Empire by Law: Ottoman Sovereignty and the British Occupation of Egypt, 1882-1923
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Empire by Law: Ottoman Sovereignty and the British Occupation of Egypt, 1882-1923 Aimee M. Genell Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Aimee M. Genell All rights reserved ABSTRACT Empire by Law: Ottoman Sovereignty and the British Occupation of Egypt, 1882-1923 Aimee M. Genell This dissertation is an analysis of the Ottoman-European legal contest over Egypt. I explore the relationship between international law, imperial expansion and state formation in the late Ottoman Empire against the joint reconfiguration of ideas of sovereignty and imperial control during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The British occupation of Egypt (1882-1914) was a novel experiment in quasi-colonial administration, where legal justifications for the occupation demanded the retention of Ottoman institutions and shaped administrative practices. My research examines the significance and consequences of maintaining Ottoman sovereignty in Egypt during the British occupation in an effort to explain the formation of a distinctive model of sovereignty, both for late empires and for successor states in the post-Ottoman Middle East. I argue that a new model of client-state sovereignty, produced during the course of the occupation, emerged out of the intense imperial rivalry between the Ottoman and Europe Empires in Egypt. This model had lasting significance more generally for how we define states and sovereignty today. These findings recast the Ottoman Empire as a major, albeit weak, actor in European diplomacy. Though Ottoman and European history have developed as separate fields of academic inquiry, my research shows that nineteenth and early twentieth century European and Ottoman political practices and ideas were inextricably intertwined. The Ottoman Empire contributed to and was perhaps the key testing ground for enduring political and administrative experiments in the post-imperial international order. Table of Contents Introduction: Autonomy in the Ottoman Empire, Privileged Provinces and Balkan Models…1-18 Chapter 1: The Rights of the Sultan and the British Intervention in Egypt…19-51 Chapter 2:The Reorganization of Egypt: Lord Dufferin’s Tanzimat?...52-91 Chapter 3: The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan: Ottoman Territory or Terra Nullius?...92-143 Chapter 4: The End of Occupation: Ottoman Sovereignty and the British Declaration of Protection in Egypt…144-185 Chapter 5: Ottoman Autonomy, the “Illegal Protectorate and the origins of British Imperial Control in the Middle East after World War I …186-223 Conclusion: The Legacy of the British Occupation in the Middle East…224-227 Bibliography…228-242 Appendix List of Ottoman Autonomous Provinces…244 i Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without sustained support from my mentors. I would first like to thank my committee: Mark Mazower, Susan Pedersen, Christine Philliou, Rashid Khalidi and Beth Baron. Each in his or her own way helped me develop my research interests and pushed my arguments in new and unexpected directions. I am especially indebted to my advisor, Mark Mazower, whose conversations and insightful criticisms have profoundly shaped my thinking. I wish to equally thank Susan Pedersen who taught me more about the craft of history than anyone. Beyond my committee, special thanks are owed to the History Faculty at Columbia, especially Adam McKeown, Mathew Connelly, Marwa Elshakry and Sam Moyn. I started at Columbia as a Europeanist with an interest in international law, but ended up thinking about international law and the meaning of Europe from the perspective of Istanbul. This transformation stemmed from conversations and courses with my mentors, but also to the particular constellation of people, projects and ideas moving throughout the Department of History at Columbia. I cannot imagine having arrived at my dissertation topic without them or without the Center for International History’s various seminars and talks on occupation, sovereignty and humanitarianism. My research would not have been possible without sustained support from Columbia University and the Department of History over the years. The Howard and Natalie Shawn Summer Research Fellowship enabled me to carry out preliminary dissertation research at the Ottoman Archives and grants from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and FLAS supported summer language study in German, ii Turkish and Ottoman. The Fulbright, Institute of International Education Dissertation Research Grant, the Middle East Institute at Columbia and the London School of Economics-Columbia Academic Exchange supported my dissertation research abroad in the United Kingdom and Turkey. I received generous support from Mellon and the American Council of Learned Societies, which enabled me to complete my dissertation. I did most of my research in Istanbul and London and would like to thank all of the archivists and librarians who helped me find my way – their assistance was invaluable. I would like to thank the staffs of the Ottoman Archives and the Atatürk Library in Istanbul, the National Archive and British Library in London, especially Mustafa Tekbaş at the Ottoman Archives, Gavin McMahon at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast and Jane Hogan and Michael Harkness at the Sudan Archives at Durham University. I would have been lost in the records of the Ottoman Foreign Ministry without Sinan Kuneralp’s extensive knowledge and experience. