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Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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History of the
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| Period (Eras): | ||
| Rise (1299–1453): Interregnum | ||
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| Stagnation (1683–1827): Köprülü Era - Sultanate of women - Tulip Era |
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| Decline (1828–1908): Tanzimat era - 1stConstitutional Era |
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| Dissolution (1908–1922): 2ndConstitutional Era - Partitioning |
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The period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution, the Second Constitutional Era (ايکنجى مشروطيت دورى İkinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri), began with the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, shortly after which Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy, with reduced powers for the imperial dynasty, and a series of elections resulted in the gradual ascendance of the Committee of Union and Progress's (CUP) domination in politics.
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On 3 July 1908, the Young Turk Revolution that began in the Balkan provinces spread quickly throughout the empire and resulted in the sultan announcing the restoration of the 1876 constitution and reconvening the parliament. The reason behind the revolt, still localized at that stage, had been the Sultan’s heavily opppressive policies (istibdâd as marked by contemporaries, although many were to express longings for his old-fashioned despotism a few years into the new regime), which were based on a vast array of spies (hafiye), as well as constant interventions by the European powers to the point of endangering the Empire's sovereignty. The officers who had instigated the revolution, as well as their civilian supporters, were primarily concerned with preserving the status quo for the Ottoman Empire. They were not, strictly speaking, revolutionaries. It is also pointed out that they were concerned with issues of a more personal nature at the same time as the state's salvation, such as salaries and rank promotions, not unlike the Janissaries a century before then. The military reforms carried out in the Ottoman Empire had accentuated the role of a new type of officer, often of lower social origin and more open to ideas that were developing in the Western world. These new soldiers, as opposed to the traditional soldiery revolving around the Palace, also did not acquire the formation covering administrative fields as aside their military training, a new corpus of civilian administrators being on the emergence, and their field of expertise was very much confined to military matters. In administrative terms, the officers actually had not foreseen any concrete action further than their demand for the restoration of the constitution.
At the restoration of constitutionalism, the stated legal framework was that of a continuation of the status that had prevailed in 1876, since the sultan declared never having officially closed the first Ottoman Parliament. Former parliamentarians (those still available) who had gathered for a short time 33 years before suddenly found themselves representing the people again, although briefly and rather symbolically.
In the elections held in 1908, The Committee of Union and Progress, the main driving force behind the Young Turk Revolution, managed to gain the upper hand against the rival group led by Prince Sabahaddin, more liberal in outlook, bearing a strong British imprint, and closer to the Palace. The new parliament comprised 142 Turks, 60 Arabs, 25 Albanians, 23 Greeks, 12 Armenians (including four Dashnaks and two Hunchaks), 5 Jews, 4 Bulgarians, 3 Serbs and 1 Vlach. The CUP could count on the support of about 60 deputies.[1]
Once in power, the Young Turks introduced a number of new initiatives intended to promote the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. They promoted industrialization and administrative reforms, and their reforms of provincial administration quickly led to a higher degree of centralization. This group advocated a program of orderly reform under a strong central government, as well as the exclusion of all foreign influence. Although the CUP collaborated with the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization, under Prince Sabahaddin, their respective goals contrasted strongly. Sabahaddin's group favored administrative decentralization and European assistance to implement reforms and also promoted industrialization.
In addition, the CUP implemented the secularization of the legal system and provided subsidies for the education of women, and altered the administrative structure of the state-operated primary schools. Their domestic reforms were in some ways quite successful, but their foreign policy proved to be disastrous.
Young Turks sought to modernize the Empire's communications and transportation networks, trying at the same time not to put themselves in the hands of European conglomerates and non-Muslim bankers. Europeans already owned the paltry[citation needed] railroad system (5,991 km of single-track railroads in the whole of the Ottoman dominions in 1914) and since 1881 administration of the defaulted Ottoman foreign debt had been in European hands. The Ottoman Empire was virtually an economic colony.
After nine months into the new parliamentary term, discontent and reaction found expression in a fundamentalist movement, the counter-revolutionary 31 March Incident according to Ottoman calendar, which actually occurred on 13 April 1909. Many aspects of this revolt, which started within certain sections of the mutinying army in Istanbul, are still yet to be analyzed. Its generally admitted perception of a ‘reactionary’ movement has sometimes been challenged, given the results and effects on the young political system.
By 1912, the Committee of Union and Progress had been in power for four years. Towards the end of 1911, the opposition gathered around the re-organized Liberty and Entente (tr:Hürriyet ve İtilâf) Party seemed on the rise. A by-election in December 1911 (actually covering a single constituency) in which the Liberty and Entente candidate won was taken as a confirmation of a new political atmosphere and its repercussions were extensive.
The CUP then sought national elections before the things slipped out of the party's control, as they perceived. In the two-party general elections held in the spring of 1912, the CUP still had the upper hand in the Parliament. But with the Balkan countries preparing to launch a war against the Ottoman Empire, and many deputies owing allegiance to those countries, the Parliament that opened proved unworkable. On 5 August 1912, due to the situation of emergency created by the First Balkan War, the Parliament was closed.
