Shattered Dreams of Revolution

From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire

Bedross Der Matossian

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780804792707
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire du Moyen-Orient

The Ottoman revolution of 1908 is a study in contradictions—a positive manifestation of modernity intended to reinstate constitutional rule, yet ultimately a negative event that shook the fundamental structures of the empire, opening up ethnic, religious, and political conflicts. Shattered Dreams of Revolution considers this revolutionary event to tell the stories of three important groups: Arabs, Armenians, and Jews. The revolution raised these groups' expectations for new opportunities of inclusion and citizenship. But as post-revolutionary festivities ended, these euphoric feelings soon turned to pessimism and a dramatic rise in ethnic tensions.

The undoing of the revolutionary dreams could be found in the very foundations of the revolution itself. Inherent ambiguities and contradictions in the revolution's goals and the reluctance of both the authors of the revolution and the empire's ethnic groups to come to a compromise regarding the new political framework of the empire ultimately proved untenable. The revolutionaries had never been wholeheartedly committed to constitutionalism, thus constitutionalism failed to create a new understanding of Ottoman citizenship, grant equal rights to all citizens, and bring them under one roof in a legislative assembly. Today as the Middle East experiences another set of revolutions, these early lessons of the Ottoman Empire, of unfulfilled expectations and ensuing discontent, still provide important insights into the contradictions of hope and disillusion seemingly inherent in revolution.

1

THE EUPHORIA OF THE REVOLUTION

ON JULY 25, 1908, the population of the Ottoman capital, Istanbul, began rejoicing at the reinstatement of the constitution. Thousands of traders, industrialists, and other professionals of all the confessions—Muslims, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews—participated in the procession. The Levant Herald described the reaction in Istanbul: “It would be impossible to give and accurately convey the enthusiasm which has seized our population in the past days. . . . The population of the capital took 24 hours to grasp all the scope, all the magnitude of the act of his Majesty the Sultan whose name will be handed down to posterity along with those of the famous reformers.”¹ The population of the capital waved flags “and in all the places HIS MAJESTY the Sultan’s name was glorified.”²

The celebrations continued on July 26. A large meeting attended by deputations of the different guilds took place in the square where the Ministry of War was located. From there, the crowd proceeded to Yıldız Palace, where they presented addresses.³ One of the most important events that took place in Istanbul was the Mass held on August 13, 1908, in Pera’s Holy Trinity Armenian Church (Surb Errordut‘iwn) at Balık Pazarı (Figure 1). Five days before the event, an announcement was made in the local Armenian press and invitations were sent to Ottoman officials and dignitaries. The streets leading to the church were decorated with flags. Ottoman officials, dignitaries, and representatives of all the religious denominations attended the ceremony, including the şeyh ül-İslam.⁴ The ceremony was officiated by the locum tenens of the Armenian patriarch, Bishop Yeghishe Tourian, who gave a patriotic speech.⁵ The crowd then proceeded to Taksim Garden, where the celebrations reached their peak. Representatives of various ethnic groups gave enthusiastic speeches, and thousands of people gathered in the garden to celebrate “Turkish-Armenian brotherhood.”

FIGURE 1. Revolutionary festivities in Pera’s Holy Trinity Armenian Church at Balık Pazarı. From Resimli Kitab, September 1908, 60.

The jubilation and revolutionary festivities that took place in Istanbul are testimony to the postrevolutionary euphoria that descended upon the different cities and ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire. They also mark the beginnings of the public sphere that emerged from the Revolution that employed both local print culture and local ritual in a way that allowed the new nation’s varied ethnic and religious groups to participate in—and incrementally define—the culture of the new Ottoman nation. This process was not always a cooperative one: the new public sphere became the contested terrain in which ethnic groups struggled and competed to create a national political culture.

