ANADOLU SELÇUKLU DEVLETİ: 523

A STUDY OF AZADAMARD:
SOCIALISM AND THE ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION’S UNDERSTANDING

Socialism and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s Understanding of Socialist Ottomanism
This thesis examines the policies of the ARF through the articles published by the Azadamard newspaper, the publishing organ of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, between March 1911 and September 1912. I argue that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation had a policy that could be called Socialist Ottomanism after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. The ARF’s understanding of socialism is quite interesting because, before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, it had a revolutionary armed struggle view with the influence of the Russian Narodniks, which was intertwined with nationalist ideas, but after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, it adopted a policy closer to the European reformist socialists, and the policy of ‘Ottomanization’ replaced the influence of Armenian nationalism. Therefore, it will first examine the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire and the policies of the ARF before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. And then, through the articles in the Azadamard newspaper, the ARF’s views on the government, the function of the parliament, the follow-up of the promises before the revolution, on the Kurds and their land reform demands within the framework of the Socialist Ottomanism will be evaluated.
Key words: the Armenian Revolutionary Party, socialism, Azadamard, Socialist Ottomanism, the Ottoman Empire, 1908 Constitutional Revolution
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ÖZET
Bir Azadamard Okuması:
Sosyalizm ve Ermeni Devrimci Federasyonu’nun Sosyalist Osmanlıcılık Anlayışı
Bu çalışma, Ermeni Devrimci Federasyonu’nun yayın organı Azadamard gazetesinin Mart 1911 ile Eylül 1912 arasında yayımladığı makaleler üzerinden EDF’nin politikalarını incelemektedir. Ermeni Devrimci Federasyonu’nun 1908 Meşrutiyet Devrimi’nden sonra Sosyalist Osmanlıcılık olarak adlandırılabilecek bir politikası olduğunu iddia etmektedir. EDF’nin sosyalizm anlayışı oldukça ilginçtir zira 1908 Anayasa Devrimi öncesinde milliyetçi fikirlerle iç içe olan Rusya Narodniklerinin etkisiyle devrimci silahlı mücadele görüşüne sahipken 1908 Anayasa Devrimi'nden sonra Avrupa reformist sosyalistlerine daha yakın bir politika benimsemiş, Ermeni milliyetçiliği etkisi de yerini ‘Osmanlılaşma’ politikasına bırakmıştı. Bu yüzden Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’daki sosyalist hareketlere ve EDF’nin 1908 Anayasa Devrimi öncesindeki politikalarını inceleyecek ardından da Azadamard gazetesindeki makaleler üzerinden EDF’nin hükümet, parlamentonun işlevi, devrim öncesi vaat edilen sözlerin takibi, Kürtler hakkındaki görüşleri ve toprak reformu taleplerini Sosyalist Osmanlıcılık çerçevesinde değerlendirecektir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Ermeni Devrimci Federasyonu, sosyalizm, Azadamard, Sosyalist Osmanlıcılık, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, II. Meşrutiyet
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank my mother, Havva Yalçın, my father, Soner Yalçın, and my brother, Ömercan Yalçın, because, without them, I would not have been able to complete this study. I would also like to thank my brother for reading my first draft and sharing his comments.
I want to thank a lot my thesis advisor Yaşar Tolga Cora for supporting me and sharing his ideas, experiences, and knowledge with me, and for helping me whenever I need. Thanks to Ahmet Ersoy for taking the time to talk whenever I need and for supporting me with his experience and ideas. I am grateful to Uğur Bayraktar and Ahmet Ersoy for accepting to be members of the jury. Their suggestions and comments helped in the development of my thesis.
I thank Boğaziçi University History Department professors for contributing to the development of my analytical and creative thinking through the courses they give. I also want to thank our department secretaries for their smiling faces.
I am grateful to Maria Eliades, who is not currently in the department, Merve Akbaş and Asude Küçük, who teaches at the School of Foreign Languages, who contributed significantly to the development of my article writing experience. Thanks to Sevan Değirmenciyan and Hera İskenderoğlu for their Armenian lessons.
I thank TÜBİTAK that during my MA studies, I have taken the financial support of the TÜBİTAK-BİDEB 2210/A program.ng process.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1
1.1 Literature review ........................................................................................ 2
1.2 Historical background .............................................................................. 11
1.3 Why Azadamard? ..................................................................................... 20
1.4 Outline ...................................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 2: OTTOMAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENTS AND THE ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION’S POLICIES ................................................. 26
2.1 Socialist movements before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution ............ 28
2.2 Socialist movements after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution until the Balkan Wars ................................................................................................... 39
2.3 The ARF policy under the influence of the 1908 Constitutional Revolution: from terrorism to reformism ....................................................... 46
2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 63
CHAPTER 3: REFLECTIONS OF THE UNSOLVED PROBLEMS ON THE AZADAMARD ............................................................................................................ 64
3.1 Security .................................................................................................... 65
3.2 Military service ........................................................................................ 78
3.3 Decentralization ....................................................................................... 81
3.4 Elimination of ‘others’ ............................................................................. 86
3.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 89
CHAPTER 4: LAND REFORM DEMAND AND SOCIALISM THROUGH THE DEFENSE OF THE OPPRESSED ............................................................................ 92
4.1 The ARF’s view of the Kurds via Azadamard ......................................... 94
4.2 The demand for land reform and defense of the peasants in the Socialist Ottomanism frame .......................................................................................... 99
4.3 The other examples for the Socialist Ottomanism of the ARF .............. 115
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4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 126
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 128
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 132
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This study examines the journey of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF or Tashnagtsʻutyun)1 in the Ottoman Empire through the newspaper Ազատամարտ (Azadamard2 [Freedom Fight]), the publication of the ARF. Azadamard is the newspaper published between 1909 and 1914 and is the official organ of the Istanbul Office of the ARF. The newspaper published articles on the social and economic problems of the Ottoman Empire, especially the regions or geography of Ottoman Armenia or Ottoman Kurdistan. I will analyze the newspaper’s reports reflecting the policies of the ARF between 1911 and 1912, as I believe it is significant for the period that Azadamard started to publish columns in the Ottoman Turkish, too, in 1911.
I argue that the ARF is one of the most prominent socialist organizations of the leftist movements in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey because it is a political party that managed to survive from the 1890s to the 1910s, even though its socialist politics changed with the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. In 1908, they asserted the Socialist Ottomanism by defending all the oppressed under the conditions of the period. But, they also cooperated with the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) from time to time. I think the reason for this is that, in 1908, the ARF adopted a socialist understanding that gave importance to practice rather than theory.
This study will investigate the Ottoman Socialist movements and the socialist understanding of the ARF whilst explaining the importance of Azadamard and the
1 The ARF was established in Tbilisi in 1890.
2 Armenian and Armeno-Turkish words and sentences are Latinized based on Western Armenian.
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ARF for the period after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. This study will first present the ARF’s views on the parliament and government in 1911 and 1912 with examples of articles from Azadamard in chapter 2. Afterward, it will review the promises not kept after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and underline the ARF continued to pursue its strategic criticisms even though it cooperated with the CUP. Finally, the study will analyze the ARF’s insistence on land reform, especially the defense of the oppressed peasants, through the articles in Azadamard.
With these examinations, this thesis aims to include the socialist movement of the ARF, which Turkish left history writing has not included in its studies until now, in historiography.
1.1 Literature review
Anahide Ter Minassian, who presents a detailed analysis of the Armenian Revolutionary Movements in her book Nationalism and Socialism in the Armenian Revolutionary Movement (1887-1912),3 analyzes the nationalist and socialist understandings within these revolutionary struggles. She defines that the Armenians, who were scattered in different empires, formed an oppressed community, especially the fact that the reforms made in the Ottoman Empire could not reach the Armenian peasants. Then she examines the politics of the Social Democratic Hınch‘ag Party (SDHP) and the ARF, which she claims to have a socialist understanding intertwined with nationalism. According to her, the socialist ideas of these revolutionary parties are based on national populism. She describes the socialism of the ARF up to 1907
3 The book’s original is in French named La Question Armenienne, (Roquevaire: Editions Parentheses, 1983); there are English and Turkish translations. Anahide Ter Minassian, Nationalism and Socialism in the Armenian Revolutionary Movement (1887-1912), trans. A. M. Berrett (New Hampshire: The Zoryan Institute, 1984); Anaide Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde Milliyetçilik ve Sosyalizm (1887-1912), trans. Mete Tunçay (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2012).
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as a unifying element that had the influences of Russian populism, the effects of pre-Marxian Italian socialism, and reformism that emerged in Germany. After 1907, she explained that the ARF used socialism as a means of defense against national oppression.4
Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, edited by Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay, examines the story of socialism and nationalism in the Ottoman Empire. Those scholars called “first generation” who studied socialism in the Ottoman Empire. This book played a pioneering role. In other words, the number of studies examining socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire began to increase with this book. The main argument of the articles in the book is socialism in the Ottoman Empire was under the influence of nationalism, especially before 1908, and socialist revolutionism and national revolutionism were melted in the same pot during the era.
They analyzed the relations between socialism and nationalism with the examples of the revolutionary movements in Macedonia,5 socialism in Greek society in the example of the Workers’ Federation of Thessaloniki,6 socialism in the Bulgarian community,7 and socialism in the Armenian community.8 With this work, the number of studies examining socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire began
4 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde Milliyetçilik ve Sosyalizm, 69-70.
5 Fikret Adanır, “The National Question and the Genesis and Development of Socialism in the Ottoman Empire: the Case of Macedonia,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 27-48.
6 Paul Dumont, “A Jewish, Socialist and Ottoman Organisation: the Workers’ Federation of Thessaloniki,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 49-76.
7 Panagiotis Noutsos, “The Role of the Greek Community in the Genesis and Development of the Socialist Movement in the Ottoman Empire: 1876-1923,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 77-88.
8 Anahide Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community in the Foundation and Development of the Socialist Movement in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1876-1923,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 109-156.
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to increase. In other words, this book played a pioneering role. The analysis of the relations with nationalism, which was a very dominant ideology in the period of socialism in the Ottoman Empire, makes the book one of the essential studies in the field.
In his article, Fikret Adanır explained that the Macedonian Revolutionary Socialists determined the people's political freedom as the prerequisite and underlined that they were ready to work with the nationalists who aimed to achieve complete political and economic freedom for the peoples. In other words, Adanır states that Macedonian socialists, who thought that the Ottoman Empire should be dissolved through a revolution to emerge as an autonomous Macedonian state, have also entered into alliances with Bulgarian, Serbian, and Greek nationalists. The emphasis that the “Narrows” who defended a liberated Macedonian Peoples’ Federation within the Ottoman Empire because it would cause the possibility of sharing the region with other Balkan states is essential in order to interpret the relationship between nationalism and socialism in the period.9
Dumont, in his article, interprets the Workers’ Federation of Thessaloniki’s understanding that keeps nationalist judgments alive among the workers as a pragmatic solution to the Ottoman realities. Saying that this attitude of the WFT is similar to that of the Austro-Hungarian Marxists, Dumont conveys the thought of the WFT that politics cannot be made by ignoring ethnic and religious differences in the Ottoman Empire.10
9 Adanır, “The National Question and the Genesis”, 40-41.
10 Dumont, “A Jewish, Socialist and Ottoman Organisation”, 64; for further information about the Workers’ Federation of Thessaloniki see Paul Dumont, “Une organisation socialiste ottomane. La fédération ouvrière de Salonique (1908-1912),” in Du socialisme ottoman à l'internationalisme anatolien, (NJ: Georgias Press; Istanbul: Isis Press, 2011), 71-89; see also Georges Haupt and Paul Dumont, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Sosyalist Hareketler, trans. Tuğrul Artunkal (Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, 2013), 9-25.
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Yalimov underlines the importance that Bulgarian Socialists attach to the national question. Yalimov also conveys the opinion of Bulgarian socialists that the Young Turks did not allow nations to determine their own destiny, and they continued Abdulhamid II’s policy by hiding behind the discourse of Ottoman unity.11
In this article, Ter Minassian also deals with the bonds of Armenians with socialism and nationalism in a multi-layered way. In this work, one of the most comprehensive articles on Armenian socialism, Ter Minassian, gave place to the Armenian socialist press, revolutionary parties, and the stories of Armenians who were anarchists, Bolsheviks, and libertarians in these movements. She gave examples of how much the workers’ problems were covered in the Armenian socialist press, especially from the articles published in the Azadamard newspaper in 1910. She also discussed how socialist non-Marxist ARF is and advocates that in Turkey, where the society did not yet take shape, socialism, liberalism, and nationalism were all in development, so the transitivity among them was going on.12
The book Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm Yeni Kuşak Çalışmalar, edited by Doğan Çetinkaya, took the discussions of socialism in the Ottoman Empire one step further and presented analyzes on Marxism and class movements.13 This compilation book contributes to the literature on Marxism and socialism in the Ottoman Empire with micro examples.
