Book Reviews 3.1.1

BOOK REVIEWS along the way, discussing the 1993 Sıvas both state-directed and subversive. Mean- fire for example, and critical scholars such while, the artists interviewed in the book as Azim Bezirci who perished in it. describe their multiple reference points One weakness of the book, despite from American and European, even Rus- Raw’s generally accessible style, is that sian, literature, while the entire cultural he occasionally offers too much narrative, world to the east of Turkey is hardly men- paraphrasing other writers’ arguments tioned throughout. Despite its zeal to sur- more than analyzing them. In some plac- pass the dichotomies of West/East, urban/ es, his summaries of these writings are so rural, secular-progressive/religious, the condensed, traversing complex theories book founders at times on its constriction (linguistic, pedagogical, philosophical) within these very parameters. and historical moments, that they are dif- These insights only underline the need ficult to follow. for further English-language scholarship It should also be noted that the book, on Turkish culture—Laurence Raw’s vol- while underlining its theme as Turkish ume is a significant contribution to this cultures, is weighted towards a critique endeavor. He has written an informative of mainstream or state-sponsored cul- volume, placing individual rights, plural- ture, rather than presentation of alterna- ism and democratization at the heart of tive cultures. There are no chapters on each chapter’s agenda. the cultures of the Kurdish south-east, or of rural Anatolia, but rather on educa- Reem Abou-El-Fadl tion and the arts in Ankara and Istanbul, University of Oxford Opposition and Legitimacy in the Ottoman Empire By Florian Riedler London and New York: Routledge, 2011, 114 pages, ISBN 9780415580441. The history of rebellions in the Otto- the absence of public political culture, man Empire during the early modern pe- political parties, and a parliamentary gov- riod has received a fair degree of cover- ernment plus personal charisma and poli- age by both Turkish and western scholars. tics, household networks and patronage, This present book addresses five major secret societies as well as conspiracies oppositional incidents during the 19th cen- formed the political culture of Ottoman tury that attempted to remove the reigning society. The Tanzimat reforms had led to sultans from power. Riedler attempts to greater centralization and an expansion study the nature of these incidents, the of the government’s sphere of influence, background of people involved and the thus generating opposition both within the target of the opposition to study the con- ruling class and the society at large,which tinuity and change in political culture in also included religious groups. The Janis- post-Tanzimat period. He argues that in saries had been typically at the forefront 180 INSIGHT TURKEY BOOK REVIEWS of rebellions and with their elimination, the Young Ottoman leaders in Paris were the Ulema and the Young Ottomans (bu- directly involved in this plot. The press reaucrats trained in modern schools) in exile (Hürriyet and Muhbir) emerged emerged as leaders of opposition. The as the medium for opposition along with author focuses on events in Istanbul, the the secret societies. At any rate, the group capital of the empire, rather than large- soon split due to disagreements and the scale uprisings going on in Anatolia and appeasement policies of the Ottoman state the Balkans. and most of its members returned home The first chapter provides a general after the death of Ali Pasha in 1870. The and brief introductory background on the author argues that the Young Ottomans as political culture in the Ottoman Empire, well engaged in traditional form of opposi- again focusing on the capital. The second tion and personal politics despite their call chapter deals with the famous Kuleli inci- for a modern constitutional government. dent in 1859, a movement organized by But perhaps in the absence of formal po- the Society of Martyrs to kill Sultan Ab- litical institutions, government repression dulamecid. The organizers who failed in and surveillance and the personal nature their plans were arrested and interrogated of politics, this was their only choice. It is by the police; they included a high-ranking the chicken and eggstory, and which came Ottoman bureaucrat and a Sufi sheikh. first. Democracy is a process and cannot The third chapter focuses on the Young emerge in the absence of democratic insti- Ottoman opposition, their activities in the tutions and public culture as well as civil Ottoman Empire through the oppositional society structures. In the absence of in- press led by Ibrahim Şinasi, Ali Suavi, Na- dependent political parties, it is inevitable mik Kemal and Mustafa Fazil Pasha (the that personal networks, Sufi and Freema- so-called Patriotic Alliance), which were son lodges, newspapers and secret