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HAMIDIAN EPIC: WAR LITERATURE IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY OTTOMAN EMPIRE The Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by CAN EYÜP ÇEKİÇ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA May 2016 ABSTRACT HAMIDIAN EPIC: WAR LITERATURE IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY OTTOMAN EMPIRE Çekiç, Can Eyüp Ph.D., Department of History Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Akif Kireçci May 2016 This study explores the ways in which epic literature represented, supported, and legitimized the Ottoman regime and its ideology in the late nineteenth century. During the Hamidian Era (1876–1908), reinventing an authentic source, an old genre in the Ottoman literature, for its social and political desires, the regime became resourceful to create a harmonious relationship and prevented potential antagonisms between imperial objectives and popular nationalisms. Epic literature reproduced, created, and promoted a sacred aura around the Ottoman dynasty and the personality of Abdülhamid II. In line with this, epic themes refashioned the concept of ghaza and re-invented the image of the ghazi sultan to confront nationalist and/or constitutionalist criticisms and to consolidate the political power of the ruling dynasty and the sovereign. Keywords: Abdülhamid II, Epic Literature, Ideology, Ottoman Military History, War Literature. iii ÖZET DȂSİTȂN-I HAMİD: GEÇ ONDOKUZUNCU YÜZYIL OSMANLI İMPARATORLUĞU’NDA EDEBİYȂT-I ASKERİYE Çekiç, Can Eyüp Doktora, Tarih Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Mehmet Akif Kireçci Mayıs 2016 Bu çalışma geç ondokuzuncu yüzyıl Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda, Osmanlı destan edebiyatının mevcut yönetimi ve ideolojisini hangi yollarla temsil ettiğini, desteklediğini, ve meşrulaştırdığını tahlil etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Siyasi iktidar, II. Abdülhamid Dönemi’nde (1876–1908), toplumsal ve siyasi gerekçelerle yeniden icat edilen geleneksel bir edebî türü, emperyal hedefler ve rağbette olan milliyetçilikler arasındaki olası uzlaşmazlıkları önlemek ve aralarında uyumlu bir ilişki yaratmak amacıyla kullanmıştır. Destan edebiyatı, Osmanlı hanedanı ve II. Abdülhamid’in kimliği etrafında mukaddes bir hale kurulmasına katkıda bulunmuştur. Buna uygun olarak, destansı motifler, milliyetçi ve/veya meşrutiyetçi eleştirilerin önünü kesmek ve mevcut iktidar ve hükümdarın siyasi gücünü pekiştirmek amacıyla gaza kavramını yeniden popular hale getirmiş ve gazi- sultan imgesini yeniden üretmiştir. Anahtar Sözcükler: II. Abdülhamid, Epik Edebiyat, İdeoloji, Osmanlı Askeri Tarihi, Savaş Edebiyatı. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help of all my mentors at Bilkent University. My dissertation advisor Akif Kireçci patiently read several copies of this study. His meticulous criticism, valuable remarks, and endless enthusiasm guided me and encouraged me to progress. Without his motivation and support, this thesis could not be done. I am also grateful to the members of the dissertation committee. Berrak Burçak guided me throughout the writing process and I also benefitted from her coaching and generous friendly support. I owe the expertise and support of Oktay Özel, who not only warned me regarding the intricacies of history as a craft, but also supported me intellectually. I am indebted to professors Mehmet Kalpaklı, Aykut Kansu and Nazan Çiçek for their valuable suggestions and challenging comments. I owe special thanks to Professor Özer Ergenç, who has been very helpful during the years I have spent at Bilkent. I am indebted to Bilkent University and Turkish Historical Association that funded my dissertation research. I should thank to the staff at National Library in Ankara, where I collected the bulk of sources that consisted the backbone of this study. v Michael D. Sheridan, Ümit Fırat Açıkgöz, and Melih Egemen have read parts of this dissertation and provided very valuable comments. I owe much to their criticisms and suggestions. I am also thankful to dear friends at Bilkent, including Aslıhan Aksoy Sheridan, Sena Hatip Dinçyürek, Merve Biçer, Burcu Feyzullahoğlu, Tarık Tansu Yiğit, Ayşegül Avcı, Melike Tokay Ünal, Fahri Dikkaya, Doğuş Özdemir, Abdürrahim Özer, Mert Öztürk, Nil Tekgül, Aslı Yiğit, Harun Yeni, Elvin Otman, and Neslihan Demirkol for their pleasant support in several ways. I also owe many thanks to Saadet Büyük Güler, Erdem Güler, Gizem Tongo Overfield Shaw, Barış Asan, Berna Kamay, Barış Celep, Gül Çatır Açıkgöz, Nagihan Gür, Onur Usta, Fatih Karataş, Murat Karamustafaoğlu, Ali Can Ergür, and Ferit Moral for their friendly support. I dedicate this thesis to my family that supported me in innumerable ways to this end. It is also dedicated to the memory of my friends Burak Samed Yıldız and Ayşegül Keskin Çolak, who passed away during the course of this project. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………..