In the first article of the book, Doğan Çetinkaya discussed the discourse claiming that there were no leftist thought and class movements in the Ottoman Empire or that those were only among non-Muslim communities. Via the Ottoman
11 İbrahim Yalimov, “The Bulgarian Community and the Development of the Socialist Movement in the Ottoman Empire during the Period 1876-1923,”in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 97.
12 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 109-156.
13 Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm Yeni Kuşak Çalışmalar, ed. Y. Doğan Çetinkaya, (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2021).
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Turkish-language journals, especially İştirak, he examined concepts such as “national economy,” “nationalism and liberalism,” “class movement and socialism,” “socialism,” and “worker and worker.”14
Arda Odabaşı, on the other hand, opened up for discussion the narratives that socialism first appeared among non-Muslims and then socialism emerged among Turks with the İştirak newspaper movement. He defined it as the prelude period in Turkish socialism before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. He presented examples from Turkish literature, especially in the magazine Çocuk Bahçesi [Kinder Garden], where there are articles on human problems. He examines the debates on socialism among Turks until after the March 31 Incident.15
Of course, as Çetinkaya stated, it cannot be said that socialism in the Ottoman Empire was only among non-Muslims. However, I would like to express that I disagree with Odabaşı, who opened to discuss the fact that socialism emerged among non-Muslims for the first time in the Ottoman Empire. Because the historiography he chose for the thought that socialism in the Ottoman Empire started with non-Muslims, which he criticized, starts socialism in the Ottoman Empire with the socialist movements that emerged in the Balkans in 1908. However, there were socialist organizations in the Ottoman Empire before that. For instance, although their central offices were not in the Ottoman Empire, the Hınch‘ags and the ARF operating in the Ottoman Empire were socialist organizations founded in 1887 and 1890. It can still be claimed that socialism began to be seen among non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire since a Turkish socialist organization established before these organizations are not known yet.
14 Y. Doğan Çetinkaya, “Osmanlıca Marksizm,” in Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm, 13-55.
15 İ. Arda Odabaşı, “Kızıllaşan Türkler: Osmanlı’da Erken Türk Sosyalizmi (1904-1910),” in Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm, 57-122.
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The issue of conveying intellectual movements to the public through art is vital. In this respect, Bilge Seçkin Çetinkaya’s drawing attention to the representation of socialism on the theater stages is precious in terms of the literature. After she talks about the reflection of the revolutionary spirit on the theater stages after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, she draws attention to the fact that socialism was represented on the theater stage through trade unions and organizations.16
Stefo Benlisoy analyzed the formation of a social-democratic environment in Istanbul and the Socialist Center of Turkey through the Ergatis newspaper, which was the official publication of the SCT. This study is valuable for the literature in examining a socialist movement that could come together with other components of Ottoman socialism for the welfare of the workers’ movement.17
In his article, Tolga Cora analyzed the journal Gaydz [spark] published by the SDHP. Stating that the magazine was published monthly by the SDHP Istanbul Student Union between 1911 and 1914, Cora examines the debates on socialism in the first year and a half of the magazine.18 He relates that Arsen Gidur said that the primary purpose of establishing the SDHP Istanbul Student Union was the spread of Marxism and scientific socialism among the broad layers of society. Cora states that this claim stems from the fact that the SDHP, which is criticized as a populist socialist, is seen as people who will spread the theoretical infrastructure of the party.19 The fact that this journal, which contributed to the theoretical discussion of
16 Bilge Seçkin Çetinkaya, “Tiyatro Sahnelerinde Türkçe Sosyalizm,” in Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm, 199-208.
17 Stefo Benlisoy, “Sosyal Demokrasi’den Devrimci Sendikalizme: Meşrutiyet İstanbul’unda Bir İşçi Örgütünün Evrimi,” in Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm, 123-180.
18 Yaşar Tolga Cora, “Sosyal Demokrat Hınçak Partisi’nin İstanbul Öğrenci Birliği ve Dergisi Gaydz (1911-1914),” in Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm, 181-197.
19 Cora, “Sosyal Demokrat Hınçak Partisi’nin”, 185.
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socialism in the Ottoman Empire, has started to be analyzed, makes this study valuable in terms of literature.
This book, which contains “new generation” studies that analyze socialism in the Ottoman Empire with micro studies, is a significant work in terms of revealing topics such as theoretical socialism, workers’ movements, the reflection of socialism on literature and art, and the discussion of concepts.
So, the new generations’ book includes studies that examine more theoretical discussions more than previous generation’s studies. They explain concepts such as class, labor, socialism and communism in the context of socialism in the Empire, with examples from newspapers, journals, and articles. I think their difference from the first generation’s work is that they more clearly revealed the existence of socialism in the Ottoman Empire.
Moreover, Houri Berberian examined the Armenian revolutionary movements through the three empires in which they were active, the Russian, Ottoman, and Iranian revolutions.20 While doing this, she underlined the importance of the global transformation of the revolution and presented the narrative from a more global perspective. Berberian’s emphasis that the ARF’s struggle includes popular liberation, labor and liberation, and land and liberation21 complement the thoughts in Ter Minassian’s book and the articles in the book edited by Tunçay and Zürcher.
Gerard J. Libaridian, on the other hand, discusses the revolutionism of the Armenian socialist parties, the SDHP and the ARF. According to him, since these parties see the intervention of the Great Powers as a solution when necessary, it is
20 Houri Berberian, Roving Revolutionaries: Armenians and the Connected Revolutions in the Russian, Iranian, and Ottoman World, (California: University of California Press, 2019).
21 Berberian, Roving Revolutionaries, 176-177.
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doubtful that they are on the revolutionary line.22 In these studies, the effect of nationalism and a heterogeneous structure in the socialist movements are emphasized; of course, the ARF has taken its share of this situation. In these studies, there was no opposition to the revolutionism of the Armenian parties, except the Libaridian. When I look at the subject of socialism and revolutionism only from a theoretical perspective, I question the revolutionism of the ARF in particular.
However, I would like to take the comments on the ARF’s understanding of nationalism and socialism one step further and underline that I think the ARF is a socialist and revolutionary party, even though the effects of nationalism can be seen in the ARF. As a party that has survived for many years, the ARF has changed its politics about socialism and revolution from time to time. In the first years of the ARF, a Caucasian organization based on the problems in Ottoman and Russian Armenia(s), nationalist groups also tended to national issues. In this situation, especially the dire conditions of the Armenians in Ottoman Armenia were effective. The ARF chose the method of armed struggle due to Armenians’ dire conditions and focused on solving the problems of the peasants in the region, especially the Armenian peasants. In order to reach socialism in the Ottoman Empire, the ARF aimed to eliminate the dire conditions of the nations and liberate these nations.
Furthermore, as both Ter Minassian and Berberian emphasized, it is impossible to discuss an absolute understanding of socialism in the Ottoman Empire, where the bourgeois society had not yet settled. In other words, considering the reality in the Ottoman Empire, the correlations of ideologies with a relatively new histories are pretty normal. Of course, this cannot be the only reason. The fact that
22 Gerarld J. Libaridian, “What Was Revolutionary about the Armenian Revolutionary Parties?” in A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, (Oxford University Press, 2011), 107.
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the nations’ problems and the independence movements were highly influential in the Ottoman Empire, a multinational empire, caused the socialist movements of that period to establish a relationship with nationalism. These conditions may have caused the ARF to develop a populist socialist discourse and establish politics over the oppressed instead of the working class.
In other words, as can be seen in the examples of articles in Azadamard, the ARF has taken a side of the field, that is, the practice, in the pursuit of reforms. Instead of constructing socialism from a theoretical place, they brought the problems of the oppressed, especially in the countryside, to the agenda, perhaps with a patriotic language. While defending the oppressed on the one hand, they also maintained their mutual benefit relationship with the CUP on the other. Socialist organizations of the period, such as the Socialist Workers’ Federation of Thessaloniki (SWFT) and the SDHP, criticized the ARF for not being genuinely socialist because of this cooperation.23 Even though the Turkish left history ignored the ARF in the studies on socialism, and there were all the problems between the ARF and the CUP and critiques against them, the ARF went down in history as a party that could speak for such a long time in the Ottoman and Turkish left. Their populist understanding of socialism and dreams of Socialist Ottomanism can be seen in their articles in the Azadamard newspaper.
Hereby, I hope that this thesis will open a window for the ARF’s socialism to the history of socialist politics in the Ottoman Empire on the path paved by previous generations called “new generation.” Another purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the narrative that opposes the historiography that started Turkey’s leftist history in the republic or in 1960s. Because many socialist movements struggled in the
23 Dikran Mesrob Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology under Ottoman Rule 1908-1914, (London: Transaction Publishers, 2011), 81-120 and 227-236.
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Ottoman Empire, especially among the non-Muslim population, and these movements also interacted with Muslim socialists as it can be seen studies above.
1.2 Historical background
Abdulhamid II had closed the parliament and suspended the constitution, using the Russian War as an excuse in 1878. This would also be the beginning of a repression process that would deeply affect non-Muslims who had been waiting for reforms since the Tanzimat period but had not gotten those reforms. The gap between the Ottoman State and Armenians began to rise because of the oppressions during the Abdulhamid II period (1876-1909). Not only that but the relationship of trust among the Armenians would also be adversely affected by this oppressive environment. Especially provincial Armenians’ loyalty and confidence in the authorities started to decline. The establishment of the Hamidian Regiments seemed like a local solution to control the unrest in the Ottoman East. The state used Kurdish tribes to punish Armenians.24 Fatma Müge Göçek advocates that because Abdulhamid II feared European intervention, he turned into “enforcing indirectly state-sanctioned, informal and local violence.”25 Both the looting and persecution of the Hamidiye regiments and the increasing Pan-Islamic policies of Abdulhamid26 after the Berlin Conference (1878) may have been the factors that influenced the Armenians to develop their self-defense systems.27
In other words, we can say all of these can be locomotives of the process
24 Reşat Kasabalı, “Building Statis,” in A Moveable Empire (University of Washington Press, 2009), 119.
25 Fatma Müge Göçek, Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish Present and Collective Violence against the Armenians 1789-2009 (Oxford, 2015), 126.
26 Ueno, Masayuki, “‘for the Fatherland and the State’: Armenians Negotiate the Tanzimat Reforms,” Int. J. Middle East Studies 45 no 1 (February 2013), 104.
27 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 112; Berberian, Roving Revolutionaries, 6-7.
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leading to the future Armenian massacres and the rise of the Armenian revolutionary movement with guerilla fighters. In such conditions of oppression and plunders, the socialist parties the SDHP and the ARF emerged.28
As was the case in the early Tanzimat, there were privileged Armenians like the Amiras, who mainly lived in İstanbul and İzmir in the era of Abdulhamid II.29 But the conditions of the unprivileged Armenians were dire because of the Hamidian regiments; they had various problems, including ethnic conflicts and massacres in the provinces. There are many reports of such conditions. Louise Nalbandian explains the Hamidiye regiments as follows:
In 1891, Abdulhamid had formed the Hamidiye, a new fighting force bearing his name. The troops were comprised solely of Kurdish [tribespeople] and organized into regiments modeled after the Russian Cossacks. In the capital, they served as Hamid’s personal bodyguard, and in the provinces, they allegedly acted as a frontier corp. The Hamidiye served more than just the military needs of the Sultan. It strengthened his Pan-Islamic policy and also provided a method of separating the Moslem Kurds from possible cooperation with the discontented Armenians.30
Because of the official position of the Hamidian Regiments, conditions for the Armenians would deteriorate in the region. Göçek remarks on the prevalence of Hamidian Regiments and the establishment of the investigation commission for their plunders:
He [Sadeddin Pasha] was appointed the head of the Investigative Commission to inspect the Armenian massacres that had occurred in the provinces of Gümüşhane, Erzurum, Bitlis, and Van.31
28 The SDHP was established in Geneva in 1887, and the ARF in Tbilisi in 1890.
29 For further information about Amiras, see Hagop Levon Barsoumian, The Armenian Amira Class of Istanbul, (Yerevan: American University of Armenia, 2007); see also Saro Dadyan, Osmanlı’da Ermeni Aristokrasisi, (Istanbul: Everest Yayınları, 2011); for further discussion about the interrelationship of Armenian people during Tanzimat see Vartan Artinian, A Study of the Historical Development of the Armenian Constitutional System in the Ottoman Empire (Michigan: Xerox University Microfilms, 1974).
30 Louise Nalbandian, The Armenian Revolutionary Movement. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975).
31 Göçek, Denial of Violence, 67.
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Hereby, it can seem that the Armenians in the Eastern provinces in the Hamidian era suffered from raised attacks of nomadic peoples and state-organized Hamidian Regiments. Many documents show the damage by Hamidian Regiments.32 So much so that the state had to accept the plundering somehow and had to appoint someone to investigate the events.
