1.
History of the Ottoman Empire
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The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I. As sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453, the state grew into a mighty empire, the empire came to an end in the aftermath of its defeat by the ] in World War I. The empire was dismantled by the Allies after the war ended in 1918, with the demise of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called Anatolian Beyliks. By 1300, a weakened Byzantine Empire had lost most of its Anatolian provinces to these Turkish principalities, one of the beyliks was led by Osman I, from which the name Ottoman is derived, son of Ertuğrul, around Eskişehir in western Anatolia. In the foundation myth expressed in the known as Osmans Dream. According to his dream the tree, which was Osmans Empire, issued four rivers from its roots, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile, additionally, the tree shaded four mountain ranges, the Caucasus, the Taurus, the Atlas and the Balkan ranges. During his reign as Sultan, Osman I extended the frontiers of Turkish settlement toward the edge of the Byzantine Empire, in this period, a formal Ottoman government was created whose institutions would change drastically over the life of the empire. In the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over the Eastern Mediterranean, Osmans son, Orhan, captured the city of Bursa in 1326 and made it the new capital of the Ottoman state. The fall of Bursa meant the loss of Byzantine control over Northwestern Anatolia, the important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387. The Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, widely regarded as the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages, failed to stop the advance of the victorious Ottoman Turks. With the extension of Turkish dominion into the Balkans, the strategic conquest of Constantinople became a crucial objective, the Empire controlled nearly all former Byzantine lands surrounding the city, but the Byzantines were temporarily relieved when Timur invaded Anatolia in the Battle of Ankara in 1402. He took Sultan Bayezid I as a prisoner, the capture of Bayezid I threw the Turks into disorder. The state fell into a war that lasted from 1402 to 1413. It ended when Mehmed I emerged as the sultan and restored Ottoman power, part of the Ottoman territories in the Balkans were temporarily lost after 1402, but were later recovered by Murad II between the 1430s and 1450s. Four years later, János Hunyadi prepared another army to attack the Turks, the son of Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror, reorganized the state and the military, and demonstrated his martial prowess by capturing Constantinople on 29 May 1453, at the age of 21. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II cemented the status of the Empire as the preeminent power in southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. To this aim he spent many years securing positions on the Adriatic Sea, such as in Albania Veneta, during this period in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of conquest and expansion, extending its borders deep into Europe and North Africa. Conquests on land were driven by the discipline and innovation of the Ottoman military, and on the sea, the state also flourished economically due to its control of the major overland trade routes between Europe and Asia
2.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
3.
Rise of the Ottoman Empire
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The foundation and rise of the Ottoman Empire is a period of history that started with the emergence of the Ottoman principality in c. 1299, and ended with the conquest of Constantinople on May 29,1453. For this reason, this period in the history has been described as the Proto-Imperial Era. Throughout most of period, the Ottomans were merely one of many competing states in the region. The cause of Ottoman success cannot be attributed to any single factor, the earlier part of this period, the fourteenth century, is particularly difficult for historians to study due to the scarcity of sources. Not a single written document survives from the reign of Osman I, the Ottomans, furthermore, did not begin to record their own history until the fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after many of the events they describe. At the beginning of the thirteenth century Anatolia was divided between two powerful states, the Byzantine Empire in the west and the Anatolian Seljuks in the central plateau. Mongol pressure pushed nomadic Turkish tribes to migrate westward, into the now poorly-defended Byzantine territory, the power of these groups was largely dependent upon their ability to attract military manpower. Western Anatolia was then a hotbed of raiding activity, with warriors switching allegiance at will to whichever chief seemed most able to provide them opportunities for plunder. The Ottoman dynasty is named after the first independent ruler of the Ottoman polity, according to later Ottoman tradition, he was descended from a Turkic tribe which migrated out of Central Asia in the wake of the Mongol Conquests. As evidenced by coins minted during his reign, Osmans father was named Ertuğrul, the origins of the Ottoman dynasty thus remain obscure, shrouded in myth and legend, and the identity of Osmans tribe and ancestors is not known for certain. Likewise, nothing is known about how Osman first established his principality as the sources, none of contemporary, provide many different. Osmans principality was initially supported by the manpower of nomadic Turkish groups. This Ottoman tribe was based not on blood-ties, but on political expedience, thus it was inclusive of all who wished to join, including people of Byzantine origin. The Ottoman enterprise came to be led by several great families, at least one of which was of Greek Christian origin. Nevertheless, Islam played a role in Ottoman self-identity from the start, as evidenced by a land grant issued by Osmans son Orhan in 1324. Such a war was known as gaza, and a fighting in it was called a gazi. Beginning in the 1980s, historians began to criticize Witteks thesis. Scholars now recognize that the terms gaza and gazi did not have religious connotations for the early Ottomans
4.
Ottoman Interregnum
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The Interregnum lasted for 11 years until the Battle of Çamurlu on 5 July 1413, when Mehmed Çelebi emerged as victor in the strife, crowned himself sultan Mehmed I, and restored the empire. Civil war broke out among the sons of Sultan Bayezid I upon his death in 1403 and his oldest son, Süleyman, with his capital at Edirne, ruled northern Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Thrace. The second son, İsa Çelebi, established himself as an independent ruler at Bursa, War broke out between Mehmed and İsa, and following the battles of Ermeni-beli and Ulubad, Isa fled to Constantinople and Mehmed occupied Bursa. The subsequent battle at Karasi between Mehmed and Isa resulted in a victory for Mehmed and Isa fleeing to Karaman, Isa was later killed in a bath by agents of Mehmed. Following Isas death, Süleyman crossed the straits with a large army and he invaded Anatolia, capturing Bursa and Ankara later that year. During the stalemate in Anatolia, which lasted from 1405-1410, Mehmed sent Musa across the Black Sea to Thrace with a force to attack Suleymans territories in south-eastern Europe. This maneuver soon recalled Suleyman to Thrace, where a short, at first Suleyman had the advantage, winning the battle of Kosmidion in 1410, but in 1411 his army defected to Mûsa at Edirne and Suleyman was executed on the orders of Musa. Mûsa was now the ruler of the Ottoman dominions in Thrace, manuel II Palaiologos, the Byzantine emperor, had been the ally of Suleyman, Mûsa therefore besieged Constantinople. Manuel called on Mehmed to protect him, and Mehmeds Ottomans now garrisoned Constantinople against Musas Ottomans of Thrace, Mehmed made several unsuccessful sallies against his brothers troops, and was obliged to re-cross the Bosporus to quell a revolt that had broken out in his own territories. Mûsa now pressed the siege of Constantinople, Mehmed returned to Thrace, and obtained the assistance of Stefan Lazarevic, the Serbian Despot. The armies of the rival Ottoman brothers met on the plain of Chamurli, Hassan, the Agha of the Janissaries of Mehmed, stepped out before the ranks and tried to get the troops to change sides. Mûsa rushed towards Hassan and killed him, but was wounded by an officer who had accompanied Hassan. Mûsas Ottomans fought well, but the battle was won by Mehmed, Mûsa fled, was later captured and strangled. With Mûsa dead, Mehmed was the surviving son of the late Sultan Bayezid I. The Interregnum was a example of the fratricide that would become common in Ottoman successions. During the Interregnum, only Mehmed Celebi minted coins titling himself Sultan and his brother Suleymans coins called himself, Emir Suleyman b. Bayezid, while Musas coins stated, Musa b, no coins of Isas have survived. The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press
5.
