Constitutionalism and the Reign of Abdülhamid II: 1876-1908

The chains of events that brought the constitutional regime to the Ottoman Empire started when the Grand vizier Mahmut Nedim Pasha announced the suspension of interest payments on the Ottoman debt in October 1875 during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz. This was nothing more than a declaration of bankruptcy of the Ottoman government. This badly affected the prestige and credit of the empire in Europe. 

The preparation for a constitution started after Abdülhamid II came to the throne. He ordered for the preparation of a constitution on September 30, 1876 and a commission called Cemiyet-i Mahsusa (Special Commission) was formed for this task. The commission had 28 members including army commanders, bureaucrats (three of them Christians), ulemâ as well as Midhat Pasha and Young Ottomans Namık Kemal and Ziya Pasha (Shaw and Shaw, 2002, p.174). The commission studied and compared many constitutions that were in practice in Europe and in the US. Finally, a draft constitution was prepared with articles adopted from liberal Belgian Constitution of 1831, Prussian Constitution of 1859 and the French Constitution of 1814. The draft was officially approved by the Ottoman government (Heyet-i Vükela) on October 10 and later by the sultan on October 28, 1876, and named Kânûn-ı Esâsî (Basic Law). 

The parliament was to be composed of two chambers as the Chamber of Notables or Senate (Meclis-i Ayan), and the Chamber of Deputies (Meclis-i Mebusan) according the constitution. Deputies for the Chamber were to be formed by an elected 120 members, both Christians and Muslims, serving three year terms with one-third being replaced each year. The members of the Chamber of Senate were to be appointed by the Porte and would have between 30 and 50 members (Shaw and Shaw, 2002, p.175). The sultan, for this Chamber, would appoint the persons who had previously served as Ministers, Governor- Generals (vali), Commandant of Corps (ordu müşirliği), Judges (kazasker), Ambassadors, Patriarchs, Grand Rabbi, and Generals who either served in the army and or in the navy. The senators were to be nominated for life and no one could be a member of both Chambers at the same time. Moreover, according to the constitution, all ministers and undersecretaries (müsteşarlar) of the government had to get a vote of confidence in the parliament, otherwise, the government would resign since it was responsible to the Parliament. 

The 1876 constitution was based on the Belgian, French and Prussian constitutions. According to the articles of this constitution, effective power would be placed in the hands of a council of ministers appointed by the sultan and legislative power would be in the hands of a chamber of deputies, elected indirectly by the people, and a senate, appointed by the sultan; though sovereignty would in principle remain with the sultan.92

The constitution was promulgated on the day that the Shipyard Conference or otherwise known as Constantinople Conference (Tersane Konferansı) convened at Tersane Sarayı (Shipyard Palace) in Istanbul. This conference was held in order to discuss and end the problems faced by the Ottomans such as the Ottoman suppression of the rebellions in the Balkan provinces that caused the wars between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia and Montenegro. In this conference, representatives of European powers mainly Germany, Russia, Britain, Austria-Hungary, France and Italy were present. The Ottoman Empire was represented by Safvet Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of Foreign Affairs, and İbrahim Ethem Pasha, the Ottoman Ambassador to Berlin. 

After the promulgation of the constitution, elections were held in the country between January and March 1877 in accordance with the constitution. According to the Article 65 of the constitution, the number of deputies was fixed at one deputy for every 50.000 males of the Ottoman nationality. The election was held by secret ballot and only trustable Ottoman citizens who could speak Turkish, literate in Turkish and at the age of 30 or over were elected as deputies. 

According to the constitution, the eligible voters should be tax-paying males who were over the age of 25 and could only vote for their deputies from among the inhabitants of the province to which they belonged. 

After the elections, 115 deputies of which 69 Muslims and 46 non-Muslims representing the major religious and ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire were endorsed as the first elected deputies. These deputies were mainly the members of the executive committees of the council of provinces, liva (administrative district, equivalent of sancak) and kaza (district). In addition, there were 26 members of which 21 Muslims and 5 non-Muslims appointed to the Chamber of Ayan (Shaw and Shaw, 2002, pp.175-178). 

The Ottoman-Russian War, also known as 93 Harbi (93 War) among the Turks with a reference to the Hijri Calendar 1293, started in April 1877. The reason behind this war was the disagreement between the Ottoman Empire and the European delegates in the Shipyard Conference. Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire on April 24, 1877 to force the Ottoman Sultan to implement reforms in the Balkans and to secure her own image (Fortna, 2008, p. 44).

