Russian hegemony and Islamic resistance: Ideology and political organization in Dagestan 1800–1930

Administrative reforms within the Ottoman bureaucracy in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries resulted in many educated men joining the civil service. Süleyman Nazîf's father served in the Ottoman power structure for many years, but Süleyman Nazîf himself, despite being appointed to important political posts, gave them up to continue his career as a poet, writer, journalist and patriotic political commentator. Like many high-ranking Ottomans, he was exiled to Malta by the British after Turkey's defeat in the First World War. Süleyman Nazîf has also left an indelible mark on the literary milieu of his time because of his ready wit and wry humour.     

The alla franca dandy; modernity and the novel in the late 19th-century Ottoman Empire

ABSTRACT

In the late 19th-century Ottoman novel, an iconic character draws attention: the alla franca dandy; a man who admires the Western culture to the point of mindless imitation, and who stands aloof from his own society as he condemns the Ottoman/Islamic culture in aesthetical terms. He was born out of the Ottoman intellectuals’ ideas of and anxiety over Westernization, who sought to modernize the society without subverting the traditional foundations. As the Ottoman/Islamic and Western cultures collided, the alla franca dandy figure became the embodiment of Westernization gone astray and served the intellectuals’ objective to educate the masses by setting a bad example to be avoided. However, though the alla franca dandy figure was brought forth, in this manner, to circumscribe the proper limits of modernization, he ironically evolved, through the novels of different authors, to express individualistic attitudes, and put forth a modernist critique of the Ottoman/Islamic tradition as the intellectuals’ epistemological assumptions eroded and the society’s present is questioned and problematized as in need of intervention.     

Learning the Ropes: The Young Turk Perception of the 1905 Russian Revolution

This article analyses the topoi of the Young Turk reading of the 1905 Russian Revolution. It argues that the Young Turks considered the 1905 Revolution as a victory against autocratic regimes and as an edificatory example for the Ottoman constitutionalists. This example provided the Young Turks with a mirror in which they saw a model of revolution from below. As such, in addition to encouraging the Young Turks to formulate and re-assess their methods and means of establishing a constitutional regime in the Ottoman Empire, the 1905 Revolution helped them to transform their initially intellectual movement to an effectual political one.     

From kanun-ı kadim (ancient law) to umumun kuvveti (force of people): historical context of the Ottoman constitutionalism

This paper attempts to examine the prevailing scholarly view on the Young Ottoman and the Young Turk movements, which postulates that the concept of constitutionalism was solely and directly based on the western model, imported by the constitutionalist movements to the Ottoman Empire. As a child of the ‘modernization theory’, this approach mostly concentrates on European impact in an isolated manner, thus overlooking not only the manifold sources of the Ottoman constitutionalism, but also the means of legitimation that the Young Ottomans and the Young Turks cultivated. In view of this, I seek to shed light on the historical context of the Ottoman constitutionalism, by pointing out how the Young Ottomans and the Young Turks perceived the power struggles in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and built continuity between themselves and the political position that aimed to restrict the royal prerogative before the nineteenth century.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this issue: Burning Issues: Understanding and Misunderstanding the Middle East, A 40‐Year Chronicle , by John Mahoney, Jane Adas and Robert Norberg, editors. Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization , by Akbar Ahmed. The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World , by Mohammed Ayoob. Faith in Moderation: Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen , by Jillian Schwedler. Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence , by Aliza Marcus. The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide , by Guenter Lewy. The Armenian Rebellion at Van , by Justin McCarthy, Esat Arslan, Cemalettin Taskiran, Ömer Turan.     

On the front and at home: women in the modern Ottoman epic

Changes in gender roles are related to larger developments in the spheres of social modernization and discipline. As Ottoman society evolved into a nation through the nineteenth century, women's roles in contemporary epic literature were reassigned to domestic life, showing them protecting the hinterland and nurturing younger generations in order to satisfy the state's growing need for manpower. Gradually, Ottoman women lost whatever autonomy they may have had over their bodies, and their status vis-à-vis the state was redefined. This article examines the female characters in modern Ottoman epic literature so as to explore the reflections in this literature of the social and political transformations that occurred during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It aims to reveal the ways in which heroic female figures created before or at the beginning of the autocratic reign of Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909) changed into domestic characters as the social skeleton of the regime became apparent.     

