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.
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
15.
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
16.
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
17.
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
18.
Young Turk Revolution
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On 24 July 1908, Abdul Hamid capitulated and announced the restoration of Constitution, which established the Second Constitutional Era. After an attempted monarchist counterrevolution in favor of Abdul Hamid the following year, he was deposed, once underground, organizations established their parties. Among them Committee of Union and Progress, and Freedom and Accord Party also known as the Liberal Union or Liberal Entente were major parties, there were smaller parties such as Ottoman Socialist Party. Countering the conservative politics of Abdulhamids reign was the amount of social reform that occurred during time period. The development of a liberal environment in Turkey strengthened the culture. Abdulhamids political circle was close-knit and ever changing, when the sultan abandoned the previous politics from 1876, he suspended the Ottoman Parliament in 1878. This left a small group of individuals able to partake in politics in the Ottoman Empire. In order to preserve the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, many Turks felt a need for modernization of the country, however, Abdulhamids method of rule was not in line with the developing nation. The origins of the lie in the organization of two political factions. Neither agreed with Abdulhamids reign, but each had separate interests, the Liberals were the upper class groups in the Ottoman Empire, and desired a more relaxed form of government with little economic interference. They also pushed for more autonomy of the different ethnic groups, in a slightly lower class formed a different group- the Unionists. Members were of working class, and foremost wanted a secular government and these two groups initially formed out of the same intent- to return to the old constitution, but cultural differences divided them. Members of the tradition, military officers, among the Young Turks revolted. The defense of their state had become a matter of intense professional pride which caused them to raise arms against their state. The event that triggered the Revolution was a meeting in the Baltic port of Reval between Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Nicholas II of Russia in June 1908. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought shaky British-Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified their respective control in Persia, military officers fearing the meeting was a prelude to the partition of Macedonia, Army units in the Balkans mutinied against Sultan Abdülhamid II. A desire to preserve the state, not destroy it, motivated the revolutionaries, the revolt began in July 1908. The sultans attempt to suppress this uprising failed due to the popularity of the movement among the troops themselves, rebellion spread rapidly due to the ideology of Ottomanism
19.
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
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
21.
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
22.
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
23.
Committee of Union and Progress
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It was transformed into a political organisation by Behaeddin Shakir, aligning itself with the Young Turks in 1906, during the period of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. In the west, members of the CUP were usually called Young Turks while in the Ottoman Empire, begun as a liberal reform movement in the Ottoman Empire, the party was persecuted by the Ottoman imperial government for its calls for democratisation and reform in the empire. A major influence on the committee was Meiji-era Japan, a state that successfully modernised itself without sacrificing its identity. The CUP intended to copy the Japanese example and modernise the Ottoman Empire to end its status as the sick man of Europe. The ultimate aim of the CUP was to return the Ottoman Empire to its status as one of the world’s great powers. At the end of World War I, most of its members were court-martialled by the sultan Mehmed VI, a few members of the organisation were executed in Turkey after trial for the attempted assassination of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1926. Members who survived continued their careers in Turkey as members of the Republican People’s Party. The Committee of Union and Progress was a name for different underground factions. The name was sanctioned to a specific group in 1906 by Behaeddin Shakir. The organisation was based upon the revolutionary Italian Carbonari, in 1902, there occurred a party congress in Paris, in which two factions clashed. Ultimately, Prince Sabahaddin and his followers ended leaving the CUP over disagreements over what sort of state the empire should be after the revolution against Sultan Abdulhamid. To the CUP, for science was something of a religion. Alongside the unbounded faith in science, the CUP embraced social Darwinism, the French racist Arthur de Gobineau whose theories had such a profound impact upon the German völkisch thinkers in the 19th century was also a major influence upon the CUP. All that mattered in the end to the CUP was that the Ottoman Empire become great again, and that the Turks be the dominant group within the empire. A further problem for the CUP was that the majority of the ethnic Turks of the empire did not see themselves as Turks at all, the CUP had built an extensive organisation, having a presence in towns, in the capital, and throughout Europe. Joining the CUP was by only, and those who did join had to keep their membership secret. The penalty for disobeying orders from the Central Committee or attempting to leave the CUP was death, operating as an underground revolutionary group led the CUP to adopt a paranoid mindset with almost everyone outside of the CUP being seen as an enemy. During the early years of the 20th century, and especially from 1906 onwards, the Ottoman region of Macedonia comprised what is now modern northern Greece, Macedonia, southern Serbia, south-western Bulgaria, Kosovo, and Albania
24.