The Russian Armies occupied Kars, Ardahan, Batum and Bayezit, cities in eastern Anatolia, and advanced to Sofia crossing the Danube River in the west. The Ottoman forces could not prevent the Russian advance in the Balkans since they were dispersed over a large geography. Later, the Ottoman forces under the command of Gazi Osman Pasha stopped the Russian forces and did not give up Plevna (in present day Bulgaria) for a while, but in the end Osman Pasha had to surrender on December 10, 1877. 

The Ottoman Foreign Minister Safvet Pasha and Sadullah Bey, Ottoman Ambassador to Germany and Russian Representatives Count Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev and Alexandre Ivanovich Nelidov met in Ayastefanos and signed the Treaty of San Stefano (Ayastefanos) on March 3, 1878. 

According to the Treaty of San Stefano, Ottoman Rumelia was to be divided into two as Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. Bulgaria would become an autonomous principality linked  to the Ottoman State while Eastern Rumelia to be remained under Ottoman rule with borders reaching Black Sea in the northeast and to the Aegean Sea in the south at the expense of the Ottoman Empire’s aimed at creating “Greater Bulgaria”. In addition to the Bulgarian losses, the Ottoman Sultan was to recognize the independence of Serbia, Montenegro, and Rumania. The rights and the properties of the Muslims who stayed in these regions would be protected. 

With this treaty, the Ottoman Empire had to accept reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Rumelia’s residential areas and also in the places where Armenians were located in eastern Anatolia under the supervision of Austria-Hungary and Russia which was a direct intervention into the Ottoman internal affairs. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire had to pay war indemnity to Russia. Kars, Ardahan, Batum and Bayezit were left to Russia as part of this compensation. Russia was also given economic privileges and Russian consuls’ official protection on the Russians living in the Ottoman territories was approved. The Treaty of San Stefano in fact was a victory for the Pan-Slavist policy of Russia. Russia literally planned to bring the Ottoman Empire to an end with territorial losses and heavy financial crisis due to war indemnities. However, neither the Ottoman Empire nor the Balkan countries and the European powers were satisfied with the terms of this treaty. Greece and Serbia opposed to the creation of a “Greater Bulgaria” since they wanted Macedonia for themselves. England and Austria challenged the terms of the treaty because with these terms, Russia got a stronghold not only in the Balkans but also in the Aegean region via Salonika. As an outcome of these objections, an international convention was held in Berlin in June 1878 to revise the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano. 

The Berlin Congress was attended by delegations from Russia, England, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. The Congress was not more than an international meeting to discuss the Eastern Question. 96

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire went into war with Greece in 1897 upon a rebellion that broke out in the Island of Crete in 1896. The rebellion in Crete was provoked by a secret Greek nationalistic society called Ethniki Etairia (National Society) that aimed to unite Crete with Greece. As a matter of fact, Crete had presented problems for the empire since 1860s because of continuous clashes between the Muslim and Christian Cretans provoked by the Greek Nationalists. The Ethniki Etairia (National Society) was founded by a group of Greek officers in November 1894 was behind the rebellion in Crete. (Shaw and Shaw, 2002, p.206). Although the Ottoman government tried to solve the problems with reforms and provincial councils, the Greek nationalists did not stop their provocation and the Christian Cretans attacked the Muslim Cretans. The Ottoman-Greek War broke out when Greece sent a fleet to the Island at the beginning of 1897 to defend the Christians and proclaimed annexation of Crete. Although the European powers tried to convince Greece to withdraw, she insisted and even sent an army commanded by Prince Constantine to attack the Turks in Thessaly in April 1897. This was openly a declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire. 

Sultan Abdülhamid II supported and facilitated a modern public education and considered secondary education especially the most significant stage in education. In the Ottoman Empire, primary education for both sexes had been made mandatory with the 1876 Constitution. These schools were established by the foundations and Ministry of Education or by private individuals. Abdülhamid II worked hard to eliminate deficiencies both in the primary and in the secondary education system. Most of the state schools concentrated in Istanbul due to lack of capital to finance them elsewhere while missionary schools were established in different provinces. In 1883, the Sultan developed the old Assistance Surtax (İane Vergisi) one-tenth of which was the Education Benefits Share (Maarif Hisse-i İanesi) levied on the tithe (tax) to provide capital for education. One third of the total amount was allocated to education and the remaining was given to the agricultural bank. This capital helped to increase the number of primary, secondary, and high schools in the empire. A Commission for Supervision and Examination was established in 1880 to help the Ministry of Education. His special interest in education bore fruit and the number of primary schools, secondary and high schools across the country increased during his reign. These schools were under the authority of the Ministry of Foundations (Evkaf Nezareti) and named as usûl-i atika mektepleri (old fashioned schools). Then sıbyan mektebs were replaced by ibtidai schools (substitute schools) and the curriculum was modernized with the name Usul-ü Cedide (new system). This new system required trained teachers and payment for them instead of gifts given by the students. A new system of teaching to write and read letter by letter called usul-ü saftiye was developed.