Refik Halid Karay and his memoirs of exile

Refik Halid Karay was a prominent late Ottoman Turkish novelist and journalist, who felt at odds with the political environment of his time and did not hesitate to attack it with his humorous and satirical pen. In consequence, he was twice exiled from Istanbul, firstly for five years within Turkey, and secondly, when he was not allowed to enter Turkey for sixteen years as one of the so-called 150ers who were deprived of their citizenship. The life and times of this quick-witted writer of elegant Turkish prose are presented around the broad framework of his two memoirs of exile. The 150ers were later granted a pardon and Refik Halid Karay returned to Turkey in 1938.     

Religion,demography, and politics in Lebanon

A devastating earthquake hit Istanbul and its environs shortly after noon on 10 July 1894. Although seismic disturbances were quite frequent in the long history of the Ottoman capital, the imperial city had not witnessed such violent tremors in more than a century. Hundreds of people died and thousands more were injured as a result of the complete or partial collapse of private dwellings, mosques, churches, synagogues and other public buildings. The earthquake of July 1894 hit the seat of the Ottoman government during a period of rapid socio-cultural change and shortly before the empire faced one of its worst crises in the late nineteenth century. As may be expected, many people in the Ottoman lands sought an explanation to the calamity that befell the inhabitants of the capital and neighbouring regions. Some could draw on long-standing interpretive traditions that were primarily either theological in nature or based on classical naturalist theories. However, the Ottoman intelligentsia rejected such explanations out of hand. The Ottoman response to the earthquake mirrored the similar embrace of science's authority and adoption of scientific methods and tools in many other contemporary societies. The process of the expansion and globalization of scientific knowledge expanded beyond the boundaries of Europe and its colonies. Science and technology were widely perceived to be the measure of civilization and modernity. The Ottoman intelligentsia and political elite were therefore invested in helping the Ottoman Empire meet standards that were set in Europe and North America but also achieved quite successfully in Japan. They seized upon the earthquake of 1894 to disseminate knowledge of modern earth sciences and implement new methods of scientific study of seismic events in the Ottoman lands.     

Policing the ‘suspects’: Ottoman Greeks and Armenians in Istanbul, 1914–18

During the First World War, a primary domestic political aim for all belligerent countries was to preserve the socio-economic status quo in order to provide appropriate conditions for the survival of the state. Therefore, war governments paid particular attention to the maintenance of internal order. While doing this, the central authority of governments became paramount and this situation had remarkable repercussions on state–society relations. This article examines the wartime public order policies of the Ottoman government specifically concerning the Ottoman Greeks (Rum) and Armenians living in Istanbul. During the Great War, these non-Muslim elements were officially regarded as ‘suspects’, in other words, as ‘potential political criminals’ threatening the internal order of the capital. To control the Ottoman Greeks and Armenians, the war government implemented a number of policing strategies that consisted of deportation of individuals and groups, strict control on travel, and close surveillance of ‘suspects’.     

Transforming an Empire: The Ottoman Empire’s Immigration and Settlement Policies in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

The Ottoman Empire's immigration and settlement policies were redefined in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a result of the population movements caused by the rise of nationalism, wars and territorial losses. With changing demographics and the acceptance of a new citizenship concept by the Tanzimat Edict in 1839, the millet system which had previously secured the multi-ethnic and multi-religious nature of the empire for centuries was challenged. The central argument of the paper is that the Ottoman state responded to these challenges by supporting a liberal migration and settlement policy in an institutionalized and highly complex structure through the pioneering Ottoman Migration Commission. Although certain restrictions later took place due to internal and external factors such as a changing economic, social and political climate, the institutionalized settlement and migration policy proves that a multi-dimensional system was developed in response to the challenges of a dissolving and yet transforming Empire.     

Three Ottoman Pashas at the Congress of Berlin, 1878

In the weakened Ottoman Empire of the nineteenth century, revolts in the Balkans and subsequent Russian intervention led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 which resulted in a great loss of Ottoman territory and population in the European part of the Empire. After the ceasefire at Edirne in January 1878 and the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, the Congress of Berlin was convened in June 1878 in order to achieve a political settlement. High-level plenipotentiaries of the main European Powers took part in the deliberations. Against the backdrop of the Congress of Berlin, details are provided about the lives and careers of the members of the Ottoman Turkish delegation.     