31 March Incident
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The counter coup began on 31 March on the Rumi calendar, which was the official calendar of the Ottoman Empire, corresponding to 13 April 1909 on the Gregorian calendar now used in Turkey. The rebellion had begun on 13 April 1909 and was put down by 24 April 1909, the Ottoman general election of 1908 took place during November and December of that year. The Senate of the Ottoman Empire reconvened for the first time in over 30 years on 17 December 1908, the Chamber of Deputies first session was on 30 January 1909. The Ottoman counter-coup of 13 April 1909 was a rebellion by conservative reactionaries in Constantinople against the restoration of the constitutional system. The counter-coup attempted to put an end to the nascent Second Constitutional Era in order to re-affirm the position of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II as the absolute monarch. The counter-coup, was instigated among some parts of the army primarily by a certain Cypriot Islamic extremist Dervish Vahdeti, Dervish Vahdeti and supporters were put down by the Hareket Ordusu, which comprised the 11th Salonika Reserve Infantry Division of the Third Army commanded by Mahmud Shevket Pasha. The unit lay siege to Constantinople on 17 April 1909, among the officers who entered the capital was Mustafa Kemal. The Sultan remained in the Yildiz and had frequent conferences with Grand Vizier Tewfik Pasha who announced His Sublime Majesty awaits benevolently the arrival of the so called constitutional army and he has nothing to gain or fear since his Sublimity is for the Constitution and is its supreme guardian. The negotiators were Rear Admiral Arif Hikmet Pasha, Emanuel Karasu Efendi, Esad Pasha Toptani, Aram Efendi, finally, at the moment when the conflict showed signs of extending to the public, the Salonikan troops entered Constantinople. The Macedonian troops attacked the Taksim and Tashkishla barracks, there was fierce street fighting in the European quarter where the guard houses were held by the First Army Corps. There was heavy fire from troops in the Tashkishla barracks against the advancing troops, the barracks had to be shelled and almost destroyed by the artillery located on the heights above the barracks before the garrison surrendered after several hours fighting and heavy losses. Equally desperate was the defence of the Taksim barracks, the attack on the Taksim barracks was led by Enver Bey. After a short battle they gained control of the palace on 27 April, Sultan Abdul Hamid was deserted by most of his advisors. The parliament discussed the question as to whether he would be permitted to remain on the throne or be deposed or even be executed, putting the Sultan to death was considered unwise as such a step might rouse a fanatical response and plunge the Empire into civil war. On the other hand, there were those who felt that all that had happened it was impossible that the Parliament could ever again work with the Sultan. On April 27 the Assembly held a meeting behind closed doors under the presidency of Said Pasha. A fetva drawn up in the form of question and answer and signed by the Sheikh ul Islam was read to the members, If an imam of the Moslems tampers with. If after killing imprisoning and exiling his subjects unjustly, he swears to amend his ways, If he causes civil war and bloodshed among his own people
25.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
26.
