Introduction

1 Historical Background, 1908–1923

In July 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress (cup, İttihat ve Terakki Ce- miyeti), a secret organization of the Young Turks, who were dissatisfied with Sultan Abdülhamit ii’s (r. 1876–1909) rule, successfully pressured the Sultan into reinstating the Ottoman constitution. The pressure came in the form of insubordinate military officers, among whom the Young Turks had found many supporters. Two of these officers, Enver, who would later become the Minister of War and lead the Ottoman Empire into the First World War, and Resneli Ahmet Niyazi, dubbed Champion of Freedom (Kahraman-ı Hürriyet) for his role played in the revolution, but who was mysteriously assassinated in 1913, triggered what would be known as the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. It was their threat of moving the army to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital, that convinced Abdülhamit ii to reintroduce the constitution, call for elections for the Chamber of Deputies (Meclis-i Mebusan) and to reopen the Senate (Meclis- i Ayan). The streets in many cities were the scene of festivities. Throngs were cel- ebrating what they considered to be the end of Abdülhamit ii’s strict regime. It was a time of hope but disillusionment soon followed. In October 1908, Bulgar- ia declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungarian annexed the Ottoman province of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Losing territory while the territorial integrity of the empire had been one of the main points in the agenda of the Young Turks was not good for the prestige of the cup. Neverthe- less, it obtained a landslide victory during the general elections of 1908. There was no real alternative to vote for. Despite their electoral victory, dissatisfaction with the cup was growing among the population and opposition was starting to get organised. One of the disgruntled factions even launched a counter-revolution, which is known as the 31 March Incident (31 Mart Vakası), which involved religious scholars and soldiers stationed in Istanbul. This mutiny was quickly struck down by the Action Army (Hareket Ordusu) under the command of Mahmut Şevket Paşa, but not before it had caused the resignation of the government. After the counter-revolution was quelled, Abdülhamit ii was forced to abdi- cate from the throne. This was done on the suspicion of his involvement in the incident in an attempt to restore his own power. Thus ended the more than 30 years of Abdülhamit’s reign. He was followed by Mehmet v Reşat (r. 1909–1918), who would be the penultimate sultan until his death in July 1918. Furthermore,

2 Introduction martial law was declared in the Ottoman capital and would remain in force virtually uninterrupted until the end of the empire, blurring the lines between military and civilian authorities. In September 1911, rejecting Ottoman proposals for a non-military solution, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire over its Tripolitanian (Trablusgarp) province (Libya). Libya was at this point a distant and final remnant of Otto- man North African lands. However, the repercussions of this war were felt in the capital where the cup was faced with a second revolt, this time by a group called the Saviour Officers (Halaskar Zabıtan). The Saviour Officers forced the cup-backed government to resign and paved the way for the so-called Grand Cabinet, consisting of older and more experienced statesmen. Alongside this political turmoil, a larger storm was brewing in the Balkans. Not only had the Albanians been pushing for independence through revolts, but in October 1912 the Balkan League, consisting of Greece, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Montenegro, declared war and delivered a crushing defeat to the Ottomans who had just hastily signed a peace treaty with the Italians over the Tripoli war. This Balkan conflict, known as the First Balkan War, resulted in the almost complete loss of all European territories for the Ottoman Empire. The enormous loss of territory and the humiliating defeat under the Grand Cabinet presented Enver Paşa with the opportunity to execute the Bab-ı Ali coup in January 1913, resulting in the exile of Grand Vizier Kamil Paşa and in Enver Paşaʾs appointment as Minister of War. Enver entered the Second Balkan War and retook parts of lands lost during the First Balkan War, which increased his prestige. At this time, following the assassination of Grand Vizier Mahmut Şevket Paşa and the following crackdown on the opposition of the cup, the tri- umvirate of Talat Paşa (Minister of the Interior), Enver Paşa (Minister of War) and Cemal Paşa (Minister of the Navy) came into being with de facto control of the empire. In October 1914, the Ottoman Empire officially entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. Towards the end of the war, Mehmet vi Vahdettin, the last of the Ottoman sultans, ascended the throne to replace the deceased Mehmet v. Shortly thereafter, in October 1918, the Ottomans signed the Mudros peace treaty, ending the conflict as part of the losing side. The Ottoman capital came under Allied occupation and Allied troops were allowed to land in other Ottoman territories. With the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, the dis- memberment of the Ottoman Empire would have been complete. However, the Nationalist Forces (Kuva-ı Milliye) under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Paşa, a distinguished general who was later to become the pres- ident of the newly founded Turkish Republic, started a resistance movement. After successfully fighting off the British-backed Greek invasion of Anatolia,