Ahmed Rüstem Bey and the End of an Era

Ahmed Rüstem Bey was accredited as Ottoman Ambassador to the United States of America at a critical juncture before the First World War. The Ottoman Empire had weakened as a result of revolts by many minorities agitating for self-determination and a series of military conflicts culminating in the Balkan Wars. Ahmed Rüstem Bey, though born in Turkey of non-Turkish parentage, was a dyed-in-the-wool Ottoman who felt deeply attached to his country. As Ambassador his stay in the US was short and controversial. Information on Ahmed Rüstem's life and career needs augmentation, and the present article represents an initial attempt to portray this unconventional diplomat.     

The narrative gap in Ottoman Armenian history

The impact of globalization on the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey was first observed broadly in the railways of the transportation sector in the 1850s, and eventually shifted towards highways by the 1950s. This change profoundly affected the structure of the economy, ultimately leading to its integration into the global system. In this article, we look at three questions: what was the role of railways in the Ottoman Empire from the 1850s to 1914? What were the characteristics of modern Turkey's railway policies following the War of Independence? And, finally, how did transport policies shift from railways to highways following the Second World War? The Ottoman railway network held special importance for the Empire's economic integration into world markets. Foreign capital was invested in railways to provide crucial links between production areas and harbours with the goal of facilitating the export of raw materials and agricultural goods with the government's financial support. Until the proclamation of the Republic in 1923, the rail network was unbalanced and lines were unconnected, damaging both the economic unity and integration of the Ottoman economy. Forming a nation state on the basis of a national economy was the primary goal of Republican government. As such, all of the early Republican governments continued building and funding the rail network despite problems allocating sufficient financial resources and pressing needs for social (i.e. a lack of health and education services) and economic development. After the Second World War, following liberalization in economic and political life and an infusion of foreign aid (heavily invested in agriculture and road transportation networks), Turkey saw its economy grow. With this economic expansion, modern Turkey began to shift the focus of its transportation policies from railways to highways. As demand increased and highway investments skyrocketed, a highly developed road transport network began to take shape in Turkey, ultimately at the expense of the railway system.     

From salary to resistance: mobility,employment, and violence in Dibra, 1792–1826

ABSTRACT

This article traces the military employment patterns of the highlanders of Dibra in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It addresses how the Albanian highlanders found different opportunities for military employment in a period largely associated with political instability. The Albanians as ‘mountain bandits’ have been regarded as the primary culprit of the violence that ravaged the Balkans. The same bandits, this article shows, constituted at the same time the irregular forces the Ottoman army came to rely on in the late eighteenth century. By demonstrating different prospects of employment with which the Albanian irregulars were preoccupied, it provides a broader perspective to observe the turmoil the Balkans underwent in a period of political instability. This article also deals with the intricate interplay between the Albanian irregulars and the Ottoman military administration. It reinserts the Albanian bandits-cum-irregulars into the background of the military reforms. Showing how different prospects for military employment that ranged from freelance plunder to service either for the imperial army or the retinue of the rogue Albanian pashas came to clash with the discourse of military reforms, this article also traces the increasing tension between the Albanian irregulars and the modernising Ottoman army.     

One script,two languages: Garabed Panosian and his Armeno-Turkish newspapers in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire

This article focuses on the publications of Garabed Panosian and examines the extent of readership achieved by the Armeno-Turkish newspapers in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. It specifically focuses on the linguistic, social, and political circumstances in which his newspapers were read. The readership of Panosian's newspapers was not only limited to Turkish monolingual Armenians but also extended to Armenian--Turkish bilingual Armenians. Moreover, his newspapers, along with other Armeno-Turkish materials, gained a non-Armenian readership. Thus, Panosian was able to use his newspapers to display the allegiance of Armenians to the Ottoman Empire, aiming at a favourable evaluation from government circles. Besides being a tool to reach out to Turkish monolinguals, Armeno-Turkish newspapers were also rich products of the culture of bilingualism and a medium shared by religiously diverse people. Thus, examining Armeno-Turkish materials elucidates the pluralistic society of the late Ottoman Empire.     

