Identity Issues of the Ottoman Greeks in the Age of Nationalism As Reflected in the Educational Policies of the Greek Community of Istanbul (1895-1915)

IDENTITY ISSUES OF THE OTTOMAN GREEKS IN THE AGE OF NATIONALISM AS REFLECTED IN THE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES OF THE GREEK COMMUNITY OF ISTANBUL (1895-1915) by KONSTANTIA A. SAMARA Submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Sabancı University Summer 2007 1 IDENTITY ISSUES OF THE OTTOMAN GREEKS IN THE AGE OF NATIONALISM AS REFLECTED IN THE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES OF THE GREEK COMMUNITY OF ISTANBUL (1895-1915) APPROVED BY Assist. Prof. Dr. Selcuk Ak şin Somel …………………………. (Dissertation Supervisor) Prof. Dr. Sabri Sayarı …………………………. Assist. Prof. Dr.Vangelis Kechriotis …………………………. DATE OF APPROVAL: …………………………. 2 © Konstantia A. Samara 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Ak şin Somel for all the help and encouragement he provided me with, during the whole year. His comments were extremely valuable to me, as he tried to make me see things where I just saw blankness. I would like also, to thank Prof. Sabri Sayarı and Assistant Professor Vangelis Kechriotis, who both were in my committee, for all their valuable comments especially in the last stages of my thesis. This thesis would not be complete if it were not for Metropolitan Philadelfeias Mellitton who helped me so much to have the permission to work in the Archive of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as well as in the Library of it. I would like to express special gratitude to the staff of both institutions for all the hospitality and help they offered me during my visit there. Furthermore, I especially want to express my gratitude to Mr. Dimitrios Fragopoulos, without his valuable help and his comments the result of this thesis would have been definitely insufficient. The few hours I had the luck to spend talking to him were clearly one of the most important variables that contributed to the realization of my thesis. Last but, certainly not least I would like to thank my family and especially my parents, because without their support and their belief in me nothing of this would have become real. Their faith in me always kept me strong and optimistic. 4 To my grandfather 5 ABSTRACT IDENTITY ISSUES OF THE OTTOMAN GREEKS IN THE AGE OF NATIONALISM AS REFLECTED IN THE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES OF THE GREEK COMMUNITY OF ISTANBUL (1895-1915) The subject of this thesis is the identity issues of the Ottoman Greeks during the last decade of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century. The particular research focuses on the educational policies which were applied in the Greek Orthodox schools by the Patriarchate and members of the educated elite of the Greek Orthodox community. The aim of this thesis is to trace back the process of nation building regarding the Greek orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire, especially through the application of the Greek language in the Greek Orthodox schools. The way the Greek language was used by the Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox community in order to Hellenize the Orthodox millet linguistically have been discussed as well as their attitudes and perceptions regarding the teaching of foreign languages in the Greek Orthodox schools and the functioning of the foreign missionary schools, in relation to the process of the linguistic homogenization of the Orthodox millet. Moreover, in order to explain the process of Hellenizing the Orthodox millet linguistically, the attitudes towards the puristic form of the Greek language-Katharevousa- have been discussed as well as the intensively classical orientation of the Greek orthodox education. Finally, the attempts of the Ottoman governments to integrate Greek Orthodox schools into the public educational system and the resistance of the Patriarchate to these attempts have been elaborated. 6 ÖZET ULUSÇULUK ÇA ĞINDA OSMANLI RUMLARININ K İML İK SORUNLARI VE İSTANBUL RUM CEMAAT İNİN E Ğİ TİM S İYASET İ (1895-1915) Bu tez çalı şmasının konusu Osmanlı Rumlarının 19. yüzyılın son on yılına ve 20. yüzyılın ilk on yılına yayılan süreçteki kimlik meseleleridir. Bu çalı şma, Patrikhane ve Rum cemaatinin e ğitimli elit sınıfının belirledi ği ve Rum-Ortodoks okullarında uygulanan e ğitim politikaları üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Amaç, ulus in şa sürecini geriye do ğru izleyerek ve bu süreçte Yunan dilinin Rum-Ortodoks okullarında kullanımına özellikle dikkat ederek Osmanlı İmparatorlu ğu yönetimi altında bulunan Rum Ortodoks Cemaati’ni yeniden ele almaktır. Rum milletini dil bakımından Helenle ştirmek için Patrikhane ve cemaatin Yunan dilini kullanı ş biçimlerinin tartı şıldı ğı bu ara ştırmada aynı zamanda Rum milletinin dil bakımından homojenle ştirilmesi ba ğlamında ortaya çıkan meselelere dair Patrikhanenin ve cemaatin tavır ve dü şünceleri göz önüne alınmı ştır. Söz konusu meseleler, Rum-Ortodoks okullarında yabancı dil ö ğretimi ve misyoner okullarının i şleyi şi gibi konulardır. Ayrıca, Rum milletinin dil bakımından homojen bir yapıya kavu şturulması sürecinde Yunan dilinin öz haline – Katherevousa- yönelik yakla şımlar ve Rum-Ortodoks e ğitim yapısında görülen a şırı klasik eğilim de irdelenmi ştir. Bütün bunlarla beraber Osmanlı yönetiminin Rum-Ortodoks okullarını umumi maarif nizamı dahiline sokma çabaları ve Patrikhanenin ise söz konusu çabalara kar şı direnci ele alınmı ştır. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………9 2. The Patriarchal Central Educational Committee and the Educational Issues of the Greek Orthodox Community…………………………………………………..18 3. Foreign Language Teaching in the Greek Orthodox Schools and Foreign Schools………………………………………………………………………38 4. The Language Issue. The conflict between the puristic form of language (katharevousa) and vernacular……………………………………………………..57 5. The orientation of education and the role of the Greek language………………..73 6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………92 7. Appendices …………………………………………………………………………97 8. Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………100 8 INTRODUCTION The aim of this thesis is to discuss the process of nation-building among the Greek Orthodox community of Istanbul during the final decades of the Ottoman Empire. This study focuses on the educational aspect of this process through centering on the educational discussions within the community. The educational controversies, which revolved around issues such as the role of the Patriarchal Central Educational Committee (PCEC) as the main body of the Greek Orthodox education within the Empire, the position of laymen vis-à-vis clergy, the teaching of foreign languages at patriarchal schools and the debate concerning the Katharevousa form of the Greek language versus Demotic as language of instruction, all highlight those issues which were so central for the Hellenization of the Greek Orthodox community and the creation of a united identity based on language. For this study the hitherto unused document collection of the PCEC, located within the Archive of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, has been researched. The Ottoman state defining itself as an Islamic power, considered non Muslim populations of Abrahamic religious tradition as protected people (ehl-ı zimma). Thus, Greek Orthodox, Armenians and Jews constituted communities with a certain degree of cultural autonomy. Education was defined within this legal-religious framework. The Orthodox subjects were under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (millet-i Rum ), the Armenians (millet-i Ermeni), were under the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople and the Jews (millet-i Yahudi). under the Great Rabbi.1 The heads of each of those millets 2 were responsible for all the civil issues of their subjects, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and education. 1 However, the authority of the Great Rabbi in the Jewish millet was not in line with the authorities of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Armenian one. 2 For the millet system see Benjamin Braude, ‘’Foundation Myths of the Millet System’’, in Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire (Vol. I), edited by Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis, New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1982; Paris Konortas, Oikoumenikes Theoriseis gia to Oimoumeniko Patriarxeio, 17os aionas-arxes 20ou., (Ottoman authentications for the Ecumenical Patriarchate) , Athens, Alexandreia, 1998. 9 Braude comments that the Ottoman State until the 19 th century does not seem to have been using a particular administrative term regarding the non-Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, since the name refers to the non-Muslims varied. According to Braude, this fact demonstrates that there was possibly not a clear institutionalized policy of the Ottoman State towards the non Muslims until the 19 th century and especially, before the Tanzimat - edict of 1839. 3 At the same time, non-Muslim communities did not remain static throughout centuries. Konortas argues that crucial structural changes in the Orthodox millet occurred in the 18 th century, as the central governmental mechanisms were declining and on the other hand powerful members of the Orthodox millet could influence the Sublime Porte financially.4 Nevertheless, it was with the declaration of the Tanzimat Reforms (Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane) in 1839 that a reference on the status of the non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire as a whole was made. The protection of the life, liberty and property was declared for all subjects of the Ottoman Empire regardless of their religion. In addition, in 1856 Sultan Abdülmecid declared the Edict of Reform, the Hatt-ı Hümayun edict (Islahat Fermanı) through which the equal treatment of

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