After the Balkan Wars, Ottoman Empire became an entity with two major constituents; namely Turks and Arabs. In the new framework, the percentage of representatives from Arab provinces increased from 23% (1908) to 27%, Turkomans 14% (1908) to 22% and in total CUP members from 39% (1908) to 67%. Interestingly, in this new consolidated structure minority issues, such as those affecting the Armenians, dominated mainstream politics. Armenian politicians were supporting the CUP, but when the parliament was formed the result was very different from the expected one. The Balkan wars had significantly shifted from a multiethnic and multireligious Ottoman Empire to a Muslim core. The size of the CUP's majority in parliament proved to be a source of weakness rather than strength as minorities became outsiders. The deported Muslims (Turks) from the Balkans were located in the western parts of Anatolia and they brought their own issues. Armenians were expecting more representation through the parliament, but the nature of democracy kept them in a minority position. That was an unexpected result for the Armemians after they had been in a very protected position since 1453.
In 1913, politics in Istanbul was centred around trying to find a solution to the demands of Arab and Armenian reformist groups. 19th century politics of Ottoman Empire dealt with the decentralist demands of the Balkan nations. In 1913, the same pattern was originating from the eastern provinces. With most of the Christian population having already left the Empire after the Balkan Wars, a redefinition of Ottoman politics was in place with a greater emphasis on Islam as a binding force. The choice of this policy should also be considered as external forces (imperialists) were Christians. It was a policy of "them against us". In 1913, the CUP was trying to govern through populist politics. To gain more legitimacy among the population the CUP propagated an Islamic propaganda effort with anti-imperialist rhetoric. All around the Empire CUP clubs were springing up. The CUP was challenging traditional forces; this proved to be the source of its destruction.
On 23 January 1913, Enver Pasha (Enver, İsmail Enver), one of the Young Turk leaders, burst with some of his associates into the Sublime Porte while the Cabinet was actually in session, Yakup Cemil shot the Minister of War Nazım Pasha dead at the Council table and they literally overturned by force Mehmed Kamil Pasha's [Prime] Ministry.
The primary reason for the coup had been the disastrous fortunes of the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars. A new CUP-led government was formed, headed by Mahmud Şevket Pasha, who in his turn was assassinated on 11 June 1913, and was succeeded by Said Halim Pasha.
New elections in a single-party framework were held in 1914 and the CUP gained all constituencies. The effective power lay in the hands of Mehmed Talat Pasha, the Interior Minister, Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, and Cemal Pasha, the Minister of the Navy, till 1918. Talat Pasha became the grand vizier himself in 1917.
Through highly secret diplomatic negotiations, a fraction within the CUP led the Ottoman Empire to ally herself with Germany during the World War I. The Empire's role as an ally of the Central Powers is part of the history of that war. With the collapse of Bulgaria and Germany's capitulation, the Ottoman Empire was isolated.
- See also: Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20 and Malta exiles
On October 13, 1918, Talat and the CUP ministry resigned, and the Armistice of Mudros was signed aboard a British battleship in the Aegean Sea at the end of the month. On November 2, Enver, Talat and Cemal escaped from İstanbul into exile.
- See also: Occupation of Istanbul
The last term elections were performed under the military Occupation of İstanbul by the Allies.
The last elections for the Ottoman Parliament were held in December 1919. The newly elected 140 members of the Ottoman Parliament, composed in their sweeping majority of candidates of "Association for Defense of Rights for Anatolia and Roumelia (Anadolu ve Rumeli Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti)", headed by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who himself remained in Ankara, opened the fourth (and last) term of the Parliament on 12 January 1920.
- See also: Misak-ı Milli
Despite being short-lived and the exceptional conditions, this last assembly took a number of important decisions that are called Misak-ı Milli (National Oath).
On the night of March 15 British troops began to occupy the key buildings and arrested five parliament members. It was a very messy operation. The 10th division and military music school resisted the arrest. At least 10 students died under the gunfire of the British Indian army. The total death toll is unknown. Nevertheless, on March 18, the Ottoman parliamentarian came together in a last meeting. A black cloth covered the pulpit of the Parliament as reminder of its absent members and the Parliament sent a letter of protest to the Allies, declaring the arrest of five of its members as unacceptable.
In practical terms, the meeting of March 18 was the end of the Ottoman parliamentarian system and of the Parliament itself, the noble symbol of a generation's quest for "eternal freedom" (hürriyet-i ebediye) for which men had sacrificed themselves. The British move on the Parliament had left the Sultan as the sole tangible authority in the Empire. The Sultan announced his own version of the declaration of the Parliament's dissolution on April 11. About a hundred Ottoman politicians were sent to exile in Malta (see Malta exiles).
More than a hundred of the remaining members soon took the passage to Ankara and formed the core of the new assembly. On April 5, the sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin, under the pressure of the Allies, closed the Ottoman Parliament officially.
- Short history of elections under the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey by Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (Turkish)
- Incomplete list of Ottoman deputies in 1908-1912 term - in Turkish
- List of Ottoman deputies in April-August 1912 term - in English or in Turkish
- Incomplete list of Ottoman deputies in 1914-1918 term - in Turkish
- Incomplete list of Ottoman deputies in January-March 1920 (last) term; official closure April 1920; - in Turkish
- ^ * Philip Mansel, "Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire" quoted in Straits: The origins of the Dardanelles campaign. Taking account of the loss of the Balkans and of Libya for the Ottoman Empire and despite the single-party regime instaured by the CUP, the Ottoman ethnic minorities were going to be represented at similar proportions during the 1914-1918 term of the Ottoman Parliament, with 11 Armenians and a dozen Greeks being elected as deputies and having served in that capacity.