With the 1890s, the violence of the Hamidiye Regiments began to increase, and Hamidiye committed massacres between 1894 and 1896 in the Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan. In 1893, the Armenians and the Hamidiye Regiments clashed in Sasun. The Sasun events accelerated the cycle of massacres committed by both the state authorities and the Hamidiye Regiments. After the Sasun massacres, clashes broke out in Zeytun, Van, Bitlis, Urfa, Trebizond, Diyarbakır, Bayburt and Erzurum. The most severe of these conflicts took place in Van and Zeytun, where the Armenian population was high and armed.33 The Hamidiye Regiments did not only make massacres, but also confiscated the lands and properties of the Armenians they had killed or forced to emigrate.
With the looting and usurpation, the Hamidiye Regiments became one of the main actors in the land problem in the Ottoman Empire.34 They forced the Armenian peasants to leave their lands or confiscated their lands. The landless peasant either became a kind of enslaved person for the landlord or had to migrate from his home.
32 As examples see Başkanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (BOA), Y..PRK.UM.. 33/111, H-30-05-1313; BOA, HR.SFR.3… 436/77, (December 13, 1895).
33 Ronald Grigor Suny, “They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else”: A History of the Armenian Genocide, (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2015), 105-140.
34 There is a very large literature for the Hamidian massacres. It is not possible to mention all of them in this thesis. The resources used are: Janet Klein, Hamidiye Alayları İmparatorluğun Sınır Boyları ve Kürt Aşiretleri, (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2014); David McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2020), 176-220; Suny, They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else, 105-140; Selim Deringil, “‘The Armenian Question Is Finally Closed’: Mass Conversions of Armenians in Anatolia during the Hamidian Massacres of 1895–1897,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 51, no. 2 (2009): 344–371; Stephan H. Astourian, “The Silence of the Land: Agrarian Relations, Ethnicity, and Power,” in A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, ed. Ronald Grigor Suny, Fatma Müge Göçek, and Norman M. Naimark (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 55-81.
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In other words, the Hamidiye Regiments, or the Kurdish landlords, established the land system in a kind of feudal order, which included the Armenian peasants. All these problems opened up space for the Armenian revolutionary movements in the region.
The Hınch‘ags and the ARF had determined the method of terror in order to establish a socialist system and against those who abused their peasants, so they started to carry out actions in this direction.35 Tension in the region raised. The massacres were followed by the storm of the Ottoman Bank case in Istanbul, the European trade area, by the ARF, which coincided with a systematic massacre targeting the Armenian population in Istanbul in 1896.36 Namely, the Armenian question became more visible in the urban imperial capital like in the provinces.37 While all this was going on, as Suny says, especially the bourgeois in the town would not want to help Hınch‘ags and the ARF, who had adopted terrorist activities.38 Of course, these parties would also find a response from the bourgeois families, especially among the young people.39
The revolutionary ideas started spreading with the printed press in the provinces. Such resistance may have developed because of the need for self-defense against Hamidiye or the dissemination of nationalist sentiments, like Balkan examples. In other words, the socialist party ARF, which prioritized armed struggle and independent Armenia under the influence of Russian populist, radical socialists, and independence movements of the Balkan peoples during the 1890s.40 Hence, it is
35 (BOA), Y.A.RES. 82/52 H 28-4-1314/M-1896.
36 Edhem Eldem, “Banka Vakası ve 1896 Osmanlı Katliamı,” 1915: Tehcir, Siyaset, Soykırım, ed. Fikret Adanır, Oktay Özel (İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 2015), 179.
37 Göçek, Denial of Violence, 138.
38Suny, They Can Live, 142.
39 As an example, see BOA, Y.A.RES. 82/52 H 28-4-1314/M-1896, an Armenian bureaucrat in Bitlis was accused of being pro-independence and help armed struggle.
40 See Ronald Grigor Suny, Looking Towards Ararat, (Indiana UP, 1993), 76; Libaridian, “What Was Revolutionary”, 88 and 90.
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not difficult to see the traces of nationalism in the Armenian socialist movement as a reaction to Abdulhamid’s Islamization policies. Nevertheless, the underpinning feature was that the social and political life of the Eastern regions also started to become more complex.
While these were happening in the country’s east, the waters were not calming down in the west either. At the beginning of August 1903, the Ilinden uprising broke out in Rumelia under the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) leadership,41 aiming at the Balkan Federation. In 1905, the ARF resistance movement members attempted an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Abdulhamid II.42 Unable to kill Abdulhamid II, the aim of the ARF to create a wave of revolutionary violence could not become fact.43 However, the ARF believed that the revolution could only be achieved through armed struggle, and for this, the armed struggle had to be widespread in the country.
In addition, the government decided to collect two new taxes, one called ‘Personal Taxes’ and the other ‘Domesticated Animals Tax,’ which were placed on animals. Then, the events known as the tax riots broke out at the beginning of 1906. These riots lasted for around two years. According to Aykut Kansu, the 1906 tax riots were significant in the process of 1908 Constitutional Revolution because taxpayers, the public, no longer wanted to pay taxes, regardless of their class, without their consent.44
41 The IMRO was established in 1893.
42 Aykut Kansu, “Yabancı Basında Türkiye’deki Devrim Sürecinin Görünümü-Temmuz 1908,” Toplumsal Tarih no 175 (Temmuz 2008): 36-46; Gaidz Minassian, “The Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Operation ‘Nejuik’,” in To Kill a Sultan: A Transnational History of the Attempt on Abdülhamid II (1905), ed. Houssine Alloul, Edhem Eldem, and Henk de Smaele (London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2018), 35-66.
43 Suny, They Can Live in the Desert, 147.
44 Aykut Kansu, 1908 Devrimi, (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 1995), 35-97.
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Meanwhile, the Young Turks, one of the leading groups of the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, held a congress in Paris in 1902 with the opposition forces in the Ottoman Empire. The topic of the congress was how to develop a common struggle against the oppressive regime. One of the debated issues was that there could be no revolution with only propaganda and that armed struggle should be carried out in this direction. The question of the intervention of Western states was also opened for discussion. However, nothing came of this congress. The ARF had decided to continue to pursue its methods of action.45
Although the Young Turks were skeptical of the ARF’s methods of struggle, they were in contact with them. Young Turk representatives had met not only with the ARF but also with representatives of the Hınch‘ags several times in 1906 but could not reach an agreement. In 1907, after lengthy discussions at their Congress in Vienna, the ARF had decided on “solidarity among opposition groups in Turkey.” Thereupon, the ARF and the CUP organized the Congress of Ottoman Opponents in Paris in 1907.46 As a result of the congress, the methods of armed actions, unarmed resistance (such as strikes), refusal to pay taxes, propaganda in the army, and general popular uprising were adopted.47
Thanks to the uprisings and resistances, in July 1908, Abdulhamid II had agreed to proclaim the constitution. The Constitutional Revolution of 1908 marked the beginning of a new era for the empire. Revolutionaries believed it was going to accelerate steps towards European-style modernity based on the principles of constitutionalism, equality, fraternity, and freedom.48
45 Arsen Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri Arasındaki İlişkiler,” in Ermeniler ve İttihat ve Terakki: İşbirliğinden Çatışmaya, ed. Rober Koptaş, (İstanbul: Aras Yayınları, 2013), 19.
46 Suny, They Can Live, 149-155.
47 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 25-26.
48 Suny, They Can Live, 157-158.
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The ARF underlined that this constitutional revolution was achieved by cooperating with the CUP. At this point, the representation power of the ARF among the Armenian people also increased. In the new system, they started to work on the problems of the Armenians and the entire Ottoman society. In parallel with this, the perception of socialism they adopted, combined with Ottomanism; and the Socialist Ottomanism emerged. They began to support not only the working class or the Armenian nation but the rights of all peasants and oppressed people under the Ottoman identity. The ARF, which has been discussing socialism since the day it was founded, has never been a Marxist socialist party. It prioritized the armed struggle instead of the theoretical discussions until the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. After the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, it began to lumped together the idea of Ottomanism and socialism.
The question of how to live together in a multinational empire, underlined by Berberian, may have been influential in the ARF’s blending of Ottomanism and socialism.49 Socialism may have also been effective in addressing the nation problem caused dissolution in the empires, including Ottoman Empire, so it may have intersected with Ottomanism in its interaction with nationalism. At this point, it can be mentioned that the socialism movements underlined by the "first generation" studies are necessarily intertwined with the nationalist revolutionary movements and especially with their supporters of decentralization. Chapter 2 will scrutinize these relations in detail.
Of course, there are lots of points where socialism differs from Ottomanism. However, the socialism of the ARF may have wanted to use the idea of Ottomanism, which envisages all nations to become Ottomans as an upper-identity under the
49 Berberian, Roving Revolutionaries, 145-182.
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umbrella of the empire. Because the ARF aimed for autonomous socialist states to live under the Ottoman roof after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution.
Perhaps because of these Ottomanization policies, they vulgarly used concepts such as class and labor. They did not discuss socialism on a theoretical basis but chose the propaganda with the agitation method on a populist way after the 1908. Their priorities to reforms, targeting a more democratic country and stating that all these reforms should increase the welfare of all Ottoman peoples can be described as the Socialist Ottomanism.
With these policies and abandoning the armed struggle, they came to the line of the European reformist socialism, which advocated the implementation of sufficient reforms, more democratic rights, more social welfare programs to achieve socialism. For the reforms and rights, they did not show only a class or ethnic origin as an address; they saw inclusive democratic rights as a solution.
As Anahide Ter Minassian mentioned50 and in my research about Azadamard shows the ARF took decisions to work for the liberation of the empires and tried to defend and protect not only Armenians but also all disadvantaged groups, mentioned above, including Turkish and Kurdish peasants in the Ottoman Empire under the influence of the 1905 and 1908 revolutions. This understanding and policy can be seen as a part of the socialist movements, like Tigran Zaven’s article describing the formation of a united front by all the oppressed.51
Furthermore, confidence in the reforms and promises for the security, land issues, equal citizenship made the ARF cooperate with the CUP, but there were also severe problems between them. Even though the ARF did not break its cooperation
50 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 141.
51 See Yerkri Tzayan, No. 1, 8 October 1906, in Ter Minassian “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 135.
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with the CUP, the Adana massacres were the first big test between them. The ARF, which did not consider it a coincidence that the slaughter in Adana took place simultaneously with the coup attempt, also known as the March 31 Incident in Istanbul,52 agreed with the CUP and determined its priority as the joint defense of the constitution.53 The two sides agreed on the principle of expanding the administrative powers of the provinces as a guarantee for the development and progress of the Ottoman homeland, and they decided to act together.54 The fact that the alternative to the CUP was the Kurdish landlords or the reactionary mentality that supported Abdulhamid II enabled the ARF to maintain its cooperation with the CUP.55 The same was true for the CUP because the constitutional revolution had not yet reached absolute supremacy.56 But as Kaligian underlined, there would no longer be endless goodwill and patience for the CUP on the ARF wing.57 It is possible to see in the criticisms made by the ARF and the actions of the CUP that the cooperation cracked in 1911 and 1912. There are also examples of these criticisms in the Azadamard newspaper, which this paper gives as examples. Azadamard, which also follows the publication organs and current policies in Europe, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, aimed to reach everyone who was literate as its publication policy.
52 C/193-80/Constantinople Responsible Body to Western Bureau, 16 April 1909 in Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology, 36; See also Ohannes Kılıçdağı, “Armenian Stance to The Second Constitutional Period: Expectations and Reservations,” The Ottoman East in the Nineteenth Century: Societies, Identities, and Politics, ed. by Yaşar Tolga Cora, Dzovinar Derderian, and Ali Sipahi, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016), 204. For instance, Kılıçdağı gives an example from Andranik, Gr. Ter Abrahamian “interprets the 31 March incidents and the Adana massacres as a plot to hinder cooperation between Armenians and their brothers the Turks.”
53 Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology, 100; Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 70.
54 Trōshag October-November 1909, no. 10-11 (207) in Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 72; Ohannes Kılıçdağı explains the same source in his article “Ermeni Aydınlanması: Yeniden Doğuştan Yokoluşa”, in 1915 Siyaset, Tehcir, Soykırım, ed. Fikret Adanır and Oktay Özel.
55 Suny, They Can Live, 175.
56 See Erik Jan Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2017), 94-101.
57 Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology, 47-48.
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1.3 Why Azadamard?
