THE COMMITTEE OF UNION AND PROGRESS IN TURKISH POLITICS, 1908 - 1913 by FEROZ-UDDIN AHMAD Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of London, April 1966. ProQuest Number: 11010356 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010356 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 - 2 - A3STRACT This is a study of* a political society called the Committee of Union and Progress (Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti) between the years 1908 and 1913- Because of the role it played in the insurrection which forced the Sultan to re-establish the 1876 Constitution, the Committee emerged as the dominant political group in July 1908. But the Committee’s position did not remain unchallenged for long. Political forces which had previously been obscured by the struggle against the Palace came to the surface, and there began a period of political activity and debate unequalled in the history of modern Turkey. I have endeavoured to show that the CUP, while being the dominant political group, never had a monopoly of power during this period. Political and social conditions prevailing within (and without) the Ottoman » Empire forced it to share power with the traditional ruling groups, such as the bureaucratic elite symbolised by the Sublime Porte (BabiSli) and the army. The Committee also compromised with other political organ- * isations. X have also tried to show how the social and political attributes of the CUP were constantly - 3 - changing, so that by 1913 the Committee had narrowed down its affiliations and was in a position to establish the so-called triumvirate of Enver, Cemal and Talat, The thesis has been divided for the sake of convenience and symmetry into five chapters, each chapter ending with an event of major importance. Chapter 1 deals with the rebellion and ends with the restoration of the constitution. Chapter II ends with the counter-revolution of 1909; Chapter III with the resignation of Grand Vezir Hilmi Pa^a in December, 1909; it also examines the constitutional amendments. Chapter IV ends with Italy*s declaration of war in September 1911, and Chapter V with the coup d*&tat of 23 January, 1913* I have concluded this study with some general observations on the period of the Committee of Union and Progress as a whole. - 4 - CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT » * . » . • * • • • • « « • ••• 2 PREFACE . « « « . • . • • • * • » 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................. 6 ABBREVIATIONS .............................. 7 CHAPTER I : The Antecedents of the Revolution of 1908 • . • 8 CHAPTER II : The Constitutional Regime and the Counter-Revolution of 1909 •.. ... ... 32 CHAPTER III : (i) The Military and the COP . .............. 93 (ii) The Period of Constitutional Reform 114 CHAPTER IV : The Growth of Opposition 129 CHAPTER V : The Decline, Fall and Resurgence of the CUP ..• 180 CONCLUSION ••• ••• ••• ... ... ... 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY 239 - 5 - PREFACE Throughout this thesis I have used the official modern Turkish orthography in transcribing Turkish names, except when quoting from foreign sources. Some notes on pronunciation based on G.L.Lewis, Teach Yourself Turkish, 3rd ed.,(1959)» are given as an aid to readers unacquainted with the Turkish language, c - j as in jam 9 - ch as in church g - soft g lengthens the preceding vowel 1 - something like u in radium o - French eu as in deux or seul § - sh as in shall u - French u as in lumiere. X have also used modern Turkish place names; thus Istanbul and not Constantinople, Edirne and not Adrianople, again except when quoting. The term 'Ottoman1 has been usually confined to official usage; e.g. 'Ottoman Government', 'Ottoman army'. In the Ottoman Empire at this time four different calendars were in use. There was the Hijri, the Turkish Solar Hijri, the Julian and the Gregorian. I have standardised all dates using the Gregorian calendar. - 6 - ACKN OV/LED GSMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Bernard Lewis, who not only supervised my work on this thesis, but always encouraged and inspired. I also wish to thank Bay Burhan Felek of the Cumhuriyet (Istanbul) and ex-President Celal Bayar for granting interviews and clarifying certain points related to the period of study. My thanks are also due to the staff of the Public Record Office, London; the libraries of the School of Oriental and African Studies; Belediye and Beyazit, Istanbul; and Miss D.E.Dormer of the Senate House Library for their kind co-operation. Lastly there is my wife without whose perseverance and support this thesis would never