From Young Turks to modern Turkey: the story of Hüseyin Aziz Akyürek (Aziz Bey), the last director of the Ottoman General Security Service

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, was one of the early leaders of the Young Turk movement. Nevertheless, when he founded modern Turkey as a nation-state he pushed the veterans of the Young Turks aside, as their pan-Turanian ideology no longer suited the basics of the new state. The leaders of the Young Turks represented the past and their perceptions no longer corresponded with the change of circumstances and the new objects of the nascent state. While Armenian activists assassinated some of the top leaders of the Young Turks as a revenge for the Armenian genocide, second-rank leaders had now to find their way in modern Turkey. Aziz Bey was one of the seniors of the Ottoman security system during the Young Turks period and eventually reached the most senior position of director of the Ottoman General Security Service. When modern Turkey emerged, because of his remarkable talents, he managed to fit in middle-level positions in the new state (province governor, mayor and MP), but never regained elite status.     

The Quest to Understand Global Jihad: The Terrorism Industry and its Discontents

In the 1840s Sarantis Archigenes, an Ottoman Greek citizen, wrote a book on political economy called Tasarrufat-? Mülkiye. The book contained both political-economic knowledge and developmentalist policy recommendations for the Ottoman Empire. The emphasis given to human capital, trade and transportation, industrialization and property relations is noteworthy. Since it did not reach large numbers of people, the importance of Tasarrufat-? Mülkiye has not been appreciated. The goal of this article is to provide an account of Archigenes' views on political economy as presented in his long-neglected book. Had the policy makers in the Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century taken Archigenes' views seriously, a sound development strategy could have been formed.     

The Indian Red Crescent Mission to the Balkan Wars

Indian Muslim political development during the early years of the twentieth century contained a significant pan-Islamic component of solidarity, especially with the peoples of the beleaguered Ottoman Empire. Although this sentiment was later to be channelled into organized internal political activity such as the foundation of the Muslim League, it had its beginnings in various agitations such as the Khilafat Movement. The Indian Red Crescent Mission to Turkey may be said to have provided the initial mise-en-scène for the expression of political sympathy towards Turkey and the generation of a local freedom movement among the Muslims of India.     

The curious case of Ahmed Necmeddin Bey: a look into the sociopolitical climate in Aintab on the eve of 1915

Ahmed Necmeddin Bey was the kaimakam (district governor) of Aintab in late July 1908. One day, however, Ahmed Necmeddin Bey was beaten by a group of Turks and Armenians in Aintab; his clothes torn, he was dismissed from his post and finally expelled him from the city. But what was the reason for this incident? Within the first year of the declaration of the Constitution, it was the most important event that occurred in the city. This particular incident calls for careful examination, for this significant event reflects how the Second Constitutional era and the new regime were perceived by Muslims and Armenians in Aintab on a local level. Additionally, it offers us some useful clues regarding how the Union and Progress Party as a political organization and its policies were received on a local scale. By studying this case, it is also possible to see a clear example of how ordinary Ottoman citizens reacted towards the revival of the Constitution.     

Her Majesty's Protected Subjects: The Mishaqa Family in Ottoman Damascus

The protégé system that the Ottoman Empire encountered as the result of diplomatic relations with European powers later became a clear threat to the very existence of the empire. Among these powers, Britain, until the nineteenth century, executed its consular affairs via the Levant Company in the Middle East, but later employed local people, mostly non-Muslim Ottomans, as dragomans, consular agents and vice-consuls to execute its services in the region. The dragomans not only translated treaties and official documents, but also commented on the messages to and from the authorities and this gave them much more important roles. In this regard, members of the Mishaqa family served the British and later American interests under different posts ranging from dragoman, to consular agent and vice-consul. As they gained confidence, they were accorded British consular protection which provided them considerable privileges, and passed their duties to their sons. Unlike similar Levantine families who assumed dragomanship in the imperial centre as a household tradition, members of the Mishaqa family were deeply embedded in the local society and therefore could give insights on social and political changes in the Ottoman province of Damascus. After attaining British protection in 1840, members of the family served in British and American consulates until the beginning of the First World War. However, the protégé status of the family members paved the way for continued debates over their nationality and citizenship. This article attempts to present the basic codes of consular protection and Ottoman responses within the context of the story of Mishaqa family.