societ- inspired by the Italian Carbonaria,and the ies would form the most important forums secret society in Istanbul called Vocation. of debate and political action. In Paris, the Young Ottomans were call- Chapter four discusses the rise of th- ing for the creation of a parliamentary econstitutional discourse that transformed government to limit the arbitrary power Ottoman political culture by calling for of the sultan and his ministers. This group constitutional limits on the power of the formed an opposition in exile in Paris sultan, although the 1876 Constitution re- called the Young Ottoman Society and es- tained much of the traditional and execu- tablished a newspaper, Hürriyet. But when tive power of the sultan,who could close the assassination plot against Grand Vizier down the parliament in an emergency Ali Pasha by Vocationfailed in June 1867 situation. Consequently, after such a de- and the group involved (400 people) was velopment in 1877, Sultan Abdülhamid arrested, the remaining activists in Paris emerged as a more absolutist sultan after returned to the Ottoman Empire and most he abandoned the constitution until he was of them made their peace with the gov- deposed by the Young Turks in 1908. ernment. Most of the conspirators were Conspiracies as a form of opposition low-level bureaucrats and four were of re- reemerged and the government played its ligious background. It is not clear whether heavy hand in repressing them and creat- Vol. 14 / No. 1 / 2012 181 BOOK REVIEWS ing a police state. Chapters five and six as Malkom Khan were initiated in Istanbul discuss a number of such incidents, such in such lodges as the Grand Orient, Union as, in chapter five,the Çirağan incident led d’Orient, and Proodos which promoted a by Ali Suavi and a group of disgruntled liberal agenda such as the equality of all Muslim refugees from the Balkans which Ottoman subjects and had mixed member- sought to restore Sultan Murad V in 1878. ship. Sultan Murad V himself was initi- But the plot failed and the participants ated into Grand Orient. Social networking were arrested, and tried in military courts. rather than engaging in political discourse The author compares this incident to the was the aim of membership in Freemason Kuleli riot in its conspiratorial action to lodges, according to the author. However, violently overthrow the sultan according we still lack an in-depth analysis of Free- to principles of Islamic legitimacy and to masonry in the Ottoman Empire. get rid of his ministers without clear aims Riedler refers to the Young Ottomans and vision for real political change. as the bureaucratic bourgeoisie who were Chapter six discusses the conspiracy the products of the Tanzimat reforms and organized by the Skalieri-Aziz committee modern education but does not provide in July 1878that was discovered by a po- more examples beyond the well-known lice raid. The conspiracy involved friends figures, nor does he expose their ideas. of Sultan Murad V, a Greek Ottoman sub- He also emphasizes the role of non-gov- ject and petty officials who also aimed at ernmental media and newspapers. But he restoring Sultan Murad V. But unlike the does not really discuss the content of these previous conspiracies, the leader of this newspapers. Perhaps a separate chapter one was a Greek Ottoman subject, a stock could have been devoted to intellectual broker, and a close friend of Sultan Mu- production and the content of oppositional rad V, named Kleanti Skalieri.This was newspapers. He may be right to empha- factional politics at best within the dy- size the role of personal relationships and nasty with some support from outside but secret societies rather than intellectual had a limited popular base and suffered networks and political ideas in opposi- from the same problems as the previous tional politics and political culture during conspiracies, i.e. personal and factional this period. Nevertheless, we still need to politics, lack of clear vision of political know what these personalities were debat- transformation, and conspiratorial and se- ing. The author could have taken issue cretive methods. with Şerif Mardin in his classical study The author proposes that the member- of the Young Ottomans. There is also a ship of some of the leading Young Otto- spelling mistake with Nakşbend, which mans and the Skalieri in Freemason lodg- is also spelled as Nakşfend (pp. 73, 75, es might have accounted for the secretive 80). However, this book does a good job nature of oppositional politics. This is an in opening up the debate on the political intriguing suggestion that comes at the culture of the last century of Ottoman rule end of the bookrather than the beginning. in Istanbul. Freemasonry was also important in Iran and in the opposition politics to the Qajar Fariba Zarinebaf government. Many leading members such University of California-Riverside 182 INSIGHT TURKEY.

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