Occupation of Constantinople
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The first French troops entered the city on November 12,1918, followed by British troops the next day. The Italian troops landed in Galata on February 7,1919, Allied troops occupied zones based on the sections of Constantinople and set up an Allied military administration early in December 1918. The occupation had two stages, the phase in accordance with the Armistice gave way in 1920 to a more formal arrangement under the Treaty of Sèvres. Ultimately, the Treaty of Lausanne, signed July 24,1923, the last Allied troops departed from the city two months later, and the first Turkish National Movement troops entered on October 6,1923. 1918 saw the first time the city had changed hands since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, along with the Occupation of Smyrna it mobilized the establishment of the Turkish national movement and the Turkish War of Independence. The Ottomans estimated that the population of Constantinople in 1920 was between 800,000 and 1,200,000 inhabitants, having collected population statistics from the religious bodies. The uncertainty in the figure reflects the population of war refugees. Half or less were Muslim, the remainder being largely Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, the Armistice of Mudros, which defined the end of World War I for the Ottoman Empire, mentions the occupation of Bosphorous fort and Dardanelles fort. This verbal promise and lack of mention of the occupation of Constantinople in the armistice did not change the realities for the Ottoman Empire, a small number of Ottoman troops could be allowed to stay on in the occupied areas as a symbol of sovereignty. For him, it was he and his circle who formed and represented the Turks. There was a group of real Turks who were loyal and working to save the Empire at any cost, most probably based on their individual activities, some of the Turkish revolutionaries fell in/out of the Sultans definition of a Turk. The ideology behind the Sultans perception of the events had taken a different path. The Turkish national movement did not give way to the Bolsheviks, enver Pasha was killed fighting the Red Army. Atatürks Reforms abolished the Caliphate and the Khilafat Movement did not save the Ottoman Caliph, the Allies did not wait for a peace treaty for claiming the Ottoman territory. Just 13 days after the Armistice of Mudros, a French brigade entered Constantinople on November 12,1918, the first British Troops entered the city on November 13,1918. Early in December 1918, Allied troops occupied sections of Constantinople, on February 7,1919, an Italian Bataillon with 19 officers and 740 soldiers landed at the Galata pier, one day later they were joined by 283 Carabinieri, commanded by Colonel Balduino Caprini. On February 8,1919, the French general Franchet d Espèrey entered the city on a horse led by two of his soldiers. Reportedly this was intended to emulate Mehmed IIs entrance in 1453 after the Fall of Constantinople, and signify that Ottoman sovereignty over the imperial city was over
27.
Allies of World War I
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The Allies of World War I were the countries that opposed the Central Powers in the First World War. The members of the original Triple Entente of 1907 were the French Republic, the British Empire, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania were affiliated members of the Entente. The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres defines the Principal Allied Powers as the British Empire, French Republic, Italy, the Allied Powers comprised, together with the Principal Allied Powers, Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Hejaz, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serb-Croat-Slovene state and Czechoslovakia. The U. S. declaration of war on Germany, on 6th April 1917 was on the grounds that Germany had violated its neutrality by attacking international shipping and it declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917. The U. S. entered the war as a power, rather than as a formal ally of France. Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, the Dominion governments did control recruiting, and removed personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit. From early 1917, the War Cabinet was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, in April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch of France. The Austrian Empire followed with an attack on the Serbian ally Montenegro on 8 August, on the Western Front, the two neutral States of Belgium and Luxembourg were immediately occupied by German troops as part of the German Schlieffen Plan. On 23 August Japan joined the Entente, which then counted seven members, the entrance of the British Empire brought Nepal into the war. In 1916, Montenegro capitulated and left the Entente, and two nations joined, Portugal and Romania, on 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war. Liberia, Siam and Greece also became allies and this was followed by Romanian cessation of hostilities, however the Balkan State declared war on Central Powers again on 10 November 1918. In response to the Germans invasion of neutral Belgium, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta were British dependencies in Europe. The UK held several colonies, protectorates, and semi-autonomous dependencies at the time of World War I, in Eastern Africa the East Africa Protectorate, Nyasaland, both Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the Uganda Protectorate, were involved in conflict with German forces in German East Africa. In Western Africa, the colonies of Gold Coast and Nigeria were involved in actions against German forces from Togoland. In Southwestern Africa, the dominion of South Africa was involved in military actions against German forces in German South-West Africa. Canada and Newfoundland were two autonomous dominions during the war that made major contributions to the British war effort. Other British dependent territories in the Americas included, British Honduras, the Falkland Islands, British Guiana, and Jamaica. The UK held large possessions in Asia, including the Indian Empire which was an assortment of British imperial authorities in the territory now defined as India, Bangladesh, Burma, australia and New Zealand were two autonomous dominions of the UK in Oceania during the war