Fall of Constantinople
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The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453. The Ottomans were commanded by the then 21-year-old Mehmed the Conqueror, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople followed a 53-day siege that had begun on 6 April 1453, the capture of Constantinople marked the end of the Roman Empire, an imperial state that had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a blow to Christendom. After the conquest, Sultan Mehmed II transferred the capital of the Ottoman Empire from Edirne to Constantinople. The conquest of the city of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire was a key event in the Late Middle Ages, which also marks, for some historians, Constantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 330 under Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. In the following centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once. The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while the remaining empire splintered into a number of Byzantine successor states, notably Nicaea, Epirus and they fought as allies against the Latin establishments, but also fought among themselves for the Byzantine throne. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, thereafter there was little peace for the much-weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins, the Serbians, the Bulgarians, and, most importantly, the Ottoman Turks. The Black Plague between 1346 and 1349 killed almost half of the inhabitants of Constantinople, the Empire of Trebizond, an independent successor state that formed in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, also survived on the coast of the Black Sea. This optimism was reinforced by friendly assurances made by Mehmed to envoys sent to his new court, but Mehmeds actions spoke far louder than his mild words. Since the mutual excommunications of 1054, the Pope in Rome was committed to establishing authority over the eastern church, nominal union had been negotiated in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon, and indeed, some Palaiologoi emperors had since been received into the Latin church. Emperor John VIII Palaiologos had also recently negotiated union with Pope Eugene IV, finally, the attempted Union failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church. Although some troops did arrive from the city states in the north of Italy. Some Western individuals, however, came to defend the city on their own account. One of these was a soldier from Genoa, Giovanni Giustiniani. A specialist in defending walled cities, he was given the overall command of the defense of the land walls by the emperor. In Venice, meanwhile, deliberations were taking place concerning the kind of assistance the Republic would lend to Constantinople
6.
Classical Age of the Ottoman Empire
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The territory of the Ottoman Empire greatly expanded, and led to what some historians have called the Pax Ottomana. The process of centralization undergone by the prior to 1453 was brought to completion in the reign of Mehmed II. The Ottoman Empire of the Classical Age experienced dramatic territorial growth, the period opened with the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453. Mehmed II went on to consolidate the position in the Balkans and Anatolia, conquering Serbia in 1454-5, the Peloponnese in 1458-9, Trebizond in 1461. Many Venetian territories in Greece were conquered during the 1463-79 Ottoman-Venetian War, by 1474 the Ottomans had conquered their Anatolian rival the Karamanids, and in 1475 conquered Kaffa on the Crimean Peninsula, establishing the Crimean Khanate as a vassal state. In 1480 an invasion of Otranto in Italy was launched, the reign of Bayezid II was one of consolidation after the rapid conquests of the previous era, and the empires territory was expanded only marginally. In 1484 Bayezid led a campaign against Moldavia, subjecting it to status and annexing the strategic ports of Kilia. Major Venetian ports were conquered in Greece and Albania during the 1499-1503 war, most significantly Modon, Koron, however, by the end of his reign, Ottoman territory in the east was coming under threat from the newly established Safavid Empire. Rapid expansion resumed under Selim I, who defeated the Safavids in the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, annexing much of eastern Anatolia, in 1516 he led a campaign against the Mamluk Sultanate, conquering first Syria and then Egypt the following year. Under Selims reign the territory expanded from roughly 341,100 sq mi to 576,900 sq mi. Lacking a king, Hungary descended into war over the succession. When their rivals the Habsburgs began to achieve the upper hand, Suleiman directly intervened by again conquering Buda, elsewhere, Suleiman led major campaigns against Safavid Iran, conquering Baghdad in 1534 and annexing Iraq. Ottoman rule was extended with the incorporation of much of North Africa, the conquest of coastal Yemen in 1538. Additional conquests were marginal, and served to shore up the Ottoman position, Ottoman control over Hungary was expanded in a series of campaigns, and a second Hungarian province was established with the conquests of Temeşvar in 1552. By the end of Suleimans reign the territory had expanded to approximately 877,888 sq mi. The conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to Anatolia, Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further into Europe, another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the White Sheep Turcomans. He led a campaign against Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Otlukbeli
7.
Ottoman Old Regime
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The history of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century has classically been described as one of stagnation and reform. In analogy with 18th-century France, it is known as the Ancien Régime or Old Regime, contrasting with the New Regime of the Nizam-i Cedid. The period characterized as one of decentralization in the Ottoman political system, in light of this, the empires history during this period is now generally viewed in more neutral terms, eschewing concepts such as decline and stagnation. The Old Regime was brought to an end not by a dramatic event. Although Selim himself was deposed, his reforms were continued by his successors into the nineteenth century, of crucial importance for this period in Ottoman history was the institution of malikāne, or life-term tax farm. This system provided the Ottoman government with a more stable source of revenue. However, the impact of malikāne extended far beyond its original economic and it facilitated a new style of government in the Ottoman Empire, which has been characterized as one of decentralization. Malikāne contracts were split into shares and privately traded on an ever-expanding market and these state assets were traded among numerous social groups, including but not limited to military and religious officials, rural gentry, urban notables, and janissaries. This provided provincial figures with new ways to interact with the Ottoman state, the institution of malikāne continued largely undisturbed until 1793, when Selim III began to phase it out as part of his general reform effort, known as the New Order. As malikāne contracts expired they were transferred to the New Order treasury and this attempt at centralization was opposed by provincial figures who by then had a vested interest in the continuation of malikāne, and contributed to Selim IIIs overthrow in 1807. Malikāne contracts thus continued to be sold and traded until the 1840s, the last effort of a militarily active sultan to personally control the entire government of the empire was undone in the 1703 rebellion known as the Edirne incident, in which Mustafa II was deposed. Major governmental offices were no longer located within the imperial palace, by the 1790s the central bureaucracy had grown to number some 1, 500-2,000 scribes, representing a significant increase over the 183 who were serving in 1593. Ottoman rule in the provinces was predicated upon maintaining the loyalty of local interest groups, state authority was represented by the provincial governor and the judge, the latter carrying out most of the day-to-day administration of the province. Representing local interests were figures known as notables, ayan came from diverse backgrounds, what distinguished them was their entrenched local status. Unlike Ottoman state officials, they did not generally migrate from position to position across the empire, ayan utilized patronage networks to wield significant influence within their local city or region, and their cooperation was essential in order for Ottoman provincial administration to function. During the eighteenth century, ayan were tied to the state through the institution of malikāne. By purchasing malikāne, ayan were able to consolidate their control over their region of influence. The central government and provincial power-holders thus remained interdependent, and the latter did not seek independence from the Ottoman Empire, during the seventeenth century provincial governors had been appointed for unspecified periods of time, producing a significant degree of uncertainty among them with regard to security of office
8.
Tulip period
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The Tulip Period or Tulip Era is a period in Ottoman history from the Treaty of Passarowitz on 21 July 1718 to the Patrona Halil Revolt on 28 September 1730. This was a peaceful period, during which the Ottoman Empire began to orient itself towards Europe. The name of the period derives from the tulip craze among the Ottoman court society, cultivating this culturally ambiguous emblem had become a celebrated practice. The Tulip Period illustrated the conflicts brought by early modern culture and was a shared material symbolism. During this period the elite and high-class society of the Ottoman period had established an immense fondness for the tulip, Tulips defined nobility and privilege, both in terms of goods and leisure time. The Grand Vizier was himself very fond of tulip bulbs, setting an example for Istanbul’s elite who started to cherish the tulip’s endless variety in paint, the Ottoman standard of dress and its commodity culture incorporated their passion for the tulip. Within Istanbul, one could find tulips from the markets to the plastic arts to silks. Tulip bulbs could be everywhere, the demand grew within the elite community where they could be found in homes. Therefore, the tulip is a symbol with mythical appeal, which can be found from Ottoman palaces to their clothing, the tulip can be seen as a romantic monument representing the wealthy and elite, and the fragility of despotic rule. The Tulip period saw a flowering of arts, culture and architecture, generally the style of architecture and decoration became more elaborate, being influenced by the Baroque period in movement. A classic example is the Fountain of Ahmed III in front of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the architectural style is a fusion of classical Islamic elements with baroque European ones, making it into distinct Ottoman architecture of the 18th century. The tulip was also praised in poetry and motifs used in paintings, to this day in modern Turkey the tulip is still considered the embodiment of perfection and beauty. Turkish Airlines decorates its planes with a painting of a tulip on its fuselage and these albums that Levni painted were called Tulip albums which mirrored the structure of the states itself, ranking distinguished members of the regime according to horticultural achievements. Tulip prices began to rise in the last decades of the 17th century and this reflected the demand for the inflated value of the rare bulbs and escalating demands for flowers in the elite’s palaces and gardens. Tulip mania demonstrated the power to regulate the economy by increasing the prices for bulbs. Courtiers at the time forwarded a petition to denounce the practice of flower sellers and this led to the process of issuing inventories of flowers and price lists to the judge of Istanbul for enforcement. Tulip mania – during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century Derinsular. com – During and After the Tulip Era Enfal. de – Lale Devri Encyclopædia Britannica Online – Abdülcelil Levnî Yılmaz, Nalan. Ottoman Studies Online – Levni, one of the last Ottoman miniaturists Abdulcelil Levni Culture of the Ottoman Empire Jean-Baptiste van Mour Salzmann, the Age of Tulips Confluence and Conflict in Early Modern Consumer Culture
9.
Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire
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Beginning from the late eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire faced challenges defending itself against foreign invasion and occupation. Over the course of the century, the Ottoman state became increasingly powerful and rationalized. At the end of period, marked with 1908, to a degree the Ottoman military became modernized and professionalized according to the model of Western European Armies. The period was followed by defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of nationalism swept through many countries during the 19th century, and it affected territories within the Ottoman Empire. A burgeoning national consciousness, together with a sense of ethnic nationalism. The empire was forced to deal with nationalism both within and beyond its borders. The number of revolutionary, secret societies which turned into political parties during the period rose dramatically. Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching consequences during the 19th century, many Ottoman ruling elite questioned whether the policies of the state were to blame, some felt that the sources of ethnic conflict were external, and unrelated to issues of governance. While this era was not without some successes, the ability of the Ottoman state to have any effect on ethnic uprisings was seriously called into question, at the end of the century from Russian perspective, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and autonomy of Bulgaria was achieved. After the Congress of Berlin the Russian expansion was controlled through stopping the expansion of Bulgaria, the Russian public felt that at the end of Congress of Berlin thousands of Russian soldiers had died for nothing. The military of the Ottoman Empire remained an effective fighting force until the half of the eighteenth century. Selim III came to the throne with an effort in military reforms in 1789. Selim III was replaced by Mahmud II in 1808 who established martial law of Alemdar Mustafa Pasha and his first task was to ally with the Janissaries in order to break the power of the provincial governors. He then turned on the Janissaries and removed them from power during Auspicious Incident in 1826, efforts for a new system began following the Auspicious incident. The stagnation and reform of the Ottoman Empire ended with the dismemberment of Ottoman Classical Army, the issue during the decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire was to create a military that could win wars and bring security to its subjects. That goal took multiple Sultans with multiple reorganizations during this period, at the end of this period, with the Second Constitutional Era in 1908, -with a degree of- Ottoman military became modernized and professionalized in the form of European Armies. Mahmud II had to deal with multiple issues inherited from generations past and these issues lasted all through his reign. Shortly, the Eastern Question with Russia, England, and France, Mahmud understood the growing problems of the state and the approaching overthrow of the monarchy, and began to deal with the problems as he saw them
10.
Nizam-i Djedid
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The term later came to refer to the new Nizam-i Djedid Army established under the reform program. Nizam-i Djedid is a Persian phrase meaning New Order, the -i part is a Persian ezāfe sign. Both Nizām and Jadīd, in turn, are originally Arabic words borrowed by Persian in older times, using the Persian ezāfe constructions was common in Ottoman Turkish. Between 1829 and 1855 the new army was constantly being improved under the sight of military advisors, the troops of the Nizam-i Djedid corps were equipped with European-style uniforms and educated in European military strategy. Sultan Abdülmecid I even claimed that, if the campaign of 1829 against the Russians was fought over again in 1855, the result would be very different
11.
Tanzimat
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The Tanzimât, literally meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the ethnic groups of the Empire. Though many changes were made to improve civil liberties, many Muslim residents of the empire saw this as foreign influence on the world of Islam and this perception complicated reformist efforts made by the state. Most of the changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. Many of the officials that were affiliated with the government were encouraged to wear a western style of dress. Many of the reforms were attempts to adopt successful European practices, the reforms were heavily influenced by the Napoleonic Code and French law under the Second Empire as a direct result of the increasing number of Ottoman students being educated in France. This policy officially began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839, the ambitious project was launched to combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink and its strength weaken in comparison to the European powers. There were internal as well as reasons for the reforms. Internally, the Ottoman Empire hoped that, by getting rid of the millet system and this change was also meant to increase the legitimacy of Ottoman rule. Another major hope was that by being open to various demographics. There was fear of internal strife between Muslims and non-Muslims, and allowing more freedom to all was supposed to diminish this threat. Giving more rights to the Christians was considered likely to reduce the danger of intervention on their behalf. Externally, the Ottomans were growing scared of an intervention of the European powers in Ottoman affairs. After the Crimean War, which was caused by Russias incursion into the Ottoman Empire in the 1850s and they thought that the Great Powers would accept the Tanzimat as long as reforms were ongoing, leaving them to act as enforcers of these goals. The Tanzimât reforms began under Sultan Mahmud II, on November 3,1839, Sultan Abdülmecid issued a hatt-i sharif or imperial edict called the Edict of Gülhane or Tanzimât Fermânı. This was followed by several statutes enacting its policies, in the edict the Sultan stated that he wished to bring the benefits of a good administration to the provinces of the Ottoman Empire through new institutions. Noble Decree or Imperial Rescript of Gülhane, was the first major reform in the Tanzimat reforms under the government of sultan Abdulmecid, the decree, named after the rosehouse on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace, abolished tax farming. It also created a system of taxation with salaried tax collectors
12.
First Constitutional Era
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These Young Ottomans were dissatisfied by the Tanzimat and instead pushed for a constitutional government similar to that in Europe. The constitutional period started with the dethroning of Sultan Abdülaziz, abdulhamid II took his place as Sultan. The era ended with the suspension of the Ottoman parliament and the constitution by sultan Abdülhamid II, the first constitutional era did not include any party system. At the time, the Ottoman parliament was seen as the voice of the people but not as a venue for the formation of political parties, the elections for parliament were held in accordance with the provisional electoral regulations. The parliament was composed in two stages, the lower house of the bicameral legislature was the Chamber of Deputies, while the upper house was the Senate. The initial selection of deputies was made by councils in the provinces. After the establishment of the General Assembly in the provinces, the selected the deputies from within the assembly to form the Chamber of Deputies in the capital. The Chamber had 115 members and reflected the distribution of the millets in the empire, in the second elections, there were 69 Muslim millet representatives and 46 representatives of other millets. The second body was the Senate, and the members were selected by the sultan, the Senate had only 26 members. It was designed to replace the porte, and the Grand Vizier become the speaker of Senate, the two elections happened between 1877 and 1878. The members reactions to the war were very strong. The life of the term of the parliament was merely a few days, as after the initial speeches by the members from Balkan vilayets, Abdülhamid II closed the parliament. Mehmed Rushdi Pasha Hussein Avni Pasha Midhat Pasha Suleiman Pasha Constitutional history of Turkey Elections in the Ottoman Empire The Ottomans, Europes Muslim Emperors Second Constitutional Era
13.
Defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
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The period of defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire began with the Second Constitutional Era with the Young Turk Revolution. It restored the Ottoman constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two stage electoral system under the Ottoman parliament, the constitution offered hope by freeing the empire’s citizens to modernize the state’s institutions and dissolve inter-communal tensions. Instead, this became the story of the twilight struggle of the Empire. The Ottoman entry into World War I in the Middle Eastern theatre ended with the partition of the Ottoman Empire under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres. The occupation of Constantinople along with the occupation of Smyrna mobilized the Turkish national movement which ultimately won the Turkish War of Independence, the formal abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate was performed by Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 1 November 1922. The Sultan was declared persona non grata from the lands that the Ottoman Dynasty ruled since 1299, the 19th century saw the rise of nationalism in the Balkans which resulted in the establishment of an independent Greece in 1821, Serbia in 1835 and Bulgaria and liberation in 1877-8. Most of the local Muslims in these countries suffered, many died during the conflicts, with the rise of nationalism in Europe it became dominated by nation states. The Ottoman Empire differed in that its ruling class made no attempt to integrate conquered peoples culturally, the Porte had no official policy of converting the non-Muslims of the Balkans or Anatolia into Islam or converting them into a single nation. Phanariots, who were members of the prominent Greek families came to occupy major positions in the Empire. The Empire never integrated its conquests economically and therefore never established a link with its subjects. During its decline the Empire tried to catch up with the industrialization, Ottomanism surged as a concept its proponents believed could solve the Empires social issues. Ottomanism was strongly influenced by such as Montesquieu and Rousseau. The idea originated among the Young Ottomans as an acceptance of all separate ethnicities, major changes were introduced into the structure of the Empire. The essence of the Millet system was not dismantled, but secular organizations, primary education and Ottoman conscription were to be applied to non-Muslims and Muslims alike. When the Capitulations were first established it was supposed that foreign assistance could benefit the Empire, the capitulations stipulated that the privileges were based on religion. On 10 September 1915, the Minister of Interior Talat Pasha abolished the Capitulations, the total pre-war debt of Empire was $716,000,000. France had 60 percent of the total, Germany was 20 percent, the debt was administered by the Ottoman Public Debt Administration and its power was extended to the Imperial Ottoman Bank. The Ottoman Debt Administration controlled many of the important revenues of the Empire, the Council had power over financial affairs
14.