The celebrations and festivities of the successful Revolution inaugurated a new era and announced the demise of the ancien régime.⁶ This required the adoption of new categories of social and political definitions, new symbols, and an attempt to adopt a consensus among all the ethnic groups. As part of this process, there was an attempt to create a “civic religion” that would provide social solidarity for the ethnic groups and emphasize oneness rather than distinction. What were the postrevolutionary celebrations about? Who participated in these celebrations and festivities? What was the anatomy of these celebrations?

Revolutionary Festivities in the Provinces

Parades and public ceremonies in postrevolutionary periods are an extremely important aspect of cultural history that asserts the priority of symbol making, language deployment, discourse construction, and perception of these symbols.⁷ In recent years, intriguing research has been undertaken on the celebration of revolution in other postrevolutionary societies.⁸ According to one scholar of public festivities, parades are public dramas of social relations in which social actors decide what subjects and ideas are available for communication and consideration.⁹

The newspapers of the Ottoman Empire’s different ethnic groups provide a rich source of data regarding celebrations in the immediate postrevolutionary period.¹⁰ Celebrations, parades, and festivities of the Revolution took place in the public sphere and required both participants and audiences. The newspaper accounts reveal that these events involved negotiations between rulers and ruled, as well as participants and audiences.¹¹ Analysis of these events reveals a strong, collective expression of solidarity with the new regime, although it is a “solidarity” that highlighted diversity—and thus contradicted the revolutionary ideal. In addition, by printing these accounts in their newspapers, the ethnic groups contributed to a greatly enlarged sense of audience. Sharing information about the celebrations of the Revolution facilitated the emergence of a common national language of ritual activity among the ethnic groups, and these public rituals became the sphere in which different ethnic groups interacted.

In addition to legitimizing the emerging new regime and delegitimizing the ancien régime, rituals facilitated popular solidarity where consensus was absent. In the midst of radical political shifts, rituals played a crucial role in supporting the new institutional order.¹² In fact, as Mona Ozouf observed in her study of the French Revolution, revolutionary festivals prosper as long as patriotism is in danger, and it evanesces once patriotism is reassured.¹³ In other words, the extensive participation of the nondominant groups in the revolutionary festivities demonstrated their loyalty to the new regime.

As news about the proclamation of the constitution spread to the provinces, similar celebrations began to spring up outside Istanbul. As soon as freedom was declared, the people of Adana and Mersin began decorating all the streets and houses there. Immediately, the inhabitants began visiting each other, and masses were held in honor of the sultan and the Ottoman nation.¹⁴ On August 2, 1908, a delegation of three hundred notables and dignitaries arrived in Mersin from Adana on a train decorated with the royal coat of arms and the imperial monogram (tuğra). The train was received by a huge crowd hailing freedom and the constitution. The crowd, accompanied by live music, then moved to the government building, where they were received by the mutasarrif (administrative governor of a sancak, or district) and many officers. A reception held by the CUP in Mersin concluded the event. On their way back to Adana, the group stopped in Tarsus, where they were received by a huge crowd shouting, “Long live the sultan! Long live freedom!” Upon its return to Adana, the delegation was received by more than four thousand people. Immediately afterward, the crowd moved to the municipal garden, where it was received by the governor and the provincial functionaries. Ihsan Fikri Efendi, leader of the local CUP, gave an enthusiastic speech about the new political order.

On August 7, members of the Tarsus CUP paid a similar visit to Mersin to revive the covenant of brotherhood.¹⁵ A huge crowd and dignitaries greeted the train on its arrival at Mersin. Led by a band of musicians, the crowd of thousands moved toward the municipality, where speeches—many of them by military figures—were given in Ottoman Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, and French.¹⁶

