Armenians and Ottoman State Power, 1844-1896 by Richard Edward
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In Subversive Service of the Sublime State: Armenians and Ottoman State Power, 1844-1896 by Richard Edward Antaramian A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in the University of Michigan 2014 Doctoral Committee: Professor Juan Cole, Co-Chair Visiting Professor Gerard Libaridian, Co-Chair (Retired) Professor Selim Deringil, Boğaziçi University Professor Fatma Müge Göçek Professor Ronald Suny Copyright © 2014 Richard Edward Antaramian All rights reserved For Liliya ii Acknowledgements Completing a dissertation entails incurring a series of debts one will likely never be able to repay. The following is an attempt to recognize those individuals and institutions that have supported this project from its earliest inception to ultimate completion. My initial forays into the academic world began as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, where a cadre of graduate students initiated me into their world. These included Carl Holtman, Karie Pieczynski, and Randy Rembrandt. In Madison, Professor David McDonald always had the time and patience to entertain my questions on a variety of topics. Professor Uli Schamiloğlu was especially supportive of my goals and always willing to address any concerns I might have. Our many conversations over the years have done much to shape my thinking. Those friendships in Madison aside, it was Asbed Kotchikian who first suggested I consider a career in academe. Once that decision was made, the choice to attend the University of Michigan was fairly easy to make. The hardworking staff in the Department of History, including Lorna Altstetter, Sheila Cole, Diana Denney, and especially Kathleen King, did everything they could to minimize bureaucratic headaches and saved me from myself more frequently than I probably realize. At UM, the Armenian Studies Program, the Department of History, and the Rackham Graduate School each provided generous assistance at different stages of my graduate career. iii A number of people made my time in Ann Arbor memorable. Of our original cohort, Josh Mound, Morgan LaBin Veraluz, and especially Paul Brykczynski have fulfilled the dual role of friend and impromptu support group over the years. Josh White and Frank Castiglione could always be counted on to find the right balance of Ottomans and Oberons. Dzovinar Derderian provided important help at various junctures. Our conversations on Anatolia compelled me to consider dimensions I had not previously considered. Sebouh Aslanian set a standard for what scholarship in Armenian Studies should look like. Rudi Lindner’s willingness to share not only his insights into the Ottoman past, but also his stories on the formative years of Middle Eastern studies in North America have afforded me a deeper appreciation for our field. I would be remiss if I did not also mention Kathryn Babayan, Matthew Countryman, Mehmet Süreyya Er, Jeremy Johnson, Victor Lieberman, Eric Schewe, Ali Sipahi, Akın Ünver, Stephen Smith, and Laura Hilburn. The members of my dissertation committee offered invaluable support throughout the years. I found Selim Deringil’s suggestions particularly useful. Ron Suny’s recommendations for framing various chapters helped the arguments shine through more than they would have otherwise. Müge Göçek was generous with her time, fully invested in the project from the outset, and always pushed me to see the larger context. As a committee co-chair, Juan Cole was similarly generous with his time and instrumental in helping me understand how to be an interdisciplinary historian. That I came to Ann Arbor to work with Gerard Libaridian must be regarded as one of my better decisions. As a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend, I could not have asked for better. Should I have the privilege of directing graduate students in the future, I fear I will be incapable of iv matching his example. A number of individuals made research trips abroad more enjoyable. For my time in Armenia, I would like to thank Arshak Banouchyan, Edwin Akopian, Christian Garbis and Anush Khachatryan, and the staff of the Armenian National Library. For various reasons, my trip to Yerevan was marred by an inability to acquire various documents. Still, some people took it upon themselves to help me overcome bureaucratic hurdles and obtain materials that have proven indispensable. Though I will not list their names here, I would still like to convey to them my deepest gratitude. The year spent in Armenia was sponsored by a Fulbright Hays fellowship. In Turkey, Carl Holtman generously offered his guestroom, which was within walking distance of both the Bâb-ı Âli and (perhaps more importantly) the Van Kahvaltı Sofrası. Randy Rembrandt and Zeynep Güneş introduced me to an Istanbul of which I would have been ignorant otherwise. Musa Cimen helped resolve the logistics for a trip to the east. I owe my thanks to Paul Brykczynski and Elyse Semerdjian for commenting on individual chapters. Devi