The role of the press in the Armenian Revolutionary movements has been crucial. Some of these publications, which aimed to organize the Armenian communities, were published in Europe due to the censorship in the Ottoman Empire and were distributed to the Ottoman Armenians. Ter Minassian states that the ARF had 145 publications after 1890. The publications in Istanbul after 1908 were called “Liberty Library.”58 Between 1909 and 1912, the SDHP and the ARF also published a large number of news dealing specifically with workers’ issues. The Azadamard newspaper is one of the newspapers published by the ARF, reflecting the period’s socialist and democratic ideas.
ARF founded Azadamard newspaper in Istanbul in June 1909. The ARF member Ruben Zartaryan was the editorial director of the newspaper. The team of writers was diverse, including lawyers, clergy, poets, and educators, who were members of the ARF.59 The newspaper was published daily, and from time to time, it also published a weekly magazine. The members of the ARF discussed the political atmosphere of the era and examined liberal and socialist ideas in this newspaper. In addition to the articles in the newspaper, they also included the news of reporters from Istanbul and the provinces. The publication life of the newspaper came to an end in 1914 with the effect of the First World War.60
In March 1911, it started to publish a direct Ottoman Turkish translation of its main article that evaluated the agenda. In the six-column newspaper, on the front
58 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 121-136.
59 Popular writers, lawyers, and religious figures such as Adom Yarcanyan, Hampartsum Hampartsumyan, Harutyun Şahrigyan, Keğam Parseğyan, Khaçadur Malumyan, Nerses Papazyan, and Sarkis Minasyan were also in the newspaper team. According to Nesim Ovadya İzrail in Bianet, all of these names are among the Armenians who were exiled in 1915. See “24 Nisan 1915: Ermeni Gazeteci ve Yazarları Anıyoruz,” Bianet, April 24, 2020 https://bianet.org/bianet/insan-haklari/223395-24-nisan-1915-ermeni-gazeteci-ve-yazarlari-aniyoruz
60 Last issue of the Azadamard was published on November, 1914.
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page, two columns from the right were devoted to this Ottoman Turkish translation. The price of the newspaper was 10 para (Ottoman currency).
While Ter Minassian interprets Azadamard as an adequate source in many respects for the ARF’s history writing, she emphasizes that the newspaper is a convenient source for examining the relationship between the ARF and the CUP, the political movements of the period, such as liberalism, socialism, and nationalism.61 Although we can see the reviews of the issues of the newspaper between 1908 and 1910 in various works, we have not come across the study of the issues after 1911.62
While this newspaper is influential in terms of being the publishing organ of the ARF, which could establish close relations with the government of the time when needed, it also broke new ground in 1911 by publishing Turkish translations of its editorial articles. Azadamard was the first known Armenian newspaper to publish a direct translation from Armenian into Ottoman Turkish, even though there had been publications in Armeno-Turkish, Armenian, or both Armenian and Ottoman Turkish until that time.
It is possible to see the Balkan journalist movements’ influence in Azadamard’s approach because, as Benlisoy mentioned, socialist movements in the Balkans published multilingual newspapers to explain socialism and the agenda to different masses in their own language.63 In this frame, Azadamard newspaper seems
61 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 126.
62 Ter Minassian referred to several issues published in 1910 on the Chester Project in her article, see Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 150-153; while examining the strikes of the coal porters in 1910, Cora analyzed the reflection of these strikes in the Azadamard newspaper, see Yaşar Tolga Cora, “1910 Kömür Hammalları Grevi: II. Meşrutiyet Döneminde Emeğin Tarihi ve Sol Siyasetin Dili,” Kebikeç 52, (2021): 435-462; while examining the land issue in his PhD thesis, Polatel examined the Azadamard issues between 1908-1910, Mehmet Polatel, “Armenians and the land question in the Ottoman Empire, 1870-1914”, (unpublished PhD dissertation, Boğaziçi University, 2017); in his book on the relationship between the ARF and the CUP, Kaligian used the numbers from the Azadamard newspaper as a bibliography from time to time, although he did not directly examine them, see Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology.
63 Stefo Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları II. Meşrutiyet’te Sosyalist Bir İşçi Örgütü, (İstanbul: İstos Yayın, 2018), 41-46.
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to have decided to translate its editorial/main article, which gathers and interprets the agenda, in order to appeal to other masses, like other socialist movements in the empire. This Turkish translation policy can be seen in the context of the Ottomanization and Socialist Ottomanism, as well. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the articles they translated into Ottoman Turkish that have not been examined before. It will scrutinize the ARF’s comments on the social, political, and economic atmosphere before the Balkan Wars with the articles between March 1911 and September 1912.
Moreover, this thesis examines this period because the ARF and the CUP had a roller coaster and complex cooperation, and their complex relations were reflected in the articles of the Azadamard. In addition, with the Balkan Wars Turkification ideas became more powerful in the CUP and this began to affect their relations with the ARF in negative ways.64
I think Azadamard is a newspaper that aligns with the complex political agenda of the ARF. The fact that they translate into Ottoman Turkish, while the articles they translate have a strategic language of criticism, shed light on the internal politics of the ARF, both with the CUP and among themselves. This language also caused the newspaper to be censored from time to time.65 When examining Azadamard’s post-1911 issues, it is necessary to ask a few questions: what was their purpose or concern, whom did they target as their audience, and what is the significance of this newspaper?
When the ARF was founded in 1890, it declared that it had adopted a policy based on socialist revolutionary foundations. However, especially after 1908, they established relations and even cooperation with the parties and organizations that
64 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 110
65 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 126.
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were against the old order represented by the Abdulhamid regime in the Ottoman Empire, regardless of ideology. In the 525th issue, in which they published an Ottoman Turkish article for the first time, there is an explanation that sheds light on this situation and why they started to publish translations:
One of our policies is establishing the alliance and unity of time. The nature of the conflict should not be for specialization and temporary purposes. It should be based on a civil ideal free from temporary and partial purpose, the mutual affiliations of the communities, the mutual recognition of the connoisseurs, and the temporary and partisan purpose. For this purpose, they must have the ability to think and to be stuck in an environment of speech, an element, and a language. One of the greatest misfortunes of the inhabitants in Turkey is that they did not mutually identify with each other, were not aware of each other's ideas and practices, and shared each other’s sorrows and sorrows.
Printing should fulfill this vital role. Yes, printing should act as a tutelage to the relationship and mutual identification of the master of the Ottoman Empire.
Based on these reasons, the council of the newspaper [Azadamard] decided to translate the article and the main places of interest, which, as of today, are concerned with the importance of the daily, by deciding on its publication and publication in the Turkish language section. As a matter of fact, humble performance is in the spirit of service.”66
As can be seen, Azadamard newspaper and the ARF Istanbul Office underlined that change is impossible with temporary interests and drew attention to the importance of communication. While emphasizing the ‘Ottomanness’ once again, Azadamard reminds us of the policy of Ottomanism and the strengthening of local governments, which the ARF followed and hoped for after the proclamation of the 1908 Constitutional Monarchy.
Another remarkable point is that this issue was published around three years after the revolution. Because even though the promises made by the CUP are still not kept and the CUP was against socialism, Azadamard’s presentation of a narrative that prioritizes communication and the ‘Ottoman’ is capable of opening the ARF’s understanding of socialism to the discussion. Although I see the traces of the
66 Azadamard 525, March 12, 1911.
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Socialist Ottomanism dream in the issues that I have reviewed, I also think that the socialism of the ARF is a policy that may be called pragmatic or populist. Although they claimed to use an idealistic language, they were under the influence of daily politics, as seen in the articles. Chapter 2 will deal with this in more detail.
Hence, as indicated in this passage, the ARF may have a concern and aim to convey their thoughts to the public, that is, to those who can read Ottoman Turkish and contact these readers, through Azadamard. The audience they want to address may be the wing that is close to the idea of Ottomanism in the CUP and the public. Because while having the chance to express their views by publishing articles in Ottoman Turkish, on the other hand, the effort to legitimize their parties in the literate mass and their sphere of influence may be one of the aims of the ARF. Although the ARF limited its cooperation with the CUP in 1911 and afterward, perhaps due to the need for legitimacy, they did not publish an article stating that they ended their collaboration with the CUP67 while emphasizing the idea of Ottomanism and underlining their oppositional language in their articles.
In the articles published through Azadamard by the ARF, which is in a position to be called the moderate opposition, traces of a socialist policy are seen through the defense of the oppressed. At the same time, the strategic structure of the language of criticism makes Azadamard a vital source in both the Armenian and Ottoman Turkish press.
1.4 Outline
This thesis consists of 5 chapters, including an introduction and conclusion. Chapter 2 consists of 4 sections. The first section of this chapter describes socialist
67 Dikran Mesrob Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, (İstanbul: Aras Yayınları, 2017), 192-193.
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movements before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The second section will analyze Socialist movements after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution until the Balkan Wars. Sections three will focus on the ARF’s transition from terrorism to reformism after the 1908 Revolution. The fourth section of this chapter will examine examples from Azadamard newspapers, where the ARF has views on parliament and government.
After focusing on the story of the socialist movements and the struggle of the ARF, in the third chapter, I will analyze the main unsolved problems that were reflected in the Azadamard newspaper in 1911 and 1912, with the headings of security, military service, decentralization, and elimination of others.
The forth chapter consists of three sections. The first section of Chapter 4 will present examples from the Azadamard newspaper about the ARF’s view of the Kurds. In this section, it will be explained once again with examples that the ARF defends all the oppressed. The second section will focus on the Socialist Ottomanism policy of the ARF through the land issue and the problems of the peasants, which are among the most significant unresolved issues. The third section will present general examples of the ARF’s idea of the Socialist Ottomanism. The conclusion will emphasize the commonality of the understanding of socialism in the Azadamard newspaper through the defense of the oppressed with the aspiration for land reform of the ARF.
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CHAPTER 2
OTTOMAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENTS AND THE ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION’S POLICIES
When it comes to socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire, it is not possible to talk about a common struggle that could come into being. We see that the socialist movements originating from the multinational structure of the empire were not only ideologically but also ethno-religious-based.68 What Zürcher wrote about socialism and summarizes this situation: “For almost a century, until the resurgence of politicized Islam as an alternative model, two imported European ideologies - socialism and nationalism - competed for the souls of the intelligentsia in the Near East.”69 Perhaps because of this rivalry, socialism could not become a strong political alternative in the Ottoman Empire. And a political landscape emerged, dominated mostly by rival nationalisms and their historiography.70 Of course, it would not be wrong to add liberalism and its associated bourgeois influence to socialism and nationalism. Because of the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire, it is possible to see these currents intertwined and sometimes allied.
Before the 1876 Constitutional Monarchy, socialism and communism were criticized negatively, except for the articles of Namık Kemal and his friends defending the Paris Commune.71 In the 1890s, it is possible to say that socialism became a hot topic in the empire with both the worker-revolutionary organizations
68 For the example of Russia in the framework of reform and revolution, see G. D. H. Cole, A History of Socialist Thought The Second International 1889-1914 Part 2, (London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1963), 941-976.
69 Erik Jan Zürcher, “Introduction,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 9.
70 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 11.
71 Mete Tunçay, “In Lieu of a Conclusion,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 163.
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that started to be established in the Balkans and the socialist revolutionary organizations founded by Armenians.
The socialist understanding of the ARF, one of these socialist organizations, changed from its establishment until the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and until the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and the Balkan Wars. Azadamard newspaper also reflects the ARF’s party strategy of making politics through the parliament, which is in favor of the reform adopted after 1908. Especially after 1911, their publications in Ottoman Turkish show their efforts to explain their views. This Turkish translation publication policy can be seen in the context of the Ottomanization and Socialist Ottomanism, as well. In other words, the ARF believed in these ideas enough to publish in Ottoman Turkish.
Furthermore, the ARF used methods similar to those of the nationalist revolutionaries before the 1908 Revolution. But it might have put on the agenda the question of how to live together in a multinational empire, as pointed out by Berberian, and might have begun to attach importance to the parliament by blending socialism with Ottomanism in this direction after the 1908.
Hence, the first part of this chapter will present a background narrative about the socialist organizations in the Ottoman Empire from their establishment to 1912 and then focus on the ARF’s policymaking in 1908. The second part of the chapter will examine the reflections of the ARF’s thoughts on parliament and its understanding of politics in favor of the people from the articles in the Azadamard newspaper.
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2.1 Socialist movements before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution
The studies written on the history of socialism in Turkey describe the workers’ movements in 1908 and after as the first representations. The two works I focused on in the literature review section, Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire and Osmanlı’da Marksizm ve Sosyalizm, examined the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire from the 1880s to 1910s through micro cases. The aim of this section, which touches on the socialist organizations in the Ottoman Empire before the Second Constitutional Era, is to draw attention to the socialist tradition in these lands that started in the 1880s, and the socialist understanding of the ARF, one of these movements, and its position in the Ottoman Empire.
