). pire: Transjordan, 1850–1921 (Cambridge: Cambridge 1861– 1914 (London: Ithaca, 1977), 233–34; and Akarlı, University Press, 1999); and Gökhan Çetinsaya, ―Otto- The Long Peace, 147–62. man Administration of Iraq, 1890–1908‖ (PhD diss., University of Manchester, 1994).

27. See YEE, I/165–XXXVIII/156/3 (November 1902), and YEE, 9/2610/72/4 (ca. 1904).

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3 6 2 flicting interests. But he could not monopolize This new elaboration of bureaucratic struc- Islam, try though he did. Others could resort to ture penetrated deep into society and enhanced the same resource to contest the interpretations the visibility, control, and to a certain extent also and methods adopted by the palace. A vehement the respectability of the government. Equally and formidable Islamist opposition to Abdülha- important, it served as a mechanism to create a mid II’s regime did exactly that, although for growing cadre of officials committed to the Ot- different reasons and without unanimity. Con- toman cause. These positive developments were flicting interpretations of Islam became a reg- undermined, however, by important short- ular feature of the ongoing political struggles comings. There were significant differences and debates in an increasingly politicized envi- among the salaries of the highest-ranking, ronment.30 The Ottoman system of governance intermediate, and lower bureaucrats, leading to did not (and arguably could not) accommodate considerable friction within the bureaucracy. the growing political consciousness and the new Given the financial strain, payments remained social tensions emerging among the inhabitants in arrears quite frequently. This situation of the Ottoman lands. encouraged—even justified—bribery, especially among the petty officials whose salaries hardly Friction and Discord within the Government sufficed to support a lifestyle in keeping with Abdülhamid II oversaw an unprecedented ex- their social status. Bribery became a serious pansion of government ser v ices and bureau- problem that impaired the government’s image, cracy. 31 The government became involved in as its frequency and variety intensified through building and operating public land and water- the years. ways, railroads, the telegraph, and other pub- Intermediate bureaucrats were relatively lic works. General public education and public better off, although they, too, suffered from pay- health services, credit institutions, and offices ment delays. The graduates of the newly estab- that supplied technical assistance to produc- lished technical schools (including the young ers became widespread. All regular branches drill and staff officers) belonged to this group. of the government, including the judiciary and It was among these technocrats that the most the public security forces, also expanded. Many formidable internal opposition to Abdülhamid’s new professional schools were established and regime took root. They were the ones who felt the old ones improved with the specific purpose most bitterly the contradictions of the times. of training a corps of technical government per- At the technical schools Western sciences sonnel (such as doctors, engineers, veterinar- and languages were being taught alongside the ians, agricultural experts, teachers, officers, and values of Ottoman culture. Most of these schools the like) as well as better public administrators were located in Istanbul or other major urban and jurists. In addition, official statistics and fil- centers, t he cosmopolitanism of which con- ing systems were improved, while elaborate reg- trasted sharply with the provincial background ulations governing the recruitment, promotion, of the majority of the students. With only a frag- retirement, and dismissal of government per- mented exposure to Westernized cultural tastes, sonnel were enacted and applied. Except in the lifestyles, and social expectations, most of the highest echelons, the administrative machinery graduates were dispatched to ser ve in remote became highly structured, marking a fundamen- places, once more to confront the harsh reali- tal change over the situation at the beginning of ties of the empire. Each bureaucrat responded Abdülhamid II’s reign. differently to these divergent influences, torn between feelings of rootlessness and reverence

30. See Ismail Kara, Islamcıların Siyasi Görü leri (Po- 31. Based on Akarlı, ―Friction and Discord within the litical Views of Islamists) ( Istanbul : Iz, 1994) ; Kara, Ottoman Government under Abdulhamid II,‖ Boğaziçi ed., Türkiye’de Islamcılık Düşüncesi: Metinler/Kişiler University Journal—Humanities 7 (1979) : 3–26, and (Islamist Thought in Turkey: Texts/Individuals), vol. 1 numerous memoirs of the young Ottoman bureau- (Istanbul: Pınar, 1986); Commins, Islamic Reform, 49– crats of this period. 144; and Şerif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 124–46.