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Turkish National Movement
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The Ottomans saw the movement as part of an international conspiracy against them. The Turkish revolutionaries rebelled against this partitioning and against the Treaty of Sèvres, signed in 1920 by the Ottoman government, the movement declared that the only source of governance for the Turkish people would be the democratic Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The movement was created in 1919 through a series of agreements and conferences throughout Anatolia, the Amasya Agreement was important in many respects. It was the first call to the movement against the occupying powers. It consisted of talks about national independence, based on provinces, even in this declaration we saw the roots of what constitutes the Turk as a political term, there was no distinction or reference to race or religion. The message read as follows, The unity of the motherland, the Istanbul government is unable to carry out its responsibilities. It is only through the effort and determination that national independence will be won. It is necessary to establish a committee, free from all external influences and control. It has been decided to hold immediately a National Congress in Sivas, three representatives from each province should be sent immediately to the Sivas Congress. To be prepared for every eventuality, this subject should be kept a national secret, there will be a congress for the Eastern Provinces on July 10. The delegation from the Erzurum Congress will depart to join to the meeting in Sivas. This agreement was signed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Rauf Orbay, Ali Fuat Cebesoy, Refet Bele and it was probably also meant to remind all other parties of Wilsons 14 Points and the fact that the Nationalists were aware of them. What began as a suggestion to the Nationalists to accept the American Mandate at the time of the Erzurum Congress, the Sivas Congress was the first time the fourteen leaders of the movement united under a single roof. These people formed a plan between 16 and 29 October and they agreed that the parliament should meet in Constantinople, even if it were obvious that this parliament could not function under the occupation. It was a chance to build the base and legitimacy. Mustafa Kemal established two concepts into this program, independence and integrity, Mustafa Kemal was setting the stage for conditions which would legitimize this organization and illegitimate the Ottoman parliament. These conditions were also mentioned in the Wilsonian rules, Mustafa Kemal opened the National Congress at Sivas, with delegates from the entire nation taking part. The Erzurum resolutions were transformed into an appeal, and the name of the organization changed to the Society to Defend the Rights and Interests of the Provinces of Anatolia
29.
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
30.
Despotism
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Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group, the English dictionary defines despotism as the rule of a despot, the exercise of absolute authority. The root despot comes from the Greek word despotes, which means master or one with power, the term has been used to describe many rulers and governments throughout history. Due to its reflexive connotation throughout history, the word despot cannot be objectively defined, colloquially, the word despot applies pejoratively to those who abuse their power and authority to oppress their populace, subjects, or subordinates. More specifically, the term applies to a head of state or government. In this sense, it is similar to the connotations that are associated with the terms tyrant. Of all the ancient Greeks, Aristotle was perhaps the most influential promoter of the concept of oriental despotism. He passed this ideology to his student, Alexander the Great, who conquered Persia, which at the time was ruled by the despotic Darius III, Aristotle asserted that oriental despotism was not based on force, but on consent. Hence, fear could not be said to be its motivating force, but rather the nature of those enslaved. Within ancient Greek society, every Greek man was free and capable of holding office, in contrast, among the barbarians, all were slaves by nature. Another difference Aristotle espoused was based on climates, possessing both spirit and intelligence, the Greeks were free to govern all other peoples. The story of Croesus of Lydia exemplifies this, leading up to Alexanders expansion into Asia, most Greeks were repelled by the Oriental notion of a sun-king, and the divine law that Oriental societies accepted. Herodotuss version of history advocated a society where men became free when they consented lawfully to the contract of their respective city-state. His eyebrows were tinged with black, and his cheeks painted with an artificial red, in its classical form, despotism is a state in which a single individual holds all the power and authority embodying the state, and everyone else is a subsidiary person. This form of despotism was common in the first forms of statehood and civilization, the word itself seems to have been coined by the opponents of Louis XIV of France in the 1690s, who applied the term despotisme to describe their monarchs somewhat free exercise of power. The word is ultimately Greek in origin, and in ancient Greek usage, the term now implies tyrannical rule. This movement was probably triggered by the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu believed that despotism was a government for large states
31.