have been completed. - 7 - ABBREVIATIONS AA : Aylik Ansiklopedi Bell. : Belleten CHJ : Cambridge Historical Journal CR Contemporary Review 1 2 E l , El* : Encyclopedia of Islam, 1st and 2nd editions FR : Fortnightly Review 4 IA : Islam Ansiklopedisi MEA s Middle Eastern Affairs MEJ : Middle East Journal NC : The Nineteenth Century Res.Tar.Mec: Resimli Tarih Mecmuasi RMM : Revue du monde musulman T a r .D u n . : Tarih DunyasH WI s Die Welt des Islams - 8 - CHAPTER I THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE 1908 REVOLUTION Early in February 1908 a student at the Salonika Law School wrote to a relative in Manastir that he had been asked by his Triends at the School to join a secret society* The membership of this society would involve the swearing of a sacred oath and the accept­ ance of prohibited literature. The relative, a minor judicial functionary, submitted the letter to the authorities nrho investigated the matter. , Their. inquiry . led to the arrest of some ten law students and about the same number of junior officers from the Third Army Corps stationed at Salonika. They were carefully interrogated and a long and thorough investigation followed. After some weeks most of the detainees were released, though Nazim Bey, chief of the military police in Salonika and the officer who conducted the inquiry, detained one or two of the junior officers.^ 1. Annual Report, 1908, enclosure in Sir Gerard Lowther to Sir Edward Grey, no.105 con.,Pera, 17 Feb.,1909» F .0.371/768/7053• Because of its secret nature this incident does not seem to have found a place in any Turkish source. Yet it may explain why there was an attempt to assassinate Nazim Bey soon after. See belowf 10-11. - 9 - The failure of the authorities to unearth the secret society is proof of the stringent precautions taken by the Committee of Union and Progress in the initiation of its new members* It also reveals the power the Committee had acquired among some of the higher officials in Macedonia, many of whom are said to have co-operated to quash Nazim Bey's inquiry. It is no coincidence that Manyasizade Refik, an active and influential Unionist and Minister of Justice in Kamil Papa's Cabinet, was one of the principle lect­ urers at the,Law School, while Azmi Bey, the Cireetoir of the School, and Haci Adil Bey, a lecturer and director at the Customs House, were both members of the CUP. The lenient treatment of the law students 2 may be attributed to the influence of these men. In May 1908 the Committee of Union and Progress considered coming out into the open and taking charge of the situation in Macedonia, They held a meeting in Salonika and decided that they should reveal to the Powers the existence and influence of their society. The Powers should be told that the Committee alone could bring peace to Macedonia and therefore Europe 2. Ibid. - 10 - should abandon its futile schemes of reform. The Unionists drew up a manifesto and sent it to the 3 consuls of the Powers. There was no response from the Powers; they could hardly acknowledge the mani­ festo of an illegal secret organisation whose strength they did not know. But it seems that the Committee had decided on positive action, so that when the in­ surrection broke out in July the Committee was in a position to direct it. The immediate and short-term motive for the revolutionary outbreaks of June-July 1908 seems to have been self-preservation. The Committee, alarmed at the success of Abdulhamid's espionage network, decided to take swift and drastic measures against agents of the Palace in Macedonia. Failure to silence them could mean the destruction of the entire secret organisation. Colonel Nazim, who had conducted the February inquiry and made his report to the Palace, was the first agent 3* Consul-General Lamb to Grey, T. P. , Salonica, 23 July,1908, F . 0.371/544/25634 ; Ali Cevat, ikinci Megrutiyetin Ilani ve Otuzbir Mart Hadisesi,(1960), 158» and E,F.Knight, The Awakening of Turkey,(1909), 1 3 0 . 4. Accounts written after the event state that the Committee had decided to stage a coup. See Knight, ibid.,133» Annual Report, 1908; C.R.Buxton, Turkey in Revolution, (1909), 53-4; Sir Edwin Pears, Forty Years in Constan­ tinople. (1916), 287. -li­ on the list for assassination. On 11 June, the day- before he left for Istanbul, Nazim Bey was shot and 5 wounded and next day left for the capital. The attempt on Nazim Beyfs life coincided with the meeting of Edward VII and Nicholas II at Reval. They discussed Anglo-Russian relations and agreed on a joint initiative to introduce far-reaching reform in order to end the anarchy prevailing in Macedonia.