DEPICTING THE ENEMY: RUSSIANS AND OTTOMANS IN THE PRESS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR A Ph.D. Dissertation By ZHARMUKHAMED ZARDYKHAN Department of History Bilkent University Ankara September 2007 Светлой памяти профессора Стэнфорда Дж. Шоу (1930-2006) посвящается... DEPICTING THE ENEMY: RUSSIANS AND OTTOMANS IN THE PRESS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by ZHARMUKHAMED ZARDYKHAN In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BILKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA September 2007 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Oktay Özel Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Ferdan Ergut Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Paul Latimer Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Evgeni Radushev Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Professor Norman Stone Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT DEPICTING THE ENEMY: RUSSIANS AND OTTOMANS IN THE PRESS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR Zardykhan, Zharmukhamed Ph.D., Department of History Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Oktay Özel September 2007 The intricate course of events that led both the Russian and Ottoman Empires towards the Great War had been the culmination of long-lasting domestic and international developments, which were reflected in their policies towards the other side. However, despite the ardent hatred and evident enmity that prevailed over the Russo-Ottoman relations for centuries, both of these empires were faced with similar problems of political, socioeconomic and national character that distinguished them from the rest of Europe and Asia. Whether out of hopelessness, inevitability, greater expectations or simply as a precious opportunity to rehabilitate their former reputation, seriously damaged after iii the humiliating Russo-Japanese and Balkan wars, the levying of war against their historical enemies deeply affected each countries' entire population. The effect was particularly strong because of the advanced and elaborate total war propaganda techniques employed primarily by the press, while the religious, nationalistic and historical aspects of the confrontation made the propaganda warfare a diverse and complicated battlefield. The main objective of this work is the presentation, comparison and analysis of a great variety of controversial pieces of information related to the Russo-Ottoman confrontation prior to and during the First World War. This information reveals personal prejudice, ethnic, religious and political affiliation of the authors, as well as deliberate attempts to spread misinformation and propaganda. Keywords: Russo-Ottoman relations, First World War, Pan-Slavism, Pan-Islamism, Pan-Turkism, Eastern Anatolia, Muslims of Russia, Central Asia iv ÖZET DÜŞMANI BETİMLEMEK: BİRİNCİ DÜNYA SAVAŞI SIRASINDA BASINDAKİ RUSLAR VE OSMANLILAR Zardykhan, Zharmukhamed Doktora, Tarih Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Oktay Özel Eylül 2007 Hem Rus, hem de Osmanlı imparatorluklarını Büyük Savaş’e sürükleyen olaylar silsilesi, bu ülkelerin birbirlerine yönelik siyasetlerinde de yankı bulan uzun süreli iç ve dış gelişmelerin doruk noktası olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Ancak, Osmanlı- Rus ilişkilerine asırlardır hâkim olan ateşli nefret ve bariz düşmanlığa rağmen, her iki imparatorluk da benzer siyasî, sosyo-ekonomik ve millî sorunlarla karşı karşıya kalmıştı ve bu durum onları Avrupa’nın ve Asya’nın gerisinden farklı kılmaktaydı. Osmanlı ve Rus imparatorluklarını birbirleriyle savaşmaya iten nedenler, o dönemde içinde bulundukları çaresizlik, savaş sonrasından umdukları büyük beklentiler ya da v Osmanlıların Balkan harbinde, Rusların ise Japon harbinde zedelenen itibarlarını kurtarmak istemeleri olmuştu. Bu savaşın ortaya çıkışında basının da büyük bir rolü vardı. Dönemine gore ileri ve özenle hazırlanmış savaş propaganda tekniklerinin, dinî, milliyetçi ve tarihî unsurları da kullanması bu savaşın bir başka yönüydü. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, Birinci Dünya Savaşı öncesi ve savaş sırasındaki Osmanlı-Rus ihtilafı üzerine yapılan propagandaların bir kısmını kaleme almış yazarların üslubunu irdelemektir. Çalışma, bu yazarların sergiledikleri etnik, dini ve siyasi söyleme ve bu söylemin kamuoyunu yanıltması üzerine odaklanmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Osmanlı-Rus ilişkileri, Birinci Dünya Savaşı, Panislavizm, Panislamizm, Pantürkizm, Doğu Anadolu, Rusya Müslümanları, Orta Asya vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Assistant Professor Oktay Özel for his willingness to supervise this research after it had already begun and for his enormous support and understanding throughout this work. I am also deeply grateful to the dear members of the Examining Committee – Professor Norman Stone, Assistant Professor Evgeni Radushev and Assistant Professor Paul Latimer of Bilkent University and Assistant Professor Ferdan Ergut of the Middle East Technical University – for their remarks and constructive criticism. Finally, this humble work of mine would not have been conceived and completed without the encouragement and inspiration of the late Professor Stanford J. Shaw, who always respected my thoughts and ideas, even when they were wrong. vii NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND DATES Throughout the text, the transliteration of terms, notions and proper names from non-Latin alphabet languages and sources is carried out in the following ways: Russian: The Russian and East Slavic names and terms are Romanized according to the Library of Congress Transliteration System with slight modifications [e.g., Yeliseev instead of Eliseev, Dostoevsky instead of Dostoevskii]. Arabic: The Classical Islamic terms and notions are transliterated according to the The Encyclopedia of Islam transliteration system [e.g., Shawwâl instead of Şevvâl], although avoiding excessive diacritics [e.g., Safar instead of -afar]. Ottoman: For the terms and proper names associated with the Ottoman Empire, the proper Turkish transliteration reflecting the orthographic peculiarities of the Ottoman language is preferred over Arabic or Modern Turkish [e.g., Mahmûd instead of MaÈmåd or Mahmut; Tercümân-i Hakîkât instead of Tercüman-ı Hakikat]. Turkic: The Turkic languages are transliterated reflecting their orthographic and phonetic peculiarities, instead of their substitution with the closest viii Ottoman or Turkish counterpart [Aq Masjid instead of Ak Mescit, vilâyät instead of vilâyet]. However, for certain words like mullah and Pasha, which are widely used in English, the Standard English spelling is preferred. Although in the main text the possible reference to a publication follows the Gregorian calendar, the dates in the footnotes appear in their original form. In case of the mention of several dates for the same publication, the most persistent and convenient one is chosen. For the dates in hidjrî or Rûmî calendars, the appropriate Gregorian year is added in brackets upon their first mention. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................iii ÖZET .......................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ vii NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND DATES................................................... viii TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................ x CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION................................................................................ 1 1.1 SCOPE OF THE WORK ............................................................................ 4 1.2 STRUCTURE ............................................................................................. 6 1.3 SOURCES................................................................................................... 8 1.4 TERMINOLOGY ....................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER II: SEEING THE EVIL: THE RUSSIANS AS PERCEIVED BY THE OTTOMAN TURKS................................................................................................. 11 2.1 THE SPIRIT OF RUSSIA ........................................................................ 11 2.1.1 The Russians in History .................................................................... 11 2.1.2 Russia and the Third Rome............................................................... 18 2.1.3