The Sultan was particularly keen on the education of the girls. The school Islahhâne (reformatory) which Midhat Pasha had founded for orphaned girls in 1864 continued to provide vocational training to girls during the reign of Abdülhamid II. Moreover, the Girl’s Teacher Training School (Dar-ül Muallimât) which was established in 1870 survived and the graduates could teach at Sıbyan and Rüştiye mektebs for girls. In 1893, the school also had a department which offered 6 year education (İhtiyat Kısmı). Abdülhamid II also founded schools of higher education and many vocational schools in major provinces and cities. These vocational schools aimed at training future state bureaucrats, technicians, veterinarians and agricultural experts to develop finance, industry, modern agriculture and increase production so that the Empire would not depend on foreign goods. These vocational schools were Hamidiye Trade School (Ticaret Mektebi) founded in 1883, Imperial Veterinary School (Baytar Mektebi) in 1891 and Halkalı Agricultural School (Ziraat Mektebi) in 1892. They were supplied with modern textbooks which were brought from Europe and translated under the Ministry of Education. 

Pan-Islamism was born as an Islamist discourse in the nineteenth century to unite Islamic societies around a common front against the European colonialism, European political, military, economic, and missionary penetration. This discourse found supporters among the Muslims in the world with the propagation of Sayyid Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani who was accepted as the major propagator of anti-western Pan-Islamism. The idea was to revive Islamic civilization by understanding and using the western science, technology and contemporary political principles. Pan-Islamism claimed the Sultan as a universal caliph to whom Muslims everywhere owed allegiance and obedience. While it became a political ideology covered with nationalism among the Muslims of the world, it also became the state policy in the Ottoman Empire and provided the golden opportunity to Abdülhamid II to be used both in his internal and foreign policies when the empire was suffering from the territorial losses and financial difficulties.

Abdülhamid II’s Pan- Islamist policies had two basic goals: to protect the country in the short term and to establish unity of the world of Islam around of the Caliphate in the long term (Deringil, 1999, p. 29). According to Abdülhamid II, the integrity of the empire could be secured by keeping the loyalty of the Muslim subjects since the idea of Ottomanism did not work, especially with the non-Muslim subjects. As part of Pan-Islamist policy, religious education and teaching of religious essentials in the schools became important. He required reforms for the Medreses. Pan-Islamism was used to curb nascent proto-nationalist activities among Muslim Ottomans (Hanioğlu, 2008, p.142). Especially the conservative members of the ulema were promoted, and members of the Muslim mystic brotherhoods were appointed to important positions. 

The early nationalist organizations were founded by the Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians to protect the interests of their communities in Macedonia. The Bulgarian Cyril and Methodius Committee and the Serbian Society of Saint Sava were some of these societies. The Society of Saint Sava was established in Belgrade in 1886 to defend the rights of Serbians in Macedonia, Austrian-Hungarian Empire and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later, other Balkan nationalities established their own societies and they used their churches, schools, and cultural activities for the purpose of propaganda and indoctrination. 

The Young Turks were the idealist and patriotic men brought up with the Western liberal ideas (civil rights, freedom, parliament, nation, and fatherland) and revolutionary ideologies (nationalism, nation state, socialism and republic). They were not content with Abdülhamid II’s policies and they blamed him of causing territorial losses and putting the empire under financial and political control of the Europeans with his misguided policies. They wanted to restore the constitution to save the Ottoman Empire from dissolution. To this end, they founded a secret society named the Ottoman Unity Society (Osmanlı İttihadı Cemiyeti) on June 3, 1889. The founders of the society were medics namely İbrahim Temo (İbrahim Edhem- Ohrid), Abdullah Cevdet (Arapgir), İshak Sükûti (Diyarbakır), Mehmet Reşid (Circassian-Adigey) and Hikmet Emin (Konya) at the Imperial Medical Academy (Mekteb-i Tıbbiyye-i Şâhâne) in Istanbul. In the following years, many high-ranking officers, the directors of Military colleges, many bureaucrats and members of the ulemâ joined this society. The members of the society followed the Young Ottomans in their ideas and prepared a program proposing constitutionalism, Ottomanism, and freedom to be achieved by replacing the Sultan with one of his brothers, either the former sultan, Murat V, or the man who ultimately would succeed him, Prince Mehmet Reşat (Mehmet V).