Second Constitutional Era
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The parliament and the constitution of First Constitutional Era had been suspended by Abdul Hamid in 1878 after only two years of functioning. A series of elections during this period resulted in the ascendance of the Committee of Union. The second largest party, with which the CUP was involved in a 2-year power struggle, was the Freedom, the period survived an attempt by reactionaries to re-institute absolutism. The last meeting on 18 March 1920 produced a letter of protest to the Allies, the legal framework was that of Kanûn-ı Esâsî of the First Constitutional Era that had prevailed in 1876. As in 1876, the revived Ottoman Parliament consisted of two chambers, a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber of Deputies was elected by the people, in the ratio of one member for every 50,000 males of the population over the age of 25 who paid taxes. Senators, on the hand, were nominated for life by the Sultan, had to be over 40 years of age. General elections were to place every four years. The general population did not, however, vote directly for the Deputy that he desired to represent him in the Parliament, moreover, the administration of territories was entrusted to these delegates in the elected Administrative Councils. Thus, these Councils were elected and served not only as an electoral college, the parliament convened after the revolution only briefly and rather symbolically. The only task they performed was to call a new election, in the first Parliament, the president of the Chamber of Deputies was a Deputy from Jerusalem, Yusif Dia Pasha Al Khalidi. The new parliament comprised 142 Turks,60 Arabs,25 Albanians,23 Greeks,12 Armenians,5 Jews,4 Bulgarians,3 Serbs and 1 Vlach in the elections of 1908, the CUP could count on the support of about 60 deputies. The CUP, the driving force behind the revolution, managed to gain the upper hand against the Liberal Union. LU was liberal in outlook, bearing a strong British imprint, CUP come as the biggest party among a fragmented parliament by only 60 of the 275 seats. It was about how the government would deal with what these deputies called lacking of the law and order, the rise of assassinations and armed assaults, ethnic and sectarian violence between various communities in the empire was costing both lives and resources. This was an important event as the established system was passing the first test regarding the proper parliamentary conduct. There were members of diplomatic missions among the audience. The new constitution secured the freedom of the press, newspapermen, the first section of the protocol achieved
15.
Middle-Eastern theatre of World War I
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The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I saw action between 29 October 1914 and 30 October 1918. There were five main campaigns, the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, the Mesopotamian Campaign, the Caucasus Campaign, the Persian Campaign, there were also several minor campaigns, the Senussi Campaign, Arab Campaign, and South Arabia Campaign. Both sides used local asymmetrical forces in the region, in addition, the Assyrians joined the Allies following the Assyrian genocide, instigating the Assyrian war of independence. The Turkish Ottomans had the support of Kurds, Turcomans, Circassians, Chechens, the theatre covered the largest territory of all theatres in the war. The Armenians attended the Trabzon Peace Conference which resulted in the Treaty of Batum on 4 June 1918. The Ottomans accepted the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies on 30 October 1918, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers through the secret Ottoman-German Alliance, which was signed on 2 August 1914. Success in this region would force the Russians to divert troops from the Polish, German advisors with the Ottoman armies supported the campaign for this reason. From an economic perspective, the Ottoman, or rather German, Germany established an Intelligence Bureau for the East on the eve of World War I. The bureau was involved in intelligence-gathering and subversive missions to Persia and Egypt, if these nations were to be removed from Western influence, Enver envisioned a cooperation between these newly established Turkic states. Envers project conflicted with European interests which played out as struggles between several key imperial powers, the Ottomans also threatened Britains communications with India and the East via the Suez Canal. The Germans hoped to seize the Canal for the Central Powers, the British feared that the Ottomans might attack and capture the Middle East oil fields. The British Royal Navy depended upon oil from the deposits in southern Persia. Marriott summarizes the British debates on strategy for the Near East and Balkan theatre, The War in that presents many problems. The Russians viewed the Caucasus Front as secondary to the Eastern Front and they feared a campaign into the Caucasus aimed at retaking Kars which had been taken from the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War, and the port of Batum. The Russian Imperial government planned to replace the Muslim population of Northern Anatolia, the Armenian national liberation movement sought to establish an Armenian state within the Armenian Highlands. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation achieved this goal later in the war, none of these entities were long lasting. The Caucasus Campaign extended from the Caucasus to eastern Asia Minor, reaching as far as Trabzon, Bitlis, Mush, the warfare on land was accompanied by actions undertaken by the Russian Navy in the Black Sea region of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and German Empire fought each other at Batumi after the arrival of the German Caucasus Expedition whose prime aim was to secure oil supplies
16.
Partition of the Ottoman Empire
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The partition of the Ottoman Empire was a political event that occurred after World War I and the occupation of Constantinople by British, French and Italian troops in November 1918. The partitioning was planned in several made by the Allies early in the course of World War I. As world war loomed, the Ottoman Empire sought protection but was rejected by Britain, France, and Russia, the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Ottoman Empire had been the leading Islamic state in geopolitical, cultural and ideological terms. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire led to the rise in the Middle East of Western powers such as Britain and France and brought the creation of the modern Arab world and the Republic of Turkey. Resistance to the influence of these came from the Turkish national movement. The Ottoman Empires possessions in the Arabian Peninsula became the Kingdom of Hejaz, which was annexed by the Sultanate of Nejd, and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. The Empires possessions on the shores of the Persian Gulf were variously annexed by Saudi Arabia, or remained British protectorates. After the Ottoman government collapsed completely it signed the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, however, the Turkish War of Independence forced the European powers to return to the negotiating table before the treaty could be ratified. The Europeans and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey signed and ratified the new Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, superseding the Treaty of Sèvres and solidifying most of the territorial issues. One unresolved issue, the dispute between the Kingdom of Iraq and the Republic of Turkey over the province of Mosul was later negotiated under the League of Nations in 1926. The British and French partitioned the eastern part of the Middle East, also called Greater Syria, other secret agreements were concluded with Italy and Russia. The Balfour Declaration encouraged the international Zionist movement to push for a Jewish homeland in the Palestine region, while a part of the Triple Entente, Russia also had wartime agreements preventing it from participating in the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the Russian Revolution. The Treaty of Sèvres formally acknowledged the new League of Nations mandates in the region, the independence of Yemen, the Western powers had long believed that they would eventually become dominant in the area claimed by the weak central government of the Ottoman Empire. These powers disagreed over their contradictory post-war aims and made several dual, Syria and Lebanon became a French protectorate. French control was met immediately with armed resistance, and, in order to combat Arab nationalism, France divided the Mandate area into Lebanon, Greater Lebanon was the name of a territory created by France. It was the precursor of modern Lebanon and it existed between 1 September 1920 and 23 May 1926. France carved its territory from the Levantine land mass in order to create a haven for the Maronite Christian population
17.