…... iii ÖZET …………………………………………………………………………………… iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ………………………………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………………… vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………………….. ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………….. 1 CHAPTER II: POLITICAL USES OF EPIC LITERATURE ………………………… 40 2.1 Imperialism ………………………………………………………............... 45 2.2 Nationalism ………………………………………………………............... 60 2.3 Patrimonialism …………………………………………………………….. 73 2.4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 79 CHAPTER III: OTTOMAN EPIC TRADITION UP TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ……………………………………………………………………………... 81 3.1 The Ghaza Ethos …………………………………………………............... 86 3.2 Ghaza Narratives and Ulema ……………………………………………… 93 3.3 Centralization of Ghaza …………………………………………………… 99 3.4 Great Sultans and Commanders …………………………………………...116 3.5 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 121 vii CHAPTER IV: OTTOMAN WAR LITERATURE AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY MILITARY REFORMS ………………………………………………… 123 4.1 Regulation of the Ottoman Army …………………………………........... 128 4.2 Discipline and Punishment ………………………………………………. 141 4.3 Obedience to the Sultan ………………………………………………….. 147 4.4 “A Nation in Arms” ……………………………………………………… 152 4.5 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 157 CHAPTER V: LATE OTTOMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY ON THE EARLY OTTOMAN GHAZA ……………………………………………………………………………….. 159 5.1 Heroism …………………………………………………………............... 164 5.2 History and Ideology ……………………………………………............... 171 5.3 Early Ottoman Ghazis ……………………………………………………. 178 5.4 Separation of History from Epic Literature ……………………………… 190 5.5 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 202 CHAPTER VI: BETWEEN TWO WARS (1876–1897) …………………………….. 203 6.1 Plevna Narratives ………………………………………………………… 209 6.2 Thessaly Narratives ………………………………………………………. 225 6.3 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………... 244 CHAPTER VII: PAX HAMIDIANA (1897–1901) ……………………………...….. 246 7.1 Public Order ……………………………………………………................ 251 7.2 Spatial Impositions ……………………………………………………….. 263 7.3 Literary Contributions ……………………………………………………. 272 7.4 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 282 CHAPTER VIII: CONCLUSION …………………………………………………….. 284 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………..… 295 APPENDICES A. FIGURES …………………………………………………………………. 312 B. ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS ……………………………………............... 339 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BEO Bâb-ı Ȃlî Evrak Odası BOA Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi DH. MKT. Dâhiliye Nezâreti Mektubî Kalemi EI Encyclopedia of Islam MF. MKT. Maarif Nezâreti Mektubî Kalemi MKT. MHM. Mektubî Mühimme Kalemi Y. EE. Yıldız Esas Evrâkı Y. PRK. AZJ. Yıldız Perakende Evrakı Arzuhaller ve Jurnaller Y. PRK. BŞK. Yıldız Perakende Evrâkı Mâbeyn Başkitâbeti Y. PRK. HR. Yıldız Perakende Evrâkı Hariciye Nezâreti Maruzâtı Y. PRK. TKM. Yıldız Perakende Evrâkı Tahrirât-ı Ecnebiye ve Mâbeyn Mütercimliği ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION “Because our empire was founded by conquerors, its end was epic.”1 Throughout the nineteenth century, empires around the world tried to balance threats from within and without. The Habsburgs, the Ottomans, the Romanovs, the Meiji Japan, and the Qajars struggled against each other and at the same time looked for a way out of emerging nationalisms. In order to survive the turmoil created by emerging and powerful nationalist movements, they attempted to eliminate such centrifugal forces by transforming their bureaucratic apparatus and by crafting more centralized state systems. Trying to maintain their sphere of influence, ancien régime empires suffered from a constant multifaceted state of crisis. Military modernization projects and administrative regulations addressed larger social reforms, which caused social disturbances that in 1 Falih Rıfkı is comparing the Ottoman Empire with the British Empire: “Because our empire was founded by conquerors, its end was epic. Because yours was founded by merchants you are making a liquidation,” Taymis Kıyıları (İstanbul: Akşam Matbaası, 1934), p. 126, quoted and translated in Bernard Lewis, “The Ottoman Empire and its Aftermath,” Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan., 1980), p. 35. 1 many cases troubled central authority. Rising irredentist nationalist movements challenged the sovereignty rights of dynasties, such as those of the Habsburgs and the Ottomans.2 The political reforms of ancien régimes and the leaders of the monarchic social and political order, especially in early modern Europe, were supported by modern forms of addressing the public to satisfy the ever-increasing need to boost their legitimacy and popularity. During or immediately after these reform attempts, and indeed throughout

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