While examining the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire, the relationship of socialism with the independence movements with the effect of ethno-Because the 72religious dynamics in the empire should also be considered.Macedonian-based socialists’ group in the Balkans, where the national independence struggle had begun, and the Armenian revolutionaries, who prioritized the independent Armenia, established in Geneva and Tbilisi, were the first socialist revolutionary organizations to emerge in the empire. Later, these struggles would discuss socialism, Marxism and nationalism among themselves, and differences would arise. Feroz Ahmad gives place to one of the most concise definitions of socialism: while the first definition of socialism was used against individualism and individualism, some others said, “Socialism was viewed by some as a continuation of Discussions 73liberalism, like reform, including radical reform of the social order.”
72 G. D. H. Cole also mentions a similar situation for socialist movements within the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empires, A History of Socialist Thought Part 2, 953.
73 Feroz Ahmad, “Some Thoughts on the Role of Ethnic and Religious Minorities in the Genesis and Development of the Socialist Movement in Turkey: 1876-1923,” in Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923, ed. Erik Jan Zürcher and Mete Tunçay (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), 14. For socialism debates, on German Social Democracy in the peasantry frame see Athar Hussain
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on socialism continued at the First and Second International meetings in Europe. While discussions on what kind of socialism was going on in Europe and Russia, socialist movements that emerged in the Balkans, Armenian socialist movements the Revolutionary Hınch‘ag Party (RHP; in their sixth congress, they changed the name of the party to Social Democratic Hınch‘ag Party (SDHP)) and the ARF also 74discussed socialism models for the Ottoman Empire.
During this period, the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party (BSDP, Bulgarska Sotsialdemokraticheska Partiya) was established in Buzludzha in 1891(It would change its name to the Bulgarian Workers’ Social Democratic Party (BWSDP, Bulgarskata Rabotnicheska Sotsialdemokraticheska Partiya) in its third congress in 1884). Likewise, Bulgarian Macedonian-Edirne Revolutionary Committees (BMARC) in Thessaloniki in 1893 was established.75
The Hınch‘ags published their party program in their newspaper in 1888 as a long-term goal. According to this program, they said that there is injustice, oppression in the current social system, and it is like a slave order. The RHP
and Keith Tribe, Marxism and the Agrarian Question Volume 1, (London: the MacMillan Press Ltd., 1981); on the Russian Marxism see Leopold H. Haimson, The Russian Marxists, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971); on discussion of Marxism and nationalism see Robert Stuart, Marxism And National Identity: Socialism, Nationalism, And National Socialism During the French Fin De Siecle, (New York: State University of New York Press, 2006).
74 For socialism in the Ottoman Empire debates, on the Socialist Workers’ Federation, see s Haupt and Dumont, Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Sosyalist Hareketler, 9-43 and Dumont, “Une organisation socialiste ottomane”; for the detailed resource on non-Muslim debates on socialism see the book edited by Mete Tunçay and Erik Jan Zürcher, Socialism and Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1923; for the Ottoman Socialist Party and its publication İştirak, see Hamit Erdem, Osmanlı Sosyalist Fırkası ve İştirakçı Hilmi, (İstanbul: Sel Yayıncılık, 2012) and Meltem Toksöz, “‘Are They Not Our Workers?’ Socialist Hilmi and His Publication İştirak: An Appraisal of Ottoman Socialism,” in The Young Turk Revolution and the Ottoman Empire: The Arftermath of 1918, ed. Noemy Levy-Aksu and François Georgeon, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2017), 286-317; for the debate among Bulgarian socialists, see Augusta Dimou, Entangled Paths Toward Modernity: Contextualizing Socialism and Nationalism in the Balkans, (Budapest: Central Eurpean University Press, 2009), 175-300; for the Socialist Center of Turkey and Ergatis, see Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları; for Armenian revolutionary movements, see Nalbandian, The Armenian Revolutionary Movement; Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 109-156, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde Milliyetçilik ve Sosyalizm (1887-1912), trans. Mete Tunçay; and Berberian, Roving Revolutionaries, 145-182; on the Marxist ideas of the SDHP see Cora, “Sosyal Demokrat Hınçak Partisi’nin”, 181-198.
75 Adanır, “The National Question and the Genesis”, 32-34.
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underlined that inequality in human relations exists in all economic, political, and social fields and mentioned that a small minority lives in the privileged world. They stated that the concept of private property is the basic principle of this privileged group. As a solution to this situation, they offered the socialist organization:
Only the socialist system can provide a cure for this painful and unfair situation by establishing and protecting the direct power of the people, giving each person a real possibility to participate in the organization of social affairs. The socialist system truly protects the natural and undeniable rights of man; it supports the complete and multiform development of all powers, of all capacities and possibilities of each person; it transforms all the means of production and all the goods into the collective property, it organizes all the social and economic relations peacefully and becomes the truthful expression of the will of the people. Based on their fundamental convictions, the Henchak is a socialist group.76
While declaring that it is a socialist in the party program, the RHP underlines their long-term aim to realize a socialist organization. In this way, they also emphasize the necessity of Armenian national independence in their short-term program. They explained this necessity as the Armenian people in Turkish Armenia living like slaves in chains; the government crushed them under taxes and attacked their lands and labor. They emphasized that these bad conditions feed the government and the greedy government, and therefore the need to provide an environment of political freedom in order to get rid of this situation.77 They aimed to establish a socialist free Armenia after establishing free states in Ottoman Armenia, Russian Armenia, and for Armenians in Iran.
The Hınch‘ags also gave importance to the press and publication and published their socialist articles in newspapers and magazines such as Hınch‘ag, Gaghapar, and Aptak. Ter Minassian says that these publications frequently used the
76 Hınch‘ag (Geneva) no 11, 1888 quoted by Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 123-124.
77 Hınch‘ag (Geneva) no 12, 188 quoted by Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 124.
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words such as socialism, despotism, and freedom for propaganda purposes.78 In addition to the press movement, the party also adopted a state of action with its followers in Turkey in the 1890s. Especially between 1894-and 1896, as a result of the massacre of the Armenians, they held demonstrations in İstanbul.79 Although the Young Turk representatives made contacts with the Hınch‘ags for their attempts to overthrow Abdulhamid in the 1890s, these negotiations did not yield any results as the Hınch‘ags did not give up on their demands for Turkish Armenia.80
In 1898, the Veragazmiyal Hınch‘ag Party (VHP), formed by the more reformist wing, was founded by splitting from the RHP.81 Whilst the RHP did not participate in the Ottoman oppositions’ congress in 1902; the VHP participated in a block with the ARF.82 Despite the invitation of the ARF to the congress where the Ottoman oppositions met in 1907, the RHP and the VHP also refused to attend. Hınch‘ags, who refused to form a front with the Young Turks, started to get closer with Prince Sabahaddin’s Society from the beginning of 1908.83
The ARF was established in Tbilisi in 1890 to liberate the Armenian people politically and economically as a result of the increasing pressures in Ottoman Armenia after the 1878 Berlin Conference. There were democratic libertarians and socialists in the ARF, which the revolutionary groups in the Caucasus formed. The ARF, which continued its work without a party program until 1892, only called on all Armenians to unite against the Turkish government until it established a
78 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 24-25.
79 Eldem, “Banka Vakası”; see also C. J. Walker, “From Sasun to the Ottoman Bank: Turkish Armenians in the mid-1890s,” Armenian Review, 3 (1979).
80 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 16-18.
81 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 25; Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 14.
82 Trōshag, February 1902, no 2 (122) quoted by Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 18-19.
83 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 23-26.
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program.84 In this text, they advocated the struggle of the people against everything that hinders development for the welfare of the people.85
Ter Minassian states that the programs published by the ARF in 1892 aimed to improve the culture, welfare, and political and economic freedom of the people of Armenia, including tactics such as organizing, psychological action, conflict groups, and terrorism in this way.86 It was possible to see the influence of Russian populism in this organization established in the Caucasus because the goal of ensuring the economic and political freedom of the Armenian people in their programs was the effect of the movement hojdenie v narod [going to the people] in Russian populism.87 In other words, the ARF has a populist socialist understanding that is open to cooperation with peasants and bourgeoise rather than Marxism.
The dilemma created by the 125-man armed Armenian youth-led by Sarkis Kukunyan to try to pass from Russia to the Ottoman Empire, as quoted by Ter Minassian, can be counted as one of the events that had an impact on shaping the populist politics of the ARF.88 It is possible to talk about the ARF, which draws a similar path to that followed by the Bulgarian guerillas. In Ottoman Armenia, the ARF guerillas began to play an active role in the self-defense of the peasants against the Kurdish landlords and the Ottoman state. In other words, the ARF made the armed struggle for the liberation of the Armenian people the rule and became a socialist party in which national populism was dominant.
84 The ARF’s Manifest, in 1890, quoted by Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 26.
85 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 27.
86 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 28.
87 Suny, Looking Towards, 74-75.
88 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 35. Under the leadership of a student named Sarkis Kukuyan, an Armenian unit of 125 people tried to cross from Russia to the Ottoman Empire in the summer of 1890 to fight for the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Although these attempts were unsuccessful, Ter Minassian says that the stories of these young people made an impact among Armenians.
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While the ARF was fighting to support and protect the peasantry in Ottoman Armenia in the 1890s, it also started to establish contacts with the Young Turks, the revolutionary movement in the Balkans, in the late 1890s. In the first contacts established in Geneva, the offer to negotiate was from the Young Turks. The subject of these contacts was Abdulhamid II’s oppressive regime. According to Avagyan, Ahmet Rıza visited Trōshag’s Geneva office in 1897 and suggested that they abandoned the revolutionary methods of struggle and unite with the Young Turks against Abdulhamid II.89 Şükrü Hanioğlu also states that the ARF made a call to the Young Turks in 1897, stating that a constitutional order could not be established only by utilizing agitation under the conditions they were in. For revolution, an armed struggle was required.90
From 1900, meetings of the Ottoman opponents began, in which the supporters of Prince Sabahaddin also attended. In 1902, the RHP did not participate, while the ARF and the VHP participated in a joint delegation. According to Avagyan from the Trōshag newspaper, the Young Turks did not invite Macedonian revolutionary organizations to this meeting because “There is no such thing as the Macedonian Question.”91 The Armenian representatives openly criticized this attitude of the Young Turks. No concrete cooperation emerged as a result of the congress, but the followers of Prince Sabahaddin united in an organization called the Private Enterprise and the Decentralization Society (PEDS; Teşebbüs-i Şahsi ve Adem-i Merkeziyet Cemiyeti).
89 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 16.
90 Şükrü Hanioğlu, Bir Siyasal Örgüt Olarak Osmanlı İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ve Jön Türklük, (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 1986), 279-280.
91 Trōshag, February 1902, no 2 (122) quoted by Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 19.
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In 1903, the tsar confiscated the property of the Armenian Church of Russia. This decision caused the socialist organizations (the ARF was one of the largest) to face a nationalist reaction from below, discussing methods of struggle since their establishment in Transcaucasia and oscillating between national and multinational solutions. Anger at this decision caused mass ceremonies to turn into demonstrations, and the Armenian workers’ strikes coincided with these remonstrations. Under these circumstances, the ARF formally established the Armenian Self-Defense Committee in the summer of 1903 to reconcile the earlier spontaneous popular movements. This development gave prestige to the ARF by making the previously scattered guerrilla movements more planned. A group of socialists left the ARF and first joined the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party; after a short time, they left the RSDWP and became one of the founding members of the Social Democratic Armenian Workers’ Organization.92
Although small groups left the ARF, the ARF continued growing and increasing its prestige. While making propaganda among the socialist parties during the Second International Congress in Amsterdam in 1904,93 they also organized their armed struggle in Russia and the Ottoman Empire. At their congress in 1904, they focused on his actions in the Ottoman Empire by discussing ways of terror and demonstration, such as organizing in Cilicia and the assassination of Abdulhamid II.94
92 For the socialist movements in the Caucasus, see Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 26-79; Suny, Looking Towards Ararat, 63-94.
93 They sent two delegates to the Congress, Cole, A History of Socialist Thought Part 2, 605; Cole, A History of Socialist Thought Part 1, 55.
94 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 60-61; Avagyan reports that Esat Paker, who worked at the Ottoman Embassy in London, wrote in his memoirs that he learned of the sultan’s assassination plan, see the footnote 21 in Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 23.