Ottoman decline thesis
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The Ottoman Decline Thesis or Ottoman Decline Paradigm refers to a now-obsolete historical narrative which had once been used to explain the history of the Ottoman Empire. This thesis was used throughout most of the century as the basis of both Western and Republican Turkish understanding of Ottoman history. However, by 1978, historians had begun to reexamine the fundamental assumptions of the Decline Thesis, the Decline Thesis has been criticized as teleological, regressive, Orientalist, simplistic, and one-dimensional, and described as a concept which has no place in historical analysis. Scholars have thus learned better than to discuss, the idea of decline first emerged among the Ottomans themselves. Beginning much earlier, but greatly expanding during the century, was the literary genre of nasihatname. This genre had a history, appearing in earlier Muslim empires such as those of the Seljuks. This was often expressed through the concept of the Circle of Justice, in this conception, the provision of justice by the ruler to his subjects would allow those subjects to prosper, strengthening the ruler in turn. Should this break down, society would cease to properly function and these writers viewed the changes which the empire had undergone as an inherently negative corruption of an idealized Suleimanic past. However, it is now recognized that rather than simply describing objective reality, for instance, Mustafa Âlis belief that the empire was declining was in large part motivated by frustration at his own failure to achieve promotions and court patronage. The primary goal of the writers, then, may have simply been to protect their own personal or class status in a rapidly changing world. Internal decline was thought of as an appropriate means of explaining the Ottomans external military defeats. The trope of a declining Ottoman Empire was thus used as a foil for Western Civilization, such views were perpetuated during the mid-twentieth century by the works of H. A. R. Gibb and Harold Bowen, and particularly Bernard Lewis and it was from this point that skepticism of the Decline Thesis began to grow. The most prominent writer on Ottoman Decline is the historian Bernard Lewis and he laid out his views in the 1958 article, Some Reflections on the Decline of the Ottoman Empire, which developed into the mainstream opinion of Orientalist scholars of the mid-twentieth century. However, the article is now highly criticized and no longer considered accurate by modern historians, faulty leadership at the top led to decay in all branches of government, the bureaucracy ceased to function effectively, and the quality of their records worsened. The Ottoman military lost its strength and began to experience defeats on the battlefield and they ceased to keep up with the advances of European military science, and consequently suffered territorial losses. As Ottoman state and society was geared towards constant expansion, their failure to achieve new conquests left the empire unable to adapt to its new relationship with Europe. In addition, the Price Revolution led to the destabilization of Ottoman coinage and a fiscal crisis
18.
Turkish language
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Outside of Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official EU language, in 1928, as one of Atatürks Reforms in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was replaced with a Latin alphabet. The distinctive characteristics of Turkish are vowel harmony and extensive agglutination, the basic word order of Turkish is subject–object–verb. Turkish has no classes or grammatical gender. Turkish has a strong T–V distinction and usage of honorifics, Turkish uses second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a person out of respect. Turkic languages belong to the Altaic language group, the Turkic family comprises some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia. Turkish is a member of the Oghuz group of languages, a subgroup of the Turkic language family, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Turkish and the other Oghuz Turkic languages, including Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish. The earliest known Old Turkic inscriptions are the three monumental Orkhon inscriptions found in modern Mongolia, erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khagan, these date back to the second Turk Kaghanate. The Seljuqs of the Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, following the adoption of Islam c. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Divan poetry, was influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters. One of the tasks of the newly established association was to initiate a reform to replace loanwords of Arabic. By banning the usage of imported words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred words from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were newly derived from Turkic roots, owing to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the terms of Arabic or Persian origin. The past few decades have seen the work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have received widespread acceptance, however, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to replace fırka, political party—also failed to meet with popular approval, some words restored from Old Turkic have taken on specialized meanings, for example betik is now used to mean script in computer science
19.
Constitutional monarchy
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A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as a sovereign who reigns, in addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, the oldest constitutional monarchy dating back to ancient times was that of the Hittites. These were scattered noble families that worked as representatives of their subjects in an adjutant or subaltern federal-type landscape, the most recent country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, in Scotland the Convention of Estates enacted the Claim of Right Act 1689, although Queen Anne was the last monarch to veto an Act of Parliament when in 1707 she blocked the Scottish Militia Bill, Hanoverian monarchs continued to selectively dictate government policies. For instance George III constantly blocked Catholic Emancipation, eventually precipitating the resignation of William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister in 1801, Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power but this diminished over the course of her reign. In 1839 she became the last sovereign to keep a Prime Minister in power against the will of Parliament when the Bedchamber crisis resulted in the retention of Lord Melbournes administration, today, the role of the British monarch is by convention effectively ceremonial. No person may accept significant public office without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen, with few exceptions, the monarch is bound by constitutional convention to act on the advice of the Government. Constitutional monarchy also occurred briefly in the years of the French Revolution. As originally conceived, a monarch was head of the executive branch and quite a powerful figure even though his or her power was limited by the constitution. In many cases the monarchs, while still at the top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status of servants of the people to reflect the new. In the course of Frances July Monarchy, Louis-Philippe I was styled King of the French rather than King of France, following the Unification of Germany, Otto von Bismarck rejected the British model. However this model of constitutional monarchy was discredited and abolished following Germanys defeat in the First World War. Later, Fascist Italy could also be considered as a constitutional monarchy and this eventually discredited the Italian monarchy and led to its abolition in 1946. After the Second World War, surviving European monarchies almost invariably adopted some variant of the constitutional monarchy model originally developed in Britain, nowadays a parliamentary democracy that is a constitutional monarchy is considered to differ from one that is a republic only in detail rather than in substance. However, three important factors distinguish monarchies such as the United Kingdom from systems where greater power might otherwise rest with Parliament, other privileges may be nominal or ceremonial
20.
Ottoman constitution of 1876
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The Ottoman constitution of 1876 was the first constitution of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Abdul Azizs chaotic rule led to his deposition in 1876 and, after a few troubled months, to the proclamation of an Ottoman constitution that the new sultan, Abdul Hamid II, pledged to uphold. The Ottoman Constitution was introduced after a series of reforms were promulgated in 1839 during the Tanzimat era, the goal of the Tanzimat era was to reform the Ottoman Empire under the auspices of Westernization. In the context of the reforms, Western educated Armenians of the Ottoman Empire drafted the Armenian National Constitution in 1863, the Ottoman Constitution of 1876 was under direct influence of the Armenian National Constitution and its authors. The Ottoman Constitution of 1876 itself was drawn up by Western educated Ottoman Armenian Krikor Odian and it is important to discuss first the beginning of attempts at reform within the empire. Under the reign of Sultan Selim III, there was a vision of actual reform, Selim tried to address the militarys failure to effectively function in battle, even the basics of fighting were lacking, and military leaders lacked ability to command. Eventually his efforts led to his assassination by the Janissaries and this action led to Mahmud II becoming Sultan. Mahmud can be considered to be the “first real Ottoman reformer and this led to what was known as The Tanzimat era, which lasted from 1839 to 1876. This era was defined as an effort of reform to distribute power from the Sultan to the newly formed government led by a Parliament and these were the intentions of the Sublime Porte, which included the newly formed government. The purpose of the Tanzimat Era was reform, but mainly, the first indefinable act of the Tanzimat period was when Sultan Abdülmecid I issued Edict of Gülhane. This document or statement expressed the principles that the liberal statesmen wanted to become an actual reality, the Tanzimat politicians wanted to prevent the empire from falling completely into ruin. During this time the Tanzimat had three different sultans, Abdülmecid, Abdülaziz I and Murad V, during the Tanzimat period, the man from the Ottoman Empire with the most respect in Europe was Midhat Pasha. Midhat dreamed of an Empire in which “there would be neither Muslim nor non-Muslim but only Ottomans. ”Such ideology led to the formation of such as the Young Ottomans. These movements attempted to bring about real reform not by means of edicts and promises, after its pinnacle during the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire was thereafter in constant regression rather than being able to progress as its European counterparts did. As European power increased, the Ottomans saw a lack of progress themselves, in the Treaty of Paris, the Ottomans were now considered part of the European world. This was the beginning of the first steps of intervention that the Europeans began in the Ottoman Empire, one of the reasons they were taking a step into Ottoman territory was for the protection of Christians in the Empire. There had been a political war between Muslims and non-Muslims within it. This was the point for the Russians to interfere
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Young Ottomans
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Young Ottomans sought to transform Ottoman society by preserving the empire and modernizing along the European tradition of adopting a constitutional government. The Young Ottomans sought to revitalize the empire by incorporating certain Europeans models of government, among the prominent members of this society were writers and publicists such as İbrahim Şinasi, Namık Kemal, Ali Suavi, Ziya Pasha, and Agah Efendi. The group attracted a moderate amount of followers, in the course of two years, a few hundred people seem to have joined the society, among them two nephews of the sultan, Prince Murad and Prince Hamit. During the same year, İbrahim Şinasi left control of his newspaper Tasvir-i Efkâr to Namık Kemal, in 1867, Namık Kemal and other Young Ottomans published the open letter of a disgruntled Egyptian prince Mustafa Fazl Pasha to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz. This letter advocated constitutional and parliamentary governance, after the publication, the Ottoman government cracked down on the Young Ottomans, causing them to flee to Paris, where they continued operating under the patronage of Mustafa Fazl Pasha. By the time these exiled publicists had come together under the patronage of Mustafa Fazl Pasha in Paris, they began calling themselves Yeni Osmanlılar. Through the new medium of the press and with the support of their ally Mustafa Fazl Pasha. One of the most important periodicals was Hürriyet, which was publicized by Namık Kemal and Ziya Pasha beginning in 1868, though others were published. Other Young Ottoman newspapers included Ulum, Inkilab, and Ibret and these publications voiced dissent and opposition to Ottoman policies that ordinarily would have been stifled. These periodicals circulated widely throughout Europe, having sites of publication in London, Geneva, Paris, Lyon, the acceptance of Mustafa Fazl Pasha to a post under Sultan Abdülaziz was also seen as evidence of imminent success. However, it was return from exile that began to fracture the Young Ottomans. Ali Suavi resigned from the group while Namık Kemal returned to Istanbul, Ziya Pasha, who had disagreed with Kemal, moved to Geneva to work on another newspaper. During the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, the Empire was experiencing a period of financial hardship brought on by catastrophic drought. In an attempt to raise revenue, the government raised taxes on the surviving population, the financial difficulties were exacerbated by a global stock market crash in 1873. Discontentment amongst the population grew, culminating in a series of revolts broke out amongst the Christian peasants in the Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina were the first to experience rebellions, followed by Bulgaria in 1876, accusations of atrocities being committed by the Turks, particularly in Bulgaria, did not go unnoticed by Russia, who went to war with the Ottomans on April 24,1877. Due to the environment, the Young Ottomans now had an audience. On May 30,1876, a group of leading Ottoman politicians including Midhat Pasha staged a coup d’état, after the alleged suicide of Sultan Abdülaziz, Sultan Murad’s mental state began to rapidly decline and he became an alcoholic
22.