Mays provided critical assessments of several chapters, offered points of comparisons from her own work on the Sephardic communities of the Ottoman Empire, and seamlessly transitioned the conversation to football when the arduous task of reassessing non-Muslim historical agency became too onerous. Those chapters may very well have remained unwritten if not for Larisa Ambartsumyan’s babysitting. Edward and Terry Antaramian made sure education was a priority for each of their children. They did not, however, insist their eldest child become a fourth-generation public servant or third-generation attorney. For that I will always remain grateful. It was my father’s interest in genealogy that spurred my own fascination with Ottoman history; v the stories of our ancestors, who were teachers and tax collectors in Charsanjak, offered me from a young age a historical perspective that fully undermined the nationalistic narratives available to someone of my background. Raffi played no small role in helping me complete this project. Games of “avto eli” and “k[n]ta[g]” proved the perfect respite from stories of bishops battling one another all over Anatolia. It was, of course, his mother who played the biggest role in helping me journey along this path. Liliya Ambartsumyan’s sacrifices are too many to enumerate. She followed me anywhere I asked, be it across a continent or an ocean; stood firm at my side during the lowest points, while affording each success a meaning it would have otherwise lacked; and provided me a love and happiness which I probably do not deserve. For this and more, the work is dedicated to her. vi Table of Contents Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii List of Abbreviations viii Introduction 1 Part One: The Armenian Tanzimat Chapter One 12 Bringing Osmanlılık Back: Making the Armenian Millet in the Ottoman Empire, 1844- 1871 Chapter Two 51 The Armenian Church, Itinerant Priests, and Ottoman State Power: Challenging the Tanzimat State, 1839-1865 Chapter Three 84 Killing Bishops, Mobilizing Space: Repertoires for Breaking Community and State, 1844-1871 Part Two: The Bishops’ Wars Chapter Four 117 Destabilizing Center and Periphery in the Ottoman Empire: Clergymen Between Istanbul and Van, 1840-1869 Chapter Five 149 From Patriarch to Exiled Subversive: The Limits of Ottomanism as Praxis, 1869-1885 Chapter Six 192 Ottomanism Goes Underground Bibliography 225 vii List of Abbreviations A. DVN Divani (Beylikçi) Kalemi Defterleri AGBU Armenian General Benevolent Union ARF Armenian Revolutionary Federation BOA Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (Istanbul) BN Bibliothèque Nubar (Paris) CP Correspondance des provinces DH. MKT Dahiliye Nezâreti Mektubî Kalemi DHP Divan Hayots Patmutean (Tiflis, 1915) FO Foreign Office (British National Archives, Kew) GAT Eghishe Charentsi anvan grakanutyan ev arvesti tangaran (Yerevan) IJMES International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies İ İradeler Matenadaran Mesrop Mashtotsi anvan hin dzeragreri institut (Yerevan) Y Yıldız Sarayı Arşivi viii Introduction The Armenian epic, Sasuntsi Davit (David of Sasun), is a popular, mythological tale of Armenian heroes who resisted the oppressive Abbasid Caliphate and its rulers. Told in four cycles, the story centers primarily on three Armenian protagonists: Older Mher, David, and younger Mher. Older Mher, after gaining the blessing of the Armenian king, goes off to fight the invaders who had made Sasun an Abbasid vassal. He defeats one villain, White Dev, over the course of a three-day battle. Thereafter, he engages the tale’s most notorious antagonist, Misra Melik. After jousting back and forth, Misra Melik comes to the realization he cannot defeat Mher and proposes a truce, offering to free Sasun, a town in eastern Anatolia, from its obligations of tribute, whereafter he recognized Mher as the country’s ruler. The two then forged a blood pact. Following the death of Misra Melik, his widow sent for Mher. As part of the truce, Mher had promised to care for Misra Melik’s family should he precede Mher in death. Over the protestations of his own wife, Mher went to the widow. The widow asked that Mher rein in the seven Muslim princes who undermined her rule, and that he also share a bed with her. Invoking his Christian faith, he objected. The widow plied him with wine; he remained in a state of drunkenness for seven years, during which time he fathered a son. Realizing he had unwittingly rebuilt the house of Misra Melik, and fearing it would lead to the future subjugation of Armenia, he returned to his home in Sasun. 1 Arriving there, he found himself barred from his palace. His wife, hurt by his betrayal, informed him he could not enter or be reunited with her for forty years. The Armenian Church intervened on Mher’s behalf—a number of priests gathered and reduced the penance from forty years to forty months, forty months to forty weeks, forty weeks to forty days, and forty days to forty hours. At the conclusion of Mher’s penance, the couple came together, and conceived.