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The ARF, which experienced internal divisions with the debates brought by the 1905 Russian Revolution, went to its congress in Vienna in 1907 with the discussions of the non-socialist Mihranagans at one end and the socialist Young Tashnagts at the other. The ARF, which achieved unity by overcoming all the debates, also announced a socialist program at the congress. In this program, an emphasis was placed on the oppressed by underlining the complexity of class struggle in the context of a dominant nation and an oppressed nation.95
In the same year, the Socialist International held a congress in Stuttgart. Although the ARF did not attend the congress with a delegate, Stuttgart International Socialist Congress approved the ARF’s membership. Then they sent delegates as members to the Copenhagen International of 1910.96 As Ter Minassian underlined, the ARF socialism after 1907 modeled itself on the Jean Jaurès’ doctrine of respect for nations, justice, democracy, and freedom. It is also possible to see the influence of Jaurès in the newspaper Azadamard, which they started to publish after 1908.97
Besides the socialism debate, in a special session of their 1907 Vienna Congress, the ARF also discussed its relations with the Young Turks and assigned the party committees the task of “supporting the Turkish opposition forces in every sense in their struggle against the regime of the Bloody Sultan.”98 Parallel to this decision, the ARF attempted a congress to bring together all opposition forces in the Ottoman Empire. Hence, they connected with the Revolutionary Hınch‘ag Party
95 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 67.
96 Cole, A History of Socialist Thought Part 2, 605; Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 68.
97 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 70. On the good relations between Jean Jaurès with the ARF, see Azadamard 962, August 13, 1912.
98 Voroşummer H. H. Taşnaktsutyan Çorrort Inthanur Joğovi (Kağvadzkner) [Resolutions of the Fourth Congress of the A. R. Federation (Collections)], Geneva, 1907, 14 cited by Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 23.
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(RHP), the Veragazmiyal Hınch‘ag Party (VHP), and the Young Turk representatives Ahmet Rıza and Prince Sebahaddin.
The RHP and the VHP did not accept the joint congress proposal; instead, they invited all Armenian revolutionary parties to a congress. The ARF objected to this congress proposal of the Hınch‘ags’ organizations, commenting that the Armenian parties would not be able to defeat alone the enemy. Therefore, there should be an agreement with the Young Turks to overthrow the enemy. Even though the Young Turks and the ARF held a congress in Paris in 1907, it cannot be said that this congress united the Ottoman opposition as it was aimed because other opposition organizations were not represented at the congress.99
On the other hand, due to this cooperation, the Constitution was proclaimed in the summer of 1908. The ARF, the CUP, and the PEDS made the final preparations right after the 1907 Paris Congress. In line with the decisions taken in the last session of the congress,100 the Young Turks started to prepare for the rebellion in Rumelia, and the ARF started to gather its revolutionary troops in Ottoman Armenia. With the success of proclamation of the Constitution, the ARF began to see reforms as a solution instead of an armed struggle. This chapter will also address this new policy of the ARF in a section.
Another socialist organization founded in the 1890s was the Bulgarian Social Democrat Party (BSDP), later the Bulgarian Workers’ Social Democratic Party (BWSDP). This party has adopted the Erfurt Program, one of the understandings of
99 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 23-26.
100 For the decisions, see Haydakir Osmanyan Gaysrutyan Inttimatir darreru kongresin (Kumarvardz Yevropayi Meç, 27-29 Tekdemper, 1907) [Ottoman Empire Opposition Elements Congress Program (Assembled in Europe, 27-29 December 1907)], 9 cited by Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 24-26; it also reported on the “Inter-Party Congress” in Trōshag, the central publication organ of the ARF in Geneva. Trōshag, no. 1 (183), 1908 in Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 211.
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European Social Democracy.101 However, while talking about this socialist movement, it is possible to discuss the intertwining of nationalism and socialism and their effects on each other. Dimitar Blagoev, one of the founders and active member of this party, claimed that Macedonia could only be saved with a Balkan Federation to be established. In this direction, he worked for the idea of socialists collaborating with the petty bourgeoisie in the 1890s.102 In 1893, the Bulgarian Macedonian-Edirne Revolutionary Committees (BMARC), which saw liberation in national independence, later renamed as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), was established.
In the early 1900s, Blagoev, influenced by the Second International and Karl Kautsky, stated that he started to think that nationality is a temporary concept.103 So, the Party Central Committee in 1901 prohibited party members from entering Macedonian organizations. This ban did not fully work, as the Macedonian revolutionary socialists, established in 1895, continued to engage with the BWSDP. Discussions arose were based on how Marxism and social democratic principles practically coincided with the Bulgarian social reality on topics such as alliance with the small peasantry, the nature of the member profile, the problem of alliance with other parties, and the independence of labor unions from the party.104 When personal alignments were added to these discussions, the party split into “Narrow” socialists (Tesni Sotsalisti) and “United” or “Broad” socialists (Shiroki Sotsialisti) at its congress in 1903.105
101 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 23.
102 Adanır, “The National Question and the Genesis”, 27-48.
103 Adanır, “The National Question and the Genesis”, 34; Yalimov, “The Bulgarian Community”, 95-98; Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 24; for Karl Kautsky and his understanding of socialism, see Cole, A History of Socialist Thought, 541- 566.
104 Benlisoy, İstanbu’un Irgatları, 23-24.
105 Adanır, “The National Question and the Genesis”, 35; Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 23.
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The “Broads” freely participated in the works of the IMRO. However, even after this split, the Macedonian revolutionary socialists continued to be members of the “Narrows.” In other words, the “Broad” socialists have determined to have a more reformist policy open to the participation of other classes such as the peasantry, especially the bourgeoisie. Although the “Narrows” interpreted this policy as moving away from Marxism and approaching opportunism, there would be some opposition within the party. These criticisms would even split the “Narrows” in 1907 and 1908.106 Despite the controversy within the IMRO in the failed Ilinden uprising of 1903,107 it would not be wrong to say that the ongoing connection of both the “Narrows” and the “Broad” socialists with the IMRO made the IMRO a more effective organization in Macedonia.
Their 1905 congress decided to prepare a new strategic plan by opposing the left-wing nationalist Christo Matov in the organization. And the IMRO began to work on restructuring according to federalist principles. According to this approach, the target was an autonomous Macedonian Peoples’ Federation within the Ottoman Empire.108
The IMRO kept its distance from the Young Turks’ efforts for interaction. Even though the IMRO was invited to the congress for the Ottoman opponents in Paris in 1907 by both the Young Turks and the ARF, the IMRO rejected these invitations.109 Christo Matov criticized the congress proposal as not being a “destructive” act and stated that they could make an agreement with both of them on
106 Benlisoy, İstanbu’un Irgatları, 24-25.
107 Adanır, The National Question and the Genesis”, 38-39.
108 Adanır, The National Question and the Genesis”, 39-41.
109 Adanır, The National Question and the Genesis”, 42.
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the subject of subversion.110 Avagyan states that the IMRO did not attend the Congress but later adopted the resolutions.111
2.2 Socialist movements after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution until the Balkan Wars
Since the RHP did not trust the CUP before the 1908 election and for the decentralization policies, they decided to act together with the Ahrar Party, the party of the Private Enterprise and the Decentralization Society. As a result of the election, they entered the parliament with one deputy.112
In the March 31 Incident, the RHP fought to protect the Constitution in the struggle against Abdulhamid II's supporters. The command did not accept their demands of armed struggle, but they provided services such as medicine outside of the conflict. Their aim was that Abdulhamid II would not come to power again.
At the same time, massacres against Armenians occurred in Adana as well. After the Adana massacres, both the ARF and the Hınch‘ags declared that members of the Unionist army were also involved in the events. Contrary to the ARF, which preferred to pursue a policy of balance and strategy, the SDHP113 decided to struggle against the CUP at its congress. Hınch’ags, who made news about the workers’ movements in the press,114 had discussions on the revolutionary and illegal activities and fighting on a legal basis. In the congress, the party decided to fight on legal grounds unless the constitutional rights of the working people were taken away. For
110 Adanır, The National Question and the Genesis”, 42.
111 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 24.
112 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 52-53.
113 The RHP changed its name as the Social Democratic Hınch‘ags Party (SDHP) in their 6th Congress in 1909.
114 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 150.
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this struggle, an autonomous structure was formed that would only deal with the problems of the Ottoman Armenians.115
Furthermore, socialist movements in the Balkans had begun to communicate with the Young Turks just before 1908 and after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution although they were not as direct as the ARF. Polyphony, especially in Thessaloniki, was one of the factors that strengthened this communication in the exciting environment created after the revolution. The “Broad” socialists began to establish close relations with the Young Turks. Moreover, Adanır, states that Dimo Hadzi Dimov’s group from the IMRO, unlike Blagoev’s group in the “Narrows,” believes that socialists should support the new regime.116
Benlisoy also states that with the acceleration of the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, the “Narrows” had the opportunity to propagate and organize more effectively among the Bulgarians and Macedonians in the region.117 Among the “Narrows” would be those who opposed Blagoev’s more conservative socialist conception.118 For instance, the newspaper Rabotniçeska İskra [Workers Spark], which was started to be published under the leadership of Vasil Glavinov, who was one of the “Narrows,” worked to tighten the bonds of socialist groups. This newspaper, which tried to pave the way for class-based politics, started to hold meetings in İstanbul and even invited Hüseyin Hilmi, who published the newspaper İştirak, to these meetings.
The “Social Democratic Party” consisting of two Bulgarians, four Greeks, two Armenians, two Turks, and a Jew, including Papadopoulos and Sivachev, who
115 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 57-76.
116 Adanır, The National Question and the Genesis”, 47; Yalimov, “The Bulgarian Community”, 95-98.
117 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 25.
118 Benlisoy, “Sosyal Demokrasi’den Devrimci Sendikalizme”, 126.
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were columnists in this newspaper, was established.119 They would even be represented by a “Narrow” socialist at the 1910 Copenhagen International Congress. This circle, which started to call itself the Socialist Center of Turkey (SCT) during this period, was trying to be an active part of the international socialist movement and was affected by the German Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, GSDP).120
As of 1910, the SCT circle started to publish a newspaper in İstanbul called Ergatis [the Worker] with the “Workers of Turkey, Unite!” policy.121 The revolutionary syndicalist wing, which thinks that political parties make workers vulnerable to bourgeois influence, was strong inside the SCT. However, it is not possible to talk about syndicalism exactly because of the 19 articles titled “The Demands of Socialism” published in the same newspaper as Nikos Yanyos’ article describing socialism, Benlisoy cited.122
Through this newspaper, the SCT states that contrary to the claims that socialism is against human freedom, workers will be freer with socialism because working hours will be reduced. The SCT underlines that the only thing that the Socialist Republic will prohibit is labor exploitation.123 The newspaper published educational articles on the socialist program and organization that the workers could adopt instead of the more sophisticated debates that the educated readership would
119 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 25-29.
120 Benlisoy, “Sosyal Demokrasi’den Devrimci Sendikalizme”, 127-128; for the GSDP see Cole, The Second International Part 1, 249-322.
121 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 37-38.
122 See especially the articles 1, 3, 5, 10, and 11 “Ο Σοσιαλισμός Θέλει,” Ο Εργάτης [“Socialism Wants,” Ergatis no 3, July 25, 1910 cited by Benlisoy, “Sosyal Demokrasi’den Devrimci Sendikalizme”, 136-137.
123 Nikos Yanyos, “Τι Εστι Σοσιαλισμός,” Ο Εργάτης [“[What is socialism?,” Ergatis] no 3, July, 25, 1910 quoted by Benlisoy, “Sosyal Demokrasi’den Devrimci Sendikalizme”, 131-133.
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prefer.124 In its sixth issue, the newspaper announced that it had decided to publish in Turkish and Ladino languages in order to appeal to all workers.125
Socialist movements among Turks in the Ottoman Empire are generally described by the newspaper İştirak and the Ottoman Socialist Party after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. This description might be due to the fact that there has been no information yet about any Turkish socialist organization before 1908.126 After the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, Turkish intellectual masses who nurtured socialist ideas began to form in İstanbul. This group gathered around Hüseyin Hilmi and started to publish the journal called İştirak in 1910.127
In the 19th issue of the İştirak, they announced the establishment of a party called the Ottoman Socialist Party. The Party published its program and declaration in its next issue, but the martial law closed the İştirak after this issue.128 Thereupon, the OSP started to publish the newspaper İnsaniyet, but it was closed after its third issue. And then, they published the OSP Medeniyet newspaper, which was also closed in the second issue.129
124 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 40-41.
125 “Το Σ.Κ.Τ,” Ο Εργάτης [the SCT] no 6, September 5, 1910 quoted by Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 44. Benlisoy says that in the middle of 1910, the SCT published the Ladino version of the newspaper, but today, there are no copies of this newspaper. He also mentions that Avraam Benaroya told in his memoirs that the Turkish version of Ergatis was distributed to the workers in Thessaloniki in 1911.