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
32.
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
33.
Turkish people
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Turkish people, or the Turks, also known as Anatolian Turks, are a Turkic ethnic group and nation living mainly in Turkey and speaking Turkish, the most widely spoken Turkic language. They are the largest ethnic group in Turkey, as well as by far the largest ethnic group among the speakers of Turkic languages, ethnic Turkish minorities exist in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. In addition, a Turkish diaspora has been established with modern migration, the ethnonym Turk may be first discerned in Herodotus reference to Targitas, first king of the Scythians, furthermore, during the first century AD. Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in the north of the Sea of Azov. The first definite references to the Turks come mainly from Chinese sources in the sixth century, in these sources, Turk appears as Tujue, which referred to the Göktürks. Although Turk refers to Turkish people, it may sometimes refer to the wider language group of Turkic peoples. In the 19th century, the word Türk only referred to Anatolian villagers, the Ottoman ruling class identified themselves as Ottomans, not usually as Turks. In the late 19th century, as the Ottoman upper classes adopted European ideas of nationalism the term Türk took on a more positive connotation. The Turkish-speakers of Anatolia were the most loyal supporters of Ottoman rule, Turkish Jews, Christians, or even Alevis may be considered non-Turks. On the other hand, Kurdish Arab followers of the Sunni branch of Islam who live in eastern Anatolia are sometimes considered Turks, article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship. Anatolia was first inhabited by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic era, most of the Turkic peoples were followers of Tengriism, sharing the cult of the sky god Tengri, although there were also adherents of Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism. However, during the Muslim conquests, the Turks entered the Muslim world proper as servants, during the booty of Arab raids, the Turks began converting to Islam after Muslim conquest of Transoxiana through the efforts of missionaries, Sufis, and merchants. Although initiated by the Arabs, the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian, under the Umayyads, most were domestic servants, whilst under the Abbasids, increasing numbers were trained as soldiers. By the ninth century, Turkish commanders were leading the caliphs’ Turkish troops into battle, as the Abbasid caliphate declined, Turkish officers assumed more military and political power taking over or establishing provincial dynasties with their own corps of Turkish troops. During the 11th century the Seljuk Turks who were admirers of the Persian civilization grew in number and were able to occupy the province of the Abbasid Empire. By 1055, the Seljuk Empire captured Baghdad and began to make their first incursions into the edges of Anatolia, when the Seljuk Turks won the Battle of Manzikert against the Byzantine Empire in 1071, it opened the gates of Anatolia to them. Although ethnically Turkish, the Seljuk Turks appreciated and became the purveyors of the Persian culture rather than the Turkish culture, in dire straits, the Byzantine Empire turned to the West for help setting in motion the pleas that led to the First Crusade. Once the Crusaders took Iznik, the Seljuk Turks established the Sultanate of Rum from their new capital, Konya, by the 12th century the Europeans had begun to call the Anatolian region Turchia or Turkey, meaning the land of the Turks
34.
Arabs
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Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
35.