A t Ab 3 ― w u a t H t a pa t ha p t p d w tr s O g p t e t p o o f m p h p w t t t ci n yo s t e t id t u h io h i o hi h io h o i h 2 r e io ra b t c m f o f f ow ns r a e a a o i v a o e r e a a . h e t a e wa e dülhami ra e a e ns f e rei o o tt e du t u d l y b t s ce s n e t n l v n n i r nd a s n d i d l e p l

t a u i A t l h n c o ci ea s l t an e e d s e l id g a li s o e

. e r d e i in f i h i ― i r n g e e e r b a’ i ni n m a co r g f r c va n om H r a t a s d miniu f e sm T t i r n d d t o a

s p a e t s s x io S a a O n a d f o h n l s i . am g f a ere ra r a s s h w o a s o ne n l s b l a t l m p o n e A r s i f e m e c , d a t t t i t o ue e n n d f s f c d l a d s . Ab c o u i f u f

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3 6

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364 The Finale that reached him. The ex- sult an worried, as Many young Ottoman bureaucrats, officers, and early as 1911, lest the Ottoman state would be intellectuals, bitter over the sultan’s personal dragged into an imminent war between the control of key government positions and deci- British and German blocks. W hen war did in sions, and demanding a better institutionalized fact break out, he predicted its long duration, its and participator y political regime, joined the victors, and its disastrous consequences for the opposition led by the Union and Progress Com- Ottoman state and Muslims in general. But his mittee. In 1908, sporadic mutinies among the sorrow was not confined to the Ottomans or army corps in Rumelia and Macedonia rapidly the Muslims alone. From the beginning of the spread into a popular movement, as a medley war, he mourned for the suffering that it would of people with divergent political aspirations inflict on all human beings caught up in its and interest s made common cause w it h t he destruction. In October 1916, he expressed full Unionists. Muslim fundamentalists, Islamist re- agreement with the socialists’ call for immediate formists, and ardent nationalists from various peace to bring an end to the human suffering ethnic groups, as well as the nascent modern caused by the war. When the news of the March labor organizations, conservative artisans, and 1917 revolution in Russia reached him, he was shopkeepers, joined in cheering for ―liberty, pleased, although not because it would help the fraternity, and equality.‖ Abdülhamid realized Ottoman cause. He believed Russian the depth of the opposition and yielded to their withdrawal would lengthen the war but not pre- demands. On 23 July 1908, he called for elec- vent the ultimate victory of the British and their tions and agreed to limitations on his author- allies, because so long as the British ruled the ity. Supporters of Union and Progress won the oceans, they would continue to fight. Abdülha- majority of seats in the parliament, but as the mid was pleased because at least the peoples parliament and the cabinet became bogged of Russian lands would now be saved from the down in a struggle over their respective rights, disasters of conflict, if only they could avoid a and as separatist movements in the Balkans in- very likely civil war. Abdülhamid believed that tensified, the political situation remained tense. since the late 1870s, the British had become in- On 13 April 1909, a popular revolt broke out in creasingly determined to partition the Ottoman Istanbul, led by certain religious groups and state and would do everything in their power to army units that had supported the 1908 revolu- further weaken Islam. Nevertheless, when he tion but now felt alienated from the Union and learned about the indiscriminate German Progress. An army of loyal units and volunteers aerial bombardments of London, he deemed rushed from Salonika to crush this rebellion. them ―a dreadful act‖ and asked in bewilder- Abdülhamid tried to persuade the mutineers to ment, ―What is the crime of innocent civilians? abandon their recalcitrance. All the same, he What can be obtained from killing them? What was accused of having instigated the rebellion kind of humanity is this? What kind of a civiliza- 33 and was dethroned on 27 April 1909. tion?‖ But his increasingly single-minded worry Abdülhamid spent t he rest of his life under was the consequence of the war for Muslims. He house arrest, first in Salonika until its fall to wished his predictions about the effects of the Greece in November 1912, and then in war on Ottomans and Muslims were wrong and Beylerbey i, Istanbul, until his death. He had prayed for world peace. He died on 10 February much t ime to watch the ships go in and out of the 1918.34 A huge crowd congregated at his funeral Salonika bay or through the Bosphorus and procession, weeping after the last great sultan to reminisce and reflect on the news of Istanbul.