126 In this section, there will be no discussion of why it was started with the Participation newspaper or why it should start before 1908. For discussion on this, see Odabaşı, “Kızıllaşan Türkler”, 57-122 he mentions the Turks who interacted with non-Muslims in Thessaloniki after the pre-1908 revolution. For example, influenced by the 1905 Russian Revolution, Şefik Hüsnü became interested in socialism in Thessaloniki from 1905 onwards. Odabaşı reports that due to the Russian revolution, Şefik Hüsnü began to have an irresistible interest in revolutionary problems. Kazım Nami’s book Rus İhtilal Cemiyetine Mensup Bir Kadının Hayatı [The Life of a Woman Member of the Russian Revolutionary Society], translated in 1907 but published in 1909, also sets an example for the Turks interacting with the socialist atmosphere of Thessaloniki. On the Ottoman’s meeting with socialism, see İlhami Yaygın, Osmanlı’da Sosyalizm (İstanbul: Bilgeoğuz Yayınları, 2009), 52-262.
127 Mete Tunçay, Türkiye’de Sol Akımlar 1908-1925 Cilt 1, (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2019), 44-46.
128 Erdem, Osmanlı Sosyalist Fırkası, 37.
129 Tunçay, Türkiye’de Sol Akımlar, 46-47.
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Participating in socialist debates from time to time before the OSP, İştirak newspaper gives place to the importance of peasants in production and peasant socialism in its sixth issue. Meltem Toksöz emphasizes that this interest in the French peasantry and socialism debate is important in terms of thinking about Ottoman socialism.130 Establishing a socialism policy based on the peasantry may also be a strategy because it is known that there are more peasants than workers in most of Anatolia. However, they also focused on workers’ problems in the next issue of the newspaper. The OSP presented approaches to workers’ issues in issues released after it was founded. It was underlined that the strikes could not be successful due to disorganization. It was recommended to the tailors, railway workers, shipyard workers, textile workers, and mine workers to organize in the OSP to get their rights.131
Another socialist organization after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution was the Socialist Workers’ Federation of Thessaloniki (SWFT), founded by Jewish militants.132 In the first years, they maintained close relations with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by Glavinov, and they separated in 1909.133 After this separation, the SWFT took a more reformist position. In other words, the SWFT, unlike the SDP, which was close to the socialism line of the “Narrow” socialists, advocated broadening its base and federation with the influence of the “Broad” socialists in 1909.134 While the SCT criticized their federalist socialism
130 İştirak, no. 2, March 5, 1910 quoted by Toksöz, “Are They Not Our Workers?”, 302-303.
131 Tunçay, Türkiye’de Sol Akımlar, 49.
132 Haupt and Dumont, Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Sosyalist Hareketler, 27.
133 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 91.
134 Yalimov, “The Bulgarian Community”, 98.
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understanding,135 the ARF supported the SWFT with an article published in Azadamard.136
The SWFT, which did not hesitate to communicate with the Young Turks, was defending the federations of nations under the roof of the Ottoman Empire. The SWFT’s close relations with the Ottoman Turkish socialists, as quoted by Odabaşı, were perhaps due to this policy they adopted.137 Because their ideas about the communication with non-socialists, such as the Young Turks, the “Narrows” accused the SWFT of not being socialist. According to the “Narrows”, this federation should have been socialist, so its goal should have only been to unite the working class of different nationalities.138 While Dumont interprets the SWFT’s attitude as a pragmatic approach to Ottoman realities, he states that Austro-Hungarian Marxists influenced the SWFT.139 In other words, their socialist strategies were similar to the socialists in Russia and Austro-Hungarian Empires, where national problems were widespread.
After the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, mass workers’ strikes took place. Most of these strikes took place in Thessaloniki and İstanbul, and the SWFT was an organization capable of pursuing strikers.140 Apart from the SWFT, the SCT was one of the organizations that supported workers’ strikes on the ground.141 The striking workers were those who worked long hours with low wages, mainly in tobacco,142
135 Benlisoy, “Sosyal Demokrasi’den Devrimci Sendikalizme”, 130.
136 Azadamard 241, April 6, 1910 quoted by Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 150.
137 Odabaşı, "Kızıllaşan Türkler”, 100.
138 Yalimov, “The Bulgarian Community”, 99-100.
139 Donald Quartaert, “The Industrial Working Class of Salonica, 1850-1912,” in Jews, Turks, Ottomans: a Shared History, Fifteenth through the Twentieth Century, ed. by Avigdor Levy (Syracuse University Press: 2002), 210; Dumont, “A Jewish, Socialist and Ottoman Organisation”, 64.
140 Haupt and Dumont, Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Sosyalist Hareketler, 33. For the 1908 strikes see Yavuz Selim Karakışla, “The 1908 Strike Wave in the Ottoman Empire,” Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, 16- 2 (1992): 156-167.
141 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 139.
142 For tobacco workers’ strikes, see Can Nacar, Labor and Power in the Late Ottoman Empire Tobacco Workers, Managers, and the State, 1872–1912, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 107-167.
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mining, carpentry, textiles, and railway sectors.143 While the government decided to suppress these strikes, Zohrab Efendi, one of the İstanbul Deputies, objected to the government in the parliament by reminding other deputies that the right to unionize and strike is both a constitutional right and a human right.144
With the strict administration rules declared after the March 31 Incident, the government had already begun to arrest the members of the socialist organizations that it had not given official status before and to put an end to the activities of the organizations. In other words, the government started a policy of intimidation against the opposition.145
While the CUP government continued these pressures against the opposition, although it did not directly touch the ARF, with which it cooperated first to overthrow Abdulhamid II and then for the elections, it did not recognize the ARF as an official party until 1910.146 And even though there was cooperation for the elections,147 the ARF continued to voice the workers’ problems both in the parliament and in the newspaper Azadamard, stating that it was on the side of labor and workers.148 In other words, unlike other socialist movements discussed so far, the ARF was able to both continue to maintain its socialism line and cooperate with the CUP by drawing attention to the importance of parliament for elections and reforms.
Of course, while voicing the workers’ problems and criticizing the government, they use the legitimacy ground brought by the parliament and the new
143 Erdem, Osmanlı Sosyalist Fırkası, 18- 29; Can Nacar states that there were total of thirty strikes of railway workers between 1908-1909, and the number of these strikes decreased sharply between 1909-1914 and was only six; see Nacar, Labor and Power, 133.
144 Erdem, Osmanlı Sosyalist Fırkası, 26-27.
145 Benlisoy, İstanbul’un Irgatları, 165-167.
146 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 313.
147 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 50-56 and 69-73.
148 For the article on the problems of workers working in the Chester Project in 1910, see Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community in the Foundation and Development of the Socialist Movement in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1876-1923”, 149-153; for the analysis of the coal porters' strike in 1910 from the newspaper, see Cora, “1910 Kömür Hammalları Grevi”, 435-462.
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Constitution. It is possible to see efforts to stay on the legitimate ground and draw attention to the importance of the parliament and the Constitution in Azadamard’s issues. This language also indicates that the way the ARF adopted politics before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution has changed. The next section will address this changing policy of the ARF.
2.3 The ARF policy under the influence of the 1908 Constitutional Revolution: from terrorism to reformism
The self-defense actions of the ARF, which lasted for years and provided protection to its people, made it the organization with the highest representation in the Armenian nation. The armed struggle of the ARF, prioritizing the security of the Armenian peasants, made the organization more visible and reliable among the Armenian people than the Armenegan and SDHP. Ter Minassian highlights that the ARF believes that socialism is a defense tool against national oppression rather than a necessary stage in economic development.149 Namely, socialist Armenian parties, especially the ARF, could be seen as the guardians of the community.150 This is also an important point for understanding the socialist movements of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian socialist movements in the 19th century strengthened their presence in the Ottoman Empire by fighting for the safety of life and property of the rural villagers. With this approach, it can be said that the Armenian revolutionaries adopted the peasant-based understanding of socialism (hojdenie v narod [going to the people]) of the Russian populists.151
149 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 70.
150 Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology, 55.
151 Suny, Looking Towards, 70-71; for the Narodnik understanding, see Cole, A History of Socialist Thought Part 1, 392-511.
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While the ARF was reacting to the misery of the Armenians, the socialism they advocated also gained an ethnic background. The ethnic background of their socialism drove them further away from class politics. Their understanding of advocating a socialist federation only through Armenians would eventually turn into an understanding based on the defense of all the oppressed after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. For example, after the 1894-96 Hamidiye massacres in Van, the tension between the ARF and the state increased,152 and the ARF started to become seen as heroic by the Armenians in the provinces. It is possible to see this situation in the 1896 statement of the Gatʿoghigos [catholicos] of the time, Khrimyan Hayrig: “Tashnagtsʻutyun, the ARF, is the new Armenian knight. Their predecessors showed themselves as true knights in Van and its environs. Be brave, stand up and join these new Armenian knights.”153
The visibility of the “Armenian problem” increased with the struggle method adopted by the ARF, which moved from the provinces to the capital with the Ottoman Bank Incident.154 The ARF, which increased its value among the Armenian people in the way of self-defense, also ‘punished’ the Armenians who were on the side of the current regime, which they thought was against the interests of the Armenian people. They interpreted this method, which they continued until the declaration of the 1908 Constitution, as the fraternity of the peoples and the unity of the oppressed.
By adopting self-defense as a method until the Revolution in 1908, the ARF increased its value among or in the eyes of the Armenian people it guarded. They even killed Armenians who were against them on this road. They interpreted this
152 Eldem, “Banka Vakası ve 1896 Osmanlı Katliamı”, 179.
153 The ARF archives, quoted by Razmik Panossian, in The Armenians From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Comissars, (London: Hurts & Company, 2006), 198.
154 Göçek, Denial of Violence, 138.
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armed struggle as the brotherhood of the peoples and the union of the oppressed. For example, the ARF Central Committee pronounced a declaration in 1907. According to this committee, they killed an Armenian man who did not work against the Hamidian regime for the Armenian community’s future.
The vengeful hand of the people was lifted against those who were hostile to the interests of the laborer people and to the works which continued for his salvation. (...) The will of the people took place. Let the will of the people be blessed.
Destroy the enemies of the people. Long live the peace of the peoples.155
The rhetorical language of this declaration, in which they emphasize the will of the Armenian working people and the betrayal of the murdered man, probably stems from the need for legitimacy. After all, they had to continue to get the support of the Armenian people for their struggle and to influence the Armenian people.156
For its ideals, which we can also name the dream of a socialist Ottomanism, after the despotism of the Hamidian regime, with the hope that an intra-Ottoman revolution would bring freedom and equality to the people.157 Although the security problems of the Armenians continued after the 1908 Constitution, the ARF, which decided to fight together with a bloc including the Committee of Union and Progress, the Private Enterprise and the Decentralization Society against Abdulhamid II, put the self-defense movement in the background. Because they trusted the revolution and reforms, unlike the SDHP, they formed a cooperation with the CUP and preferred to seek a solution in the parliament.158 At this point, the Armenian liberal
155 The National Archive of the United Kingdom (TNA), F.O 195/2251 no:52, 190.
156 See Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology, 55; Dikran Mesrob Kaligian, “Agrarian Land Reform and the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire,” Armenian Review 48 (2003): 29.
157 Ohannes Kılıçdağı, “Armenian Stance to The Second Constitutional Period”, 200; You can also review the article published in Antranig magazine., Antranig, January, 31, 1909, no 2, p. 3, 4. in Kılıçdağı, “Armenian Stance to The Second Constitutional Period”, 202; Bedross Der Matossian, “The Development of Public Spheres among Armenians, Arabs, and Jews after the Young Turk Revolution of 1908,” in L’Ivresse de la liberté: la révolution de 1908 dans l’Empire ottoman, (Peeters, 2012), 199.
158 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 86.
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bourgeoisie also joined the party. Of course, it can be thought that liberal democracy policies started to take place within the socialist ARF.159 In my opinion, the alliance with some Armenian liberal democrats can also be considered an alliance with the intellectual proletariat. While we could not yet fully talk about the working-class consciousness in the Ottoman Empire, where the majority of the population consisted of peasants, it can be seen as the fact that the artisans in the cities and the students who were educated in the big cities of Europe, Russia or the Ottoman Empire were on the side of the peasants in their hometowns. So perhaps this situation can be explained by the definition of “Petite Bourgeois Socialism” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.160
It is questionable how socialist the ARF was, which changed its strategy after 1908. The ARF, which did not choose to become a Marxist party after the Marxism debates in its foundation, also started an Ottomanization movement after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. With these Ottomanization movements, they set up a policy to defend all the oppressed under the Ottoman identity.161 Perhaps because of these Ottomanization policies, they vulgarly used concepts such as class and labor. In other words, it can be said that they did not discuss socialism on a theoretical basis and chose the propaganda with the agitation method on a populist plane. Their cooperation with the CUP from time to time and their emphasis on the function of the parliament can also be evaluated in the context of their understanding of
159 Ter Minassian, “The Role of the Armenian Community”, 143-144.
160 See Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Komünist Manifesto, (Ankara: Sol Yayınları, 2011), 145-146.
161 In order to better imagine the period and the structure of the ARF than today, the Ottomanization movement of the ARF can be compared with the Türkiyelileşme [Turkeyization] movement (being for all oppressed in Turkey not only for Kurds) of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Furthermore, It would not be wrong to say that the ARF's policy of "all the oppressed unite" over the defense of the oppressed is also inherited by the left of Turkey. An understanding of socialism, which produces politics not only based on class but also the defense of the peasants, has also been represented within the left of Turkey.