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues in Turkey who made my research in Istanbul so intellectually rewarding as well as entertaining especially Oscar Aguirre Mandujano, Emily Neumeier, Elizabeth Williams, Ülkü İnal, Shane and Julia Stratton, Jordan Mathews, Sarah Peters, Nir Shafir, Nora Barakat, Zoe Griffith, Murat Yıldız, Elinor Morack, Susanne Fowler and Ibrahim Yılmaz. In London, Rüdiger Graf, Matthias Pohlig, Jan Eckel and Bastien Herbst were a source of wonderful conversation and proved to be outstanding archive companions. I have had extensive help over the years with modern Turkish as well as Ottoman paleography. I would first like to thank Etem Erol, Nadir Sohrabi and Yorgos Dedes, who each took me on as a student when it was not required and despite my initial iii pronunciation of Turkish vowels. I would also like to thank Mustafa Küçük at the Ottoman Archives, and Bilal Yılmaz and Ülkiye Çapa at Ankara University for explaining the more elusive aspects of Ottoman paleography and Turkish grammar respectively. I am especially indebted to Zuleyha Çolak at Columbia University who helped me learn to love Ottoman and patiently spent hours with me reading hand written documents. I participated in a number of workshops, seminars and conferences along the way that allowed me to formulate and try out my arguments. I am grateful to Susan Pedersen who ran the Mellon Seminar in British history, which early on shaped the British side of my research and writing. I would also like to thank Christine Philliou for organizing the Ottoman Legacies Workshop at Columbia and Edhem Eldem for his comments upon my paper. I am indebted to Elektra Kostopoulou who included me on a panel on autonomous Ottoman provinces at the last International Committee of Pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Studies Conference. The experience proved invaluable as I finished writing. I would like to thank William McAlister who has been an excellent mentor at the Mellon Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. The Mellon Program provided me with a home to write and a stimulating bi-weekly interdisciplinarity seminar. I would like to thank my colleagues in the program as well, especially Claire Eddington, Abhishek Kaicker, Daniel Navon, Seema Golestaneh and Tyler Williams. Beyond the Faculty at Columbia, I have had the good fortune to know and exchange ideas with a brilliant group of young scholars at the University. I would especially like to thank Jared Manasek and Michael Christopher Lowe, as well as Mari Webel, Merve Tezcanlı, Shehab Ismail, Simon Stevens, Steven Wertheim, Eileen Ryan, iv Hannah Barker, Seth Anziska, Toby Harper, Leyla Amzi-Erdoğdular, Cenk Palaz and Kaveh Niazi. I owe a special thanks to Dale Stahl who has discussed, read and critiqued all of my work and has been a constant source of intellectual stimuli, but also a true friend and an excellent travel companion. Above all I am indebted to my dear family and friends. They supported me throughout my years at Columbia and suffered endless stories about international lawyers, Sultans, dragomans and ambassadors. I would especially like to thank Doctor Clark Baxter, Shane and Julia Stratton, Emma Lewis, David Weir, Veronica Hoyo and Hector Bracho. I wish to thank my dearest friend Alida Lasker who will forever be responsible for convincing me to become an historian. I would also like to thank the real writer in my family, my brother Sean, who has challenged my ideas and helped me work out my arguments. My parents, Susan and John Genell, have always supported and encouraged me in all of my endeavors, for which I am profoundly grateful. I dedicate this dissertation to them. Finally my deepest thanks are reserved for Michael Houk who has provided me with endless intellectual support and saintly patience. v For my Parents (Mitz and Ted) vi O Ibn ‘Othman, desist from taking Egypt, The land which is dignified with the best Imams; Our Chief Imam is al-Shafi‘i, a Polestar and a saint, The son of Idris, a pillar of Islam She is called the Quiver, and whoever attacks her God will break his back with a sword. Ibn Iyas An Account of the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt in the Year A.H. 922 vii Introduction Votre récent acte de soumission, les assurances de dévouement et de fidélité que vous avez données, les intentions droites et sincères que vous avez manifestées vis-à-vis de moi et de mon gouvernement sont parvenues à ma souveraine connaissance et m'ont rempli de joie.