Albanians
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Albanians are an ethnic group, native to Albania, Kosovo and neighboring countries. The term is used to refer to the citizens of the Republic of Albania. Ethnic Albanians speak the Albanian language and more than half of ethnic Albanians live in Albania, a large Albanian population lives in the Republic of Macedonia and Italy, with smaller Albanian populations located in Serbia and Montenegro. The majority of Albanians are nominally Muslims, and a minority are nominally Christians, during the 17th and 18th century Albanians in large numbers converted to Islam, often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects. As Muslims, some Albanians attained important political and military positions within the Ottoman Empire, Albania gained its independence in 1912 and between 1945–1992, Albanians lived under a repressive communist regime. Between the 11th and 18th centuries, sizable numbers of Albanians migrated from the area of contemporary Albania to escape either various socio-political difficulties and/or the Ottoman conquest. Another population, who became the Arbëreshë settled in southern Italy and form the oldest continuous Albanian diaspora producing influential, smaller populations dating to migrations during the 18th century are located on Croatias Dalmatian coast and scattered communities across southern Ukraine. The Albanian diaspora also exists in a number of other countries, one of these is located in Turkey. Due to the Ottoman legacy, smaller populations of Albanians also exist in Egypt, in Western countries, a large and influential Albanian population exists in the United States formed from continuous emigration dating back to the 19th century. The Albanians and their country Albania have been identified by many ethnonyms, from these ethnonyms, names for Albanians were also derived in other languages that were or still are in use. The term for a people located in the area of contemporary Albania is first encountered in the works of Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates. He referred to them as Albanoi having taken part in a revolt against the Byzantine Empire in 1043 and these references have been disputed as to whether they refer to Albanians in an ethnic sense. A later reference to Albanians from the same Attaliates regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078 is undisputed. In later Byzantine usage, the terms Arbanitai and Albanoi with a range of variants were used interchangeably, the first reference to the Albanian language dates to the latter 13th century. The ethnonym Albanian has been hypothesized to be connected to and stem from the Albanoi, linguists believe that the alb part in the root word originates from an Indo-European term for a type of mountainous topography, of which other words such as alps is derived from. Through the root word alban and its rhotacized equivalents arban, albar, and arbar, the Albanian language was referred to as Arbnisht and Arbërisht. Two etymologies have been proposed for this ethnonym, one, derived from the etymology from the Albanian word for eagle, in Albanian folk etymology, this word denotes a bird totem, dating from the times of Skanderbeg as displayed on the Albanian flag. The other is within scholarship that connects it to the verb to speak from the Latin excipere, in this instance the Albanian endonym like Slav and others would originally have been a term connoting those who speak
36.
Greeks
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The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
37.
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
38.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
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The ARF has traditionally advocated democratic socialism and is a full member of the Socialist International since 2003, which it had originally joined in 1907. It has the largest membership of the parties present in the Armenian diaspora. The party campaigns for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the right to reparations and it also advocates the establishment of United Armenia, partially based on the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920. ARF members formed fedayi groups that defended Armenian civilians through armed resistance, in 1918, the party was instrumental in the creation of the First Republic of Armenia, which fell to the Soviet communists in 1920. After its leadership was exiled by the communists, the ARF established itself within Armenian diaspora communities, after the fall of the USSR, it returned to Armenia, where it now again has a presence as a minor party in Armenias parliament. In the late 19th century, Eastern Europe and Russia became the hub of small groups advocating reform in Armenian-populated areas in the Ottoman Empire, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party at one point had agreed to join as well, seeing that the ARFs political ideology was socialism. However, the Hunchakians claimed the new party was not Marxist enough, the original aim of the ARF was to gain autonomy for the Armenian-populated areas in the Ottoman Empire. The party began to organize itself in the Ottoman Empire in the early 1890s and held its first major meeting in Tiflis, Russian Empire, in 1892. The party set its goal of a society based on the principles of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion. The ARF gradually acquired significant strength and sympathy among Russian Armenians, mainly because of the ARFs stance towards the Ottoman Empire, the party enjoyed the support of the central Russian administration, as tsarist and ARF foreign policy had the same alignment until 1903. On June 12,1903, the tsarist authorities passed an edict to bring all Armenian Church property under imperial control and this was faced by strong ARF opposition, because the ARF perceived the tsarist edict as a threat to the Armenian national existence. As a result, the ARF leadership decided to defend Armenian churches by dispatching militiamen who acted as guards, in 1905–06, the Armenian-Tatar massacres broke out during which the ARF became involved in armed activities. Some sources claim that the Russian government incited the massacres in order to reinforce its authority during the turmoil of 1905. The first outbreak of violence occurred in Baku, in February 1905, the ARF held the Russian authorities responsible for inaction and instigation of massacres that were part of a larger anti-Armenian policy. Unable to rely on government forces to protect their interests and properties, the Russian Tsars envoy in the Caucasus, Vorontsov-Dashkov, reported that the ARF bore a major portion of responsibilities for perpetrating the massacres. The ARF, however, argued that it helped to organize the defence of the Armenian population against Muslim attacks, the blows suffered at the hands of the Dashnakist fighting squads proved a catalyst for the consolidation of the Muslim community of the Caucasus. During that period, the ARF regarded armed activity, including terror, in January 1912,159 ARF members, being lawyers, bankers, merchants and other intellectuals, were tried before the Russian senate for their participation in the party. Kerensky succeeded in having the evidence reexamined for one of the defendants, the Senate eventually opened an inquiry against the chief magistrate who had brought the charges against the Dashnak members and concluded that he was insane
39.