Such provincial celebrations were, however, not universally immediate. In Van, for example, the telegram of the Imperial Order on the implementation of the Ottoman constitution arrived on July 25. The governor (vali) of the province, Ali Riza, refused to inform the people about the telegram out of loyalty to the sultan. While all the other provinces were celebrating the proclamation of freedom, Van was out of communication. On July 28, a telegram conveying a general pardon of revolutionaries arrived. The governor acted indifferently to this issue, arguing that the pardon was meant only for those who were exiled and stating that he had asked for clarification from the central government.¹⁷ Not until August 11 or 12 did he implement these orders and release the prisoners.¹⁸ Celebrations for the constitution began immediately afterward on August 14, 15, and 16 and continued into September. On September 6, the Armenian Church of St. Mary (Surb Astvatsatsin) held a Mass commemorating Armenian and Turkish martyrs. A huge crowd of at least two thousand, and perhaps as many as three thousand, Armenians and Turks headed to the church. The entrance was decorated with flags, as was a large stage in front of the church, which was draped in red, black, and white flags symbolizing blood, mourning, and freedom. Ottoman officers and other government officials attended a requiem service held after the Mass by the deputy of the patriarch. Afterward, the crowd moved to the Armenian cemetery, where the attendees put wreaths on the tombs of Armenian martyrs. A stage was built in the cemetery for a commemorative event attended by a dozen Ottoman officers, as well as other Turkish and Armenian dignitaries. Numerous speeches were delivered, exalting the names of Niyazi and Enver Bey, the heroes of the Revolution. Later, the procession visited the house of Khrimian “Hayrik” and then the houses of other martyrs.¹⁹

In Izmir (Smyrna), the news of the proclamation of the constitution was received with great joy and enthusiasm.²⁰ Bands were stationed all over the decorated town, playing the “Hamidiye March,”²¹ the “Marseillaise,” and the British and Hellenic anthems.²² The Jewish Youth Association held a huge celebration. An announcement published a day before the event invited all ethnic groups to participate: “Thus, dear brothers! Leave your occupations; leave your business; you too manifest with happiness the sentiments. . . . Decorate the facades of your cities, shops and boutiques.”²³ The procession went on for five hours, with about two thousand Jews walking toward the governmental palace. Ottoman dignitaries marched with them, and all were shouting, “Long live the sultan! Long live the fatherland! Long live liberty!”²⁴ A large carriage decorated with flowers headed the procession and carried six young girls dressed as angels, who waved Ottoman flags and scarves dyed in the national colors. Later, around five hundred young Jews joined the procession, carrying red and white scarves, the emblem of the Jewish-Turkish Committee, and canes with flags and lamps (lights) at the tips of the canes. Christians and Muslims also joined the procession, with the Muslims shouting, “Bravo! Our Jewish compatriots!” The procession moved to the governor’s palace, chanting, “Long live the nation!” and “Long live the sultan!” before touring all the neighborhoods of the city.²⁵

Like the Jews, the Armenians and Greeks also held large demonstrations in Izmir.²⁶ On August 1, Armenian dignitaries gave a huge banquet in Izmir in honor of the Ottoman army. Ottoman officers and politicians arrived at Kramer Palace in Izmir, accompanied by the band of the imperial garrison, and embraced their Armenian brothers.²⁷ Governor Faik Bey then made his entrance, and the crowd moved into the halls. More than three hundred people attended the banquet, including the leader of the Ottoman Federation of Smyrna, Major Tahir Bey, and many other political and military figures. Dinner was followed by warm and enthusiastic speeches delivered by Armenians and Ottoman military and civil officials.²⁸

In Beirut, there were no immediate manifestations of the promulgation of the constitution. As attested in a letter sent by the consular agent of France in Latakiyya to the consul general of France in Beirut, rumors and the uncertainty of the situation created confusion, which precluded such celebrations.²⁹ It took a couple of days for the official news of the Revolution’s success to reach Beirut, after which the celebration took place on July 31 in the Hamidian Garden. A government band roamed the streets, playing music. The streets were decorated with flags, and verses were written in large script on the entrances of the shops, hotels, and houses: “Long live the freedom granter and the constitution donor,” and “The constitution is the life of the nation, and long live the sultan who gave...