Abdul Hamid II
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Abdul Hamid II was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Sultan to exert effective autocratic control over the fracturing state. Abdul Hamids 1909 removal from the throne was hailed by most Ottoman citizens, the most far-reaching of these reforms were in education, professional schools were established. The University of Istanbul, although shut down by Abdul Hamid himself in 1881, was reopened in 1900, and a network of secondary, primary, Railway and telegraph systems were developed by primarily German firms. Between 1871 and 1908, the Sublime Porte thus reached a new degree of organizational elaboration and articulation. Abroad, Abdul Hamid was nicknamed the Red Sultan or Abdul the Damned due to the massacres committed against minorities during his rule and use of a police to silence dissent. These led to an attempt in 1905, contributing to the sultans worsening paranoia until his eventual removal from the throne. Abdul Hamid II was born at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and he was the son of Sultan Abdülmecid and Tirimüjgan Kadınefendi, originally named Virjin. After the death of his mother, he became the adoptive son of his fathers wife. He was a carpenter and personally crafted some high quality furniture. Abdul Hamid II was also interested in opera and personally wrote the first-ever Turkish translations of many opera classics and he ascended to the throne following the deposition of his brother Murad on 31 August 1876. At his accession, some commentators were impressed by the fact that he rode practically unattended to the Eyüp Sultan Mosque where he was given the Sword of Osman. Most people expected Abdul Hamid II to have ideas. In any event, like many other reforms of the Ottoman Empire change proved to be nearly impossible. Russia continued to mobilize for war, however, everything changed when the British fleet approached the capital from the Sea of Marmara. Early in 1877 the Ottoman Empire went to war with the Russian Empire, Abdul Hamids biggest fear, near dissolution, was realised with the Russian declaration of war on 24 April 1877. In that conflict, the Ottoman Empire fought without help from European allies, Russian chancellor Prince Gorchakov had effectively purchased Austrian neutrality with the Reichstadt Agreement. The Russian victory was quickly realised, the conflict ended in February 1878. After the war with Russia, Abdulhamid suspended the constitution in February 1878, for the next three decades, the Ottoman Empire was ruled by Abdulhamid from Yıldız Palace
23.
Absolute monarchy
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Absolute monarchy, or despotic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which one ruler has supreme authority that is not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs. These are often, but not always, hereditary monarchies, in contrast, in constitutional monarchies, the head of states authority derives from and is legally bounded or restricted by a constitution or legislature. Some monarchies have weak or symbolic legislatures and other bodies that the monarch can alter or dissolve at will. Countries where a monarch still maintains absolute power are Brunei, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the individual emirates composing the United Arab Emirates, Swaziland, in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh wielded absolute power over the country and was considered a living god by his people. In ancient Mesopotamia, many rulers of Assyria, Babylonia and Sumer were absolute monarchs as well, in ancient and medieval India, rulers of the Maurya, Satahavana, Gupta and Chalukya Empires, as well as other major and minor empires, were considered absolute monarchs. In the Khmer Empire, the kings were called Devaraja and Chakravartin, in Kingdom of Siam, the kings were esestablished Somburanaya-sittiraj. Throughout Chinese history, many emperors and one empress wielded absolute power through the Mandate of Heaven, in pre-Columbian America, the Inca Empire was ruled by a Sapa Inca, who was considered the son of Inti, the sun god and absolute ruler over the people and nation. Throughout much of European history, the right of kings was the theological justification for absolute monarchy. Many European monarchs, such as those of Russia, claimed supreme autocratic power by right. James VI of Scotland and his son Charles I of Scotland and England tried to import this principle, there is a considerable variety of opinion by historians on the extent of absolutism among European monarchs. Some, such as Perry Anderson, argue that quite a few monarchs achieved levels of absolutist control over their states, a widely held story about Louis XIV of France is that he proclaimed Létat, cest moi. What Louis did say was, The interests of the state come first, when one gives these priority, one labors for ones own good. These advantages to the state redounds to ones glory, although often criticized for his extravagances, such as the Palace of Versailles, he reigned over France for a long period, and some historians consider him a successful absolute monarch. More recently, revisionist historians have questioned whether Louis reign should be considered absolute, the King of France concentrated in his person legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He was the judicial authority. He could condemn men to death without the right of appeal and it was both his duty to punish offenses and stop them from being committed. From his judicial authority followed his power both to make laws and to annul them and this law consequently authorized the king to abolish all other centers of power. Most important was the abolition of the Council of the Realm and his actions largely originated the militaristic streak of the Hohenzollern
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Lower house
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A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position below the house, in many legislatures worldwide. A legislature composed of one house is described as unicameral. In comparison with the house, lower houses frequently display certain characteristics, Powers In a parliamentary system, Much more power. Able to override the upper house in some ways, can vote a motion of no confidence against the government. In a presidential system, Somewhat less power, as the house alone gives advice. Given the sole power to impeach the executive Status Always elected directly, while the house may be elected directly, indirectly. Its members may be elected with a different voting system to the upper house, most populated administrative divisions are better represented than in the upper house, representation is usually proportional to population. Elected all at once, not by staggered terms, in a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive. Has total or original control over budget and monetary laws, lower age of candidacy than the upper house. Many lower houses are named in the manner, House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies
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Bicameralism
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A bicameral legislature is one in which the legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses. As of 2015, somewhat less than half of the national legislatures are bicameral. Often, the members of the two chambers are elected or selected using different methods, which vary from country to country and this can often lead to the two chambers having very different compositions of members. However, in many Westminster system parliaments, the house to which the executive is responsible can overrule the other house, some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with one house only able to overrule the other under certain circumstances. For example, one house would represent the aristocracy, and the other would represent the commoners as was the case in the Kingdom of England. Others, such as France under the Ancien Régime had a legislature known as the Estates General, which consisted of separate chambers for the clergymen, the nobility. The Founding Fathers of the United States also favoured a bicameral legislature, the idea was to have the Senate be wealthier and wiser. Benjamin Rush saw this though, and noted that, this type of dominion is almost always connected with opulence, the Senate was created to be a stabilising force, elected not by mass electors, but selected by the State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what Madison saw as the fickleness. He noted further that the use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with system and with more wisdom. Madisons argument led the Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, the Senate was chosen by state legislators, and senators had to possess a significant amount of property in order to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position. In fact, it was not until the year 1913 that the 17th Amendment was passed, as part of the Great Compromise, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the Senate would have states represented equally, and the House would have them represented by population. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British three-tier model, nevertheless, the older justification for second chambers—providing opportunities for second thoughts about legislation—has survived. An example of controversy regarding a second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Canadian Senate or the election of the Senate of France. The relationship between the two chambers varies, in cases, they have equal power, while in others. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments, the latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems. In the United States both houses of the U. S and this is due to their original location in the two-story building that was to house them. In Canada, the country as a whole is divided into a number of Senate Divisions, each with a different number of Senators, Senators in Canada are not elected by the people but are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister
26.