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
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The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, is the second oldest Armenian political party, founded in 1887 by a group of college students in Geneva, Switzerland. It was the first socialist party to operate in the Ottoman Empire, among its founders were Avetis Nazarbekian, Mariam Vardanian, Gevorg Gharadjian, Ruben Khan-Azat, Christophor Ohanian, Gabriel Kafian and Manuel Manuelian. Its original goal was attaining Armenias independence from the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian national liberation movement, all seven founders of the party were Russian Armenian Marxist students who had left Russian Armenia to further their education in various universities of Western Europe. They were young, in their twenties, and supported by their affluent bourgeois families and they were influenced by social-democratic revolutionary ideology, contacted Frederick Engels, Georgi Plekhanov and later Vladimir Lenin. Mariam Vardanian had worked with Russian revolutionaries in Saint Petersburg, for the purpose of furthering revolutionary activity in Turkish Armenia, they formed the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party in August,1887. The partys manifesto, printed in the first issue of Hunchak journal, contained this slogan, Hunchak party fought many battles against the Ottoman Empire, to free the Armenian people from Turkish rule. During this period, many intellectuals joined Hunchakian party, including Smpad Piurad, Stepan Sapah-Gulian, Alexander Atabekian, Atrpet. Hunchak was the organ of Hunchakians. The First General Conference of Hunchakian party took place in London, in the Caucasus the Hunchakian party has also played a prominent role, it combated the russification policy of Viceroy Galitzin, the Russian governor of Caucasus. In 1903 Paramaz organized the assassination attempt of Golitsin, Paramaz was also one of the organizers of self-defence troops during the Armenian-Tatar massacres of 1905-06. In the early 1890s frequent clashes between the Armenian inhabitants of Sason and the Turkish forces took place because of Sassontsis refusal to pay taxes to the Turkish government. In 1894, Sasun Resistance was organized by the Hunchak party under the leadership of Mihran Damadian, Hambartsum Boyajian, Kevork Chavush and Hrayr Dzhoghk. In 1913 Hunchakian leader Paramaz participated in the 7th Conference of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party in Constanţa, but on June 15,1915 Paramaz with 19 other his comrades were hanged in the central square of Constantinople. Thus the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, alongside all the other Armenian traditional political parties became a party of the Armenian diaspora only. In these conflicts, the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party was seen as an ally on the side of the SDHP. This period was characterized by an escalation of conflict between the ARF on one side, and the SDHP and the ally ADL on the other side, in 2000, the Hunchakian Party joined forces with Rafik Hariris Future Movement, which swept the city of Beirut. SDHP Central Committee Member Dr Yeghia Jerejian was a member of Lebanese Parliament for many years, currently the party is represented in the parliament by Sebouh Kalpakian. In 1991 Yeghia Najarian headed SDHP organization in independent Armenia and founded Hnchak Hayastani official organ, in the early 1990s, the party took part in the self-defense of Zangezur and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
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