33. For these developments, see, for instance, Şükrü 34 . Based on Atıf Hüseyin’s recollections in the li- Hanioğlu, The Young Turks in Opposition (Oxford: Ox- brary of the Turkish Historical Association in Ankara, ford University Press, 1995), 167– 99 ; Feroz Ahmad, ms. Y-255, notebooks 11 and 12. The quotations are The Young Turks (Oxford : Oxford University Press, from notebook 12, 38–39; or see Hülagü, Sürgün Gün- 1969); and Sina Akşin, 31 Mart Olayı (Istanbul: Sinan, leri, 213–346; quotations from 316. 1972). l o E B K li oi M 3 m c a t s s a d f T c t t d t t s m E d s li p r no u p t r t kar re c g m p a n m o S Epilo o o h o o or io i e h e x a t o a e r f r

c 5 s o l u a e u u r e inni a h o r u i ms c o e i e a l p e s a l a H ) r n w ge s g t s a m m e e a t t k . e v s ş re s l r i t o a r n n y , u n ish e t t n

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3 6

5

3 6 6 coercion, deliberately trying to cut them from helped justify colonial hegemony over others as their cultural roots. In the process, provincial much as they did the growing power of the cen- notables found themselves relegated to a sec- tral governments and bureaucratic elites in an ondar y position. Others who saw no reason to intensely nationalist age. The reformist leaders compromise their Islamic sentiments were like- of Turkey were only nationalists, not colonial- wise pushed aside, or they themselves stepped ists. A colonial regime could not have pursued aside for patriotic concerns, in order to avoid a similarly radical cultural policy, even if it internal strife. Distancing Turkey from Islam wanted to. Rather, the colonial administrators and other Muslim countries involved distanc- of the high imperialist era of 1875–1945 con- ing it from the democratic origins of its politi- demned the natives for not being like Europe- cal regime as well.36 In these two respects, the ans and also for trying to be like them. The new Anatolian movement turned against itself. Per- leaders of Turkey, however, were absolutely seri- haps it could not be otherwise, given the hege- ous about Europeanization, whether it involved monic worldview and the limitations of the age in building the country or rebuilding its people. which Ankara’s victory occurred. They were determined to succeed where Abdül- Pragmatic considerations were not the hamid II and his successors had failed. They only motives of the cultural reformists. They wanted to halt the retreat of Ottoman Muslims were in general positivist bureaucrats and in- into an ever-narrower space, even if they had to tellectuals who shared contemporary Western compromise Islamic sentiments and reinvent views of Islam as a religion frozen in time and a people according to the hegemonic norms hence a detriment to rational progress. They sin- that defined humanity at that juncture. It was a cerely believed that unless the Turks distanced crippled sense of humanity, the humanity of themselves from their Islamic past, they were those times, in a world deeply divided against certain to fall back into the dark pit in which itself, and the traumatic repercussions of an they had found themselves at the end of the Ot- authoritarian cultural transformation were a toman empire or fall under the rule of their bet- heav y price to pay. But who can put a price on ters like most of the other Muslims in the world. survival? Only a cultural transformation would ensure them of an honorable place among the civilized nations of the world. The reformers singled out Abdülhamid II as a signifier of the dark past and everything that a Turk should not be, just as he had been the epitome of the Terrible Turk whom Europeans wanted to throw bag and bag- gage back to the depths of Asia. These views mirrored the dominant dis- courses of contemporary Europe, which actually

36. Ahmet Demirel, Birinci Meclis’te Muhalefet: Ikinci Gurup ( Opposition in the First National Assembly : The Second Group ) ( Istanbul : Iletişim, 1994) . Also see Seyyid Bey, Hilafetin Mahiyyet-i Şeriyyesi (The Is- lamic Legal Meaning of Caliphate) (Istanbul: Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi Matbaası, 1924); the memoirs of Hüseyin Kazım Kadri, Meşrutiyet’ten Cumhuriyet’e; the memoirs of Rauf Orbay in Osmanlı’dan Cumhuri- yete Yüzyılımızda bir insanımız: Hüseyin Rauf Orbay (1881– 1964) (From the Ottoman Period to the Repub- lic : Hüseyin Rauf Orbay [188 1 –1 964] ), vols. 3–5, ed. Cemal Kutay (Istanbul: Kazancı Kitap, [1992] ); Rıza Nur, Hayat ve Hatıratım (My Life and Memoirs), 4 vols. (Istanbul: Altındağ Yayınevi, [1967–68]); Halide Edip Adıvar, The Turkish Ordeal (Westport, CT: Hyperion, 1981); and other alienated members of the first rep- resentative national assembly.