Chamber of Deputies (Ottoman Empire)
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The Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire was the lower house of the General Assembly, the Ottoman parliament. The first Chamber met on 19 March 1877 and its main power during this period was its right to vote on annual budgets submitted by the Council of Ministers. The Chamber of Deputies had 130 members and reflected the distribution of the millets in the empire, after the second elections, there were 69 Muslim representatives and 46 representatives of other millets. The actions of the Chamber were subject to a veto by the upper house, no true system of checks and balances between the houses of parliament or the Sultans office existed during this period. The second session of the Chamber lasted from 13 December 1877 to 14 February 1878, when Sultan Abdul Hamid II dismissed General Assembly and the 1876 constitution, restoring his despotism. The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Abdul Hamid II was forced to restore the monarchy after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The period established many political groups and parties, ahmed Rıza became the first President of the Chamber in 1908. An amendment in 1909 to the original 1876 constitution resulted in the Chamber gaining more political power at the expense of the non-democratically elected Senate. A series of elections during this period resulted in the ascendance of the Committee of Union. The second largest party Liberal Union was in fact a coalition of parties led by Prince Sabahaddin, the second constitutional era came to a de facto end after the 1912 elections, which the CUP was widely understood to have rigged in its favor. The era formally ended after World War I with the Occupation of Constantinople on 13 November 1918, the last meeting on 18 March produced a letter of protest to the Allies, and a black cloth covered the pulpit of the parliament as reminder of its absent members. Elections in the Ottoman Empire List of political parties in the Ottoman Empire Senate of the Ottoman Empire, the upper house General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire, the parliament as a whole
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Upper house
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An upper house, sometimes called a Senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the house is usually smaller. Examples of upper houses in countries include the UKs House of Lords, Canadas Senate, Indias Rajya Sabha, Russias Federation Council, Irelands Seanad, Germanys Bundesrat, a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral. An upper house is different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects, Powers, In a parliamentary system. Therefore, in countries the Upper House votes on only limited legislative matters. Cannot vote a motion of no confidence against the government, while the house always can. In a presidential system, It may have equal or nearly equal power with the lower house and it may have specific powers not granted to the lower house. For example, It may give advice and consent to some executive decisions and it may have the sole power to try impeachments against officials of the executive, following enabling resolutions passed by the lower house. Status, In some countries, its members are not popularly elected, membership may be indirect and its members may be elected with a different voting system than that used to elect the lower house. Less populated states, provinces, or administrative divisions may be represented in the upper house than in the lower house. Members terms may be longer than in the house. Members may be elected in portions, for staggered terms, rather than all at one time, in some countries, the upper house cannot be dissolved at all, or can be dissolved only in more limited circumstances than the lower house. It typically has fewer members or seats than the lower house and it has usually a higher age of candidacy than the lower house. In parliamentary systems the upper house is seen as an advisory or revising chamber. Some or all of the restrictions are often placed on upper houses. No absolute veto of proposed legislation, though suspensive vetoes are permitted in some states, in countries where it can veto legislation, it may not be able to amend the proposals. A reduced or even absent role in initiating legislation, additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as perfect bicameralism or equal bicameralism. An example is the British House of Lords, bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month
28.
Senate of the Ottoman Empire
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The Senate of the Ottoman Empire was the upper house of the parliament of the Ottoman Empire, the General Assembly. Its members were appointed notables in the Ottoman government who, along with the lower house Chamber of Deputies. It was created in its first incarnation according to the Ottoman constitution of 1876, members of the Senate were selected by the Sultan and their numbers were limited to one-third of the membership of the representative Chamber of Deputies. Members and the president of the Senate were designated to be reliable and reputable leaders of the country, the same day, Senators would swear oaths to stay loyal to the constitution, the sultan, the nation, and their duties. The Senate also had the power to create original legislation itself, the first Senate met on Monday, March 19,1877. At the time that Server Pasha served as the Senate president, after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era, amendments were made to the 1876 constitution. According to these amendments, the Senate began to assemble every year at the beginning of November, convene at the pleasure of the sultan, the Senate usually convened after the Chamber of Deputies. The de facto closure came on April 11, when the sultan, under pressure from the invading Allies and this incarnation of the Senate included two living members from the original 1877 Senate, for a total of 32 forming members. Although its charter called for it to have one-third the number of members of the Chamber of Deputies, i. e. over 90 members, it never reached that amount at one time. In 1909, it had 44 members, in 1910, it had 48 members, in 1911, it had 58 members, and in 1914, it had 48 members
29.
Millet (Ottoman Empire)
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In the Ottoman Empire, a millet was a separate legal court pertaining to personal law under which a confessional community was allowed to rule itself under its own laws. Despite frequently being referred to as a system, before the century the organization of what are now retrospectively called millets in the Ottoman Empire was far from systematic. Rather, non-Muslims were simply given a significant degree of autonomy within their own community, the notion of distinct millets corresponding to different religious communities within the empire would not emerge until the eighteenth century. After the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms, the term was used for legally protected religious minority groups, the word millet comes from the Arabic word millah and literally means nation. The millet system has been called an example of religious pluralism. The millet system has a history in the Middle East and is closely linked to Islamic rules on the treatment of non−Muslim minorities living under Islamic dominion. The concept was used even before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire for the communities of the Church of the East under the Zoroastrian Sassanid Persia in the 4th century. People were bound to their millets by their religious affiliations, rather than their ethnic origins, the millets had a great deal of power – they set their own laws and collected and distributed their own taxes. All that was required was loyalty to the Empire, later, the perception of the millet concept was altered in the 19th century by the rise of nationalism within the Ottoman Empire. After the decline of the Assyrian Church of the East in the 14th century, until the 19th century beside the Muslim millet, each official within each community was in charge of tax collection, education, justice and religious affairs. By doing so, however, the Ottoman administration was simply tolerating these non-Muslim communities and they were allowing them religious freedom in a way that kept them from resisting Ottoman rule. This kept these religious communities from prospering or being regarded as equals to Muslims, social discrimination was just as significant during these times as many Jews were unable to serve within the Ottoman armed forces and were unable to join the Ottoman ruling elite. They were granted freedom, however, at a cost. Armenians formed more than one millets under the Ottoman rule, a wide array of other groups such as Catholics, Karaites and Samaritans was also represented. The Orthodox Christians were included in the Rum Millet, or the Roman nation conquered by Islam, only later did a separate Catholic millet emerge. These groups included the Syriac Orthodox and the Copts, the Syriac Catholic community was recognized as its own millet in 1829. The Chaldean community was recognized as its own millet in 1846, the Syriac Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire was for long not recognized as its own millet, but part of the Armenian millet. Then, during the Tanzimat reforms, the Syriac Orthodox were granted independent status with the recognition of their own millet in 1873, under the millet system the Jews were organized as a community on the basis of religion, alongside the other millets
30.
Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
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Phanariotes
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Despite their cosmopolitanism and often-Western education, the Phanariotes were aware of their Hellenism, according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos Philotheou Parerga, We are a race completely Hellenic. They emerged as a class of moneyed Greek merchants during the half of the 16th century. They dominated the administration of the patriarchate, often intervening in the selection of hierarchs, many members of Phanariot families occupied high political and administrative posts in the Ottoman Empire. During the war, Phanariotes influenced decisions by the Greek National Assembly, between 1711–1716 and 1821, a number of Phanariotes were appointed Hospodars in the Danubian Principalities, the period is known as the Phanariote epoch in Romanian history. Phanar was repopulated with Greeks from Mouchlion in the Peloponnese and, after 1461, the roots of Greek ascendancy can be traced to the Ottoman need for skilled, educated negotiators as their empire declined and they relied on treaties rather than force. With the Ottomans traditionally ignoring Western European languages and cultures, officials were at a loss, the Porte assigned those tasks to the Greeks, who had a long mercantile and educational tradition and the necessary skills. The Phanariotes, Greek and Hellenized families primarily from Constantinople, occupied high posts as secretaries, as a result of Phanariote and ecclesiastical administration, the Greeks expanded their influence in the 18th-century empire while retaining their Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenism. This had not always been the case in the Ottoman realm, a Slavic presence in Ottoman administration gradually became hazardous for its rulers, since the Slavs tended to support Habsburg armies during the Great Turkish War. By the 17th century the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople was the religious and administrative ruler of the empires Orthodox subjects, all formerly-independent Orthodox patriarchates, including the Serbian Patriarchate renewed in 1557, came under the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the Greek patriarchs were drawn from the Phanariotes, two Greek social groups emerged, challenging the leadership of the Greek Church, the Phanariotes in Constantinople and the local notables in the Helladic provinces. Greek merchants and clergy of Byzantine aristocratic origin, who acquired economic and political influence and were known as Phanariotes. The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged Greek renaissance projects centering on the resurrection and revitalization of the Byzantine Empire. The Patriarch and his church dignitaries constituted the first centre of power for the Greeks in the Ottoman state, the wealth of the extensive Greek merchant class provided the material basis for the intellectual revival featured in Greek life for more than half a century before 1821. Greek merchants endowed libraries and schools, on the eve of the Greek War of Independence, the three most important centres of Greek learning were in the commercial centres of Chios, Smyrna and Aivali. The first Greek millionaire of the Ottoman era was Michael Şeytanoğlu Kantakouzenos, during the 18th century, the Phanariotes were a hereditary clerical−aristocratic group who managed the affairs of the patriarchate and the dominant political power of the Ottoman Greek community. They became a significant political factor in the empire and, as agents, played a role in the affairs of Great Britain, France. They engaged in trade, controlling the crucial wheat trade on the Black Sea. The Phanariotes expanded their activities into the Kingdom of Hungary
32.
Armenians
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Armenians are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands. Armenians constitute the population of Armenia and the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. There is a diaspora of around 5 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside of modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian Genocide, most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the worlds oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew, in the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, historically, the name Armenian has come to internationally designate this group of people. It was first used by neighbouring countries of ancient Armenia, the earliest attestations of the exonym Armenia date around the 6th century BC. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription dated to 517 BC, Darius I the Great of Persia refers to Urashtu as Armina (in Old Persian, Armina and Harminuya. In Greek, Αρμένιοι Armenians is attested from about the same time, xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BC. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians and it is also further postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. Movses Khorenatsi, the important early medieval Armenian historian, wrote that the word Armenian originated from the name Armenak or Aram, the Armenian Highland lies in the highlands surrounding Mount Ararat, the highest peak of the region. In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire, Mitanni, soon after Hayasa-Azzi were Arme-Shupria, the Nairi and the Kingdom of Urartu, who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland. Each of the nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Under Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian empire reached the Caucasus Mountains, yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I. T. Gamkrelidze and V. Ivanov proposed the Indo-European homeland around the Armenian Highland, eric P. Hamp in his 2012 Indo-European family tree, groups the Armenian language along with Greek and Ancient Macedonian in the Pontic Indo-European subgroup. In Hamps view the homeland of this subgroup is the northeast coast of the Black Sea and he assumes that they migrated from there southeast through the Caucasus with the Armenians remaining after Batumi while the pre-Greeks proceeded westwards along the southern coast of the Black Sea. However, fresh genetics studies explain Armenian diversity by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between ~3,000 and ~2,000 b. c
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Sublime Porte
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The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte, is a synecdochic metonym for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. The naming has its origins in the old Oriental practice, according to which the ruler announced his official decisions and this name referred first to a palace in Bursa, Turkey. In the 18th century, a new great Italian-styled office building was built just west of Topkapi Palace area and this became the location of the Grand Vizier and many ministries. Thereafter, this building, and the gate leading to its courtyards, became known as the Sublime Porte. The building was damaged by fire in 1911. Today, the house the provincial Governor of Istanbul. Sublime Porte was used in the context of diplomacy by Western states, during this period, the office of the Grand Vizier came to refer to the equivalent to that of a prime minister, and viziers became members of the Grand Viziers cabinet as government ministers. Bab Raid on the Sublime Porte
34.
Balkans
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The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania
35.
Vilayet
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The Vilayets of the Ottoman Empire were the first-order administrative division, or provinces, of the later empire, introduced with the promulgation of the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867. The reform was part of the administrative reforms that were being enacted throughout the empire. The reform was at first implemented experimentally in the Danube Vilayet, specially formed in 1864, the reform was gradually implemented, and not until 1884 was it applied to the entirety of the Empires provinces. The term vilayet is derived from the Arabic word wilayah or wilaya, while in Arabic, the word wilaya is used to denote a province or region or district without any specific administrative connotation, the Ottomans used it to denote a specific administrative division. The vali was the representative of the Sultan in the vilayet and he was assisted by secretaries in charge of finances, correspondence and archives, dealings with foreigners, public works, agriculture and commerce, nominated by the respective ministers. Along with the justice, these officials formed the vilayets executive council. In addition, there was a provincial council of four members. The governor of the sanjak, where the vilayets capital was located, deputized for the vali in the latters absence. Provinces of Turkey Six vilayets, the Armenian vilayets of the empire Vilayet Law Vilayet Law of 1864, official translation to French pp. 36–45 Vilayet Law of 1867, in French
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Mehmed Rushdi Pasha
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Mehmed Rushdi Pasha was an Ottoman statesman. Mutercim Rushdie Pasha served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire during five separate terms and he was preceded by Midhat Pasha. Mutercim Rushdie Pasha was a reformist supporter of the Tanzimat and he served as a Translator of Military texts as well as a Military Colonel in his youth. He was born in 1811, and died on 27 March 1882, Mutercim Rushdie Pasha was born to a poor boatman in 1811 in the town of Ayancik. When he was three years old his family moved to Istanbul circa 1814, in Istanbul Rushdie Pasha studied in the local school system. As he got older he was recruited by the military and studied under a man named Lord Tanase, under the guidance of Lord Tanase he mastered the ability to read write and speak the French language. After working together with Lord Tanase, Rushdie Pasha was discovered to be an asset to the Ottoman Empire and he caught the eye of Sultan Abdulhamid. Sultan Abdulhamid assigned Rushdie Pasha a translation position with some of the best translators in the Ottoman Empire, Rushdie became very well known in the Empire for his translations. Two of his most important translated texts were manuals of French military tactics, after these translations he was once again promoted and sent along to England to study and translate more western works. Rushdie was surrounded by western ideas similar to his reformist colleagues that would push for Tanzimat reforms. In 1839 at the age of 28 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel, Rushdie Pasha continued his military career and in 1843 he became a leader in the military council. He continued to contribute his talents to the military until he resigned from his position at the age of 42 in 1853 and he was nominated to be the Governor of Damascus but Rushdie Pasha denied the position. He even declined other government positions to avoid working with Mehmed Ali Pasha, during Abdülmecits reign,24 December 1859 -28 May 1860 On 24 December 1859, Mutercim Rushdie Pasha was appointed as the Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Abdulmecit for the first time. Rushdie Pasha was constantly involved in internal conflicts having to do with the policy of the Ottoman government, there was a notable friction between Rushdie Pasha and Mehmed Pasha as well as other officials who wanted to do things differently from Rushdie Pasha. This internal drama made it difficult for Rushdie Pasha to hold on to his position of Grand Vizier for very long and was replaced on 28 May 1860. This will continue to me a motif in Rushdie Pashas service, his controversial viewpoints, after his first stressful service as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Rushdie Pasha took an excursion to Berlin in 1860. Shortly after visiting Berlin, he visited Paris and even toured other European countries, in 1861 Rushdie Pasha returned to Istanbul. During Abdülazizs reign,19 October 1872 –15 March 1873 On 19 October 1872 Sultan Abdulaziz appointed Rushdie Pasha as Grand Vizier for the time in his now politically oriented career
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