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socialism that they adopted after 1908 and blended with Ottomanism, which can be called the Socialist Ottomanism.
They considered it significant to do politics in the parliament with the rhetoric of the brotherhood of peoples and the defense of the oppressed. And the ARF, which started to operate in the parliament, also began to examine the promises given to them by the CUP and pressure them to implement the commitments. Returning the lands to those whose lands were usurped, the providing the land to the peasants who were crushed by the taxes they paid to both the landlords and the state, and ensuring the safety of the peasants against the landlord system, were among the main issues of the ARF. In this direction, they continued to pressure the government on issues such as decentralization, resolution of land grabs, land reform, and security. They underlined in the parliament and their publication organs that they would defend not only the Armenians but also all of the oppressed in the Ottoman Empire. I want to emphasize that this is an essential discourse in order to try to understand their mutual relations instead of positioning peoples against each other.
Hereby, they preferred to struggle without leaving the legal framework in the parliament. In this direction, they tried to explain their criticisms and thoughts about the function of the parliament to the public. In other words, they saw the parliament as vital to defend the rights of the people and to demand and follow reforms, and they also increased their legitimacy by being a legal party in this way. Therefore, the next section will provide examples of the ARF’s criticisms and views in parliament.
2.4 Reflection of the ARF’s views on parliament and government via Azadamard
The ARF followed up the promises made to Armenians since 1839 but not kept in the 1910s. The ARF, which gained even a small number of deputies to the parliament
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after the declaration of the Constitution, followed up the reform promises given after Abdulhamid’s repressive regime in the parliament. In Azadamard publications, many articles draw attention to the importance of the parliament. For example, in one of the newspaper’s first articles translated into Ottoman Turkish, they emphasized that the Ottoman Empire did not belong only to Turks; therefore, only Turks should not be in the government.162 In the same issue, it is underlined that constitutionalism means Ottoman and that the Ottoman Empire belongs to all nations living in it:
Let’s not forget that the subject we are talking about is an Ottoman State. On the other hand, an Ottoman State does not mean the dominance of only one element but also means the alliance and reconciliation of nations united under the name of the Ottoman Empire and around the interests and common cause, giving strength to each other.163
While it is stated that the desired reforms should be made for the benefit of all Ottoman nations, the understanding of “Ottoman is all of us” is tried to be emphasized. In other words, it is said that an Ottoman understanding that embraces everyone with a fair representation rate in the parliament and government should be adopted. The motivation in this article, published in 1911, can also be interpreted as increasing the function of parliament. Because the ARF, which does not prefer armed struggle and allies with the CUP, cannot be said to have another chance.
Underlining fair representation in the next issue, the ARF emphasized that the law should be applied for the benefit of everyone, not a group. In the article, the promises of reform that would be implemented for non-Muslims during the Mithat Pasha period were mentioned. It was underlined that the current cabinet should now offer more egalitarian approaches, taking these into account.
Which principle will the constitutional administration accept and apply? The unfair and disastrous system in the administration? Or will the government take the just and unified theories as the guide?
162 Azadamard 532, March 21, 1911.
163 Azadamard 533, March 22, 1911.
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We claim and insist that new principles should govern the new Turkey. The most important of these principles consists of the observance of minority law, that is, applying the national numerical ratio procedure in state organizations such as the courthouse, legislative and civil service.
An Ottoman cabinet consisting of deputies appointed according to the numerical ratio of all the elements of the Ottoman State would be a strong and perfect text, rather than a cabinet consisting of deputies of one or two elements, both internally and externally, both internally and externally.164
Emphasizing that new and more democratic principles should govern the Ottoman Empire, the ARF advocated a more egalitarian proportional representation system in front of the public. Publishing articles on the agenda in the Azadamard newspaper and publishing their Ottoman translations may also be due to the low number of deputies of the ARF in the parliament. In other words, this can be interpreted as an attempt to increase the functionality of the parliament by the ARF, which thinks that they do not have enough representation, to follow up on the CUP’s failure to implement the promised reforms to the public who can read only Ottoman Turkish.
The ARF, which presses the government for the implementation of the promises made and strives for a solution, also emphasizes the importance of the parliament and deputies while defending the elected against the government. In other words, the ARF emphasizes that deputies come to power by being elected, while the council of notables comes to power through appointment. They also stated that this situation contradicted the spirit of constitutionalism.
We have been opposed to the existence of the Assembly of Notables, not for the sake of our own pleasure or by the referral of our specialty, but by considering the necessity of the principle of national sovereignty. To be governed by the sovereignty of the national means to make laws according to the wishes and desires of the nation. The nation's desire is manifested through the National Assembly, which is determined by the nation's vote. Since the people's opinion did not elect the Assembly of Notables, it has no legal commitment to the people; The ruler appointed the Assembly of Notables. And therefore, it is obliged to answer only to the ruler. The main duty of the Assembly of Notables, with the words of the last, is to serve the nobles of the
164 Azadamard 533, March 22, 1912.
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civil servants rather than the people and to defend the interests of a certain class rather than the law of the people.165
As can be seen in the passage quoted in this series of articles, the emphasis is on being elected on the side of the assembly and the people. While these two articles, written on subjects such as elected vs. appointees, the legal system, and the provision of justice, which have always been among the hot topics of the modern world, indicate that the Assembly of Notables is against the spirit of the Constitutional Monarchy, they do not underline that the central government should take a stand on the side of the people.166 Namely, it is seen that the ARF continues to trust the parliament and the elections, perhaps with the motivation of getting rid of the Abdulhamid regime with the cooperation with the CUP. But in this passage and articles, there is an ARF that establishes the importance of the assembly and the elections because people would benefit from it. This brings to mind the possibility that the ARF may continue to cooperate with the CUP, as there is no better option they can find.
The ARF, which has an understanding of politics in line with the needs and expectations of the people and the idea of socialism through the defense of the oppressed, has given importance to the public in this direction and has also discussed parliamentary issues in public. Having believed in the power of public opinion, the ARF continued to bring the problems experienced in the parliament to its newspaper. In an article they published at the beginning of 1912, they disclosed that the Minister of Public Works, Hulusi Bey, who was the executive of the Chester railway project, had lied to the parliament. In this article, which they wrote in two issues, a narrative
165 Azadamard 596, June 7, 1911.
166 See also Azadamard 597, June 8, 1911.
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was established based on the inconsistency of the statements of Hulusi Bey and Said Pasha.
In yesterday’s copy of Azadamard, we published a reply letter sent by Said Pasha to the presiding deputies of the parliament. In the aforementioned answer, a peculiarity was manifested: The Minister of Public Works, Hulusi Bey, almost deceived the council with a dare that could not be tolerated, not even for a minister but even for an honorable person.
As it is known, Hulusi Bey delayed the continuation of the negotiations on the Chester project in the parliament and demanded to withdraw the project, saying that he would make some changes to the project, which he had consulted with the grand vizier.
However, now, according to the statement made by Said Pasha, it has been understood that neither the assembly nor he has made such a decision, and they were never aware of the amendment proposed by Hulusi Bey. Consequently, Hulusi Bey publicly ‘lied’ and ‘deceived’ the parliamentarian, thus committing the biggest crime. (...)
No wrongdoing can be left unpunished or committed against the government. Unless the punishment is within the framework of law and justice, the fulfillment of the beneficial homeland will not be complete.167
The ARF reports that Hulusi Bey, who said that he wanted to withdraw the project with the knowledge of the grand vizier, lied. Hulusi Bey’s statement contradicted the letter of the grand vizier Said Pasha. Describing this situation as direct cheating and lies, the ARF emphasized that they saw this behavior of Hulusi Bey as a crime against the state. In the next series of articles, the ARF published Hulusi Bey’s speech to prove his own statement on the Chester project issue and published Said Pasha’s letter.
The clarity of this … was obvious. Hulusi Bey had vilified the parliament by declaring that he wanted the Chester project with the consent of his grand vizier. We are quoting the self-proving parts of Hulusi Bey from the parliamentary sessions here:
‘Hulusi Bey- If you accept Halaciyan Efendi’s theory, you will return to this project. Now the business has completely taken over.
Halaciyan Efendi- If you will excuse me, I will ask you something. Are you making this request to your name? Or on behalf of the cabinet?
Hulusi Bey- I asked His Excellency the Grand Vizier Pasha, sir.
Pastırmaciyan Efendi- Where is the Tezkere [Letter-bill]?
Hulusi Bey- It will come, sir.
Vartekis Efendi- Let the vizier come and demand his extradition. That time is different.
167 Azadamard 778, January 5, 1912.
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Hulusi Bey- Tezkere arrives.
Cavit Bey- Sir, the issue is very clear and clear. Hulusi Bey, are they saying this on their own behalf or on behalf of the cabinet?
President- In this chapter, no resolution came to the presidency.
Hulusi Bey- Grand Vizier Pasha, I submitted it to His Excellency; let’s take it back. I said give me a tezkere to present it to the president of the assembly. He also said, ‘Come tomorrow, let’s meet, and we will write the tezkere.’ It was late, so I came here. His Excellency, the Grand Vizier Pasha, agreed to the fact. If there is no council's consent, I will go now; I’ll bring a tezkere, and the job will be done.’
After these very clear words of Hulusi Bey, the tezkere of Said Pasha, whose original copy is compiled, leaves no room for doubt any longer:
“However, I would like to repeat that the aforementioned minister's corrections in the last letter he wrote to the parliament were based on his own opinion. He wrote in the previous one that the letter should be withdrawn from the parliament in order to declare its main recommendation to the delegation of deputies.
At one of the next meetings of the deputies of the Assembly, the notification of their decisions, after discussion, sir.”168
After the lie of Hulusi Bey was revealed, sections from the speech he gave in the parliament can be seen above. According to these speeches, it has also been made clear that Said Pasha did not write the letter mentioned by Hulusi Bey. In his speech, Hulusi Bey said, let me go and get the letter. However, another important point is that Said Pasha underlined that the thought mentioned by Hulusi Bey belonged only to Hulusi Bey. In other words, it seems that the request to withdraw the project, which was presented by Hulusi Bey as if it was the cabinet’s idea, was the personal idea of Hulusi Bey, not the cabinet. The ARF thought that Hulusi Bey’s failure to act in accordance with his responsibility does not comply with the spirit of constitutionalism.
The ARF commented on Said Pasha’s cabinet, where Hulusi Bey was a member, that this cabinet would not last long when their cabinet was established. They explain their reason for saying this because the aforementioned cabinet did not
168 Azadamard 782, January 10, 1912.
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act in accordance with the spirit of constitutionalism and even resorted to practices similar to the period of Abdulhamid.
Regardless of the course and outcome of the battle, the Ottoman people should not lose their temper by observing the police and should treat each other with respect, both foreigners and internally. At the moment when our country is in conflict with the political difficulties, the preservation of the peace and order, that is, the power of the world, is more in need of violence.
The first effect of the war is that there will be turmoil in the country, the Europeans will be exposed to life-threatening danger, the Italians in Turkey will be massacred, and some similar delusions, found out, and these rumors can even reach the European press. Of course, although it cannot be said that these rumors have always been fabricated with the motive of hatred and malice, there certainly were and still are those who strongly desired that Turkey fall into such a charge. (...)
Foreigners could not have found a better, more suitable means and opportunity to disgrace the constitutional monarchy and young Turkey with the wrongdoings of the past. (...)
From this point of view, we strongly desire that the formation of the cabinet by His Excellency the Grand Vizier be revived as much as possible so that the new government's policy can become clear and in a state of order. Regardless of how Said Pasha’s cabinet was formed, the cabinet will remain in power for a short time. (...)
In its foreign policy, the new Turkey must adhere to its complete neutrality towards the two-part factions of the European states.169
I would like to underline that the discourse of the ARF in this passage is interesting to me. Because even though we see that there is partial cooperation for the election, the continuation of the parliament, and the reforms to be implemented between the ARF and the CUP, it is interesting to refer to a discourse that includes nationalism, such as external and internal conflicts. Because the ARF claims that it has adopted socialism as a method and sought the solution in socialism under the Ottoman roof.
In this case, the unity of destiny of nationalism and socialism in this geography, which Ter Minassian underlined,170 once again comes to mind. Of course, I would like to emphasize that the nationalist spirit in this passage is an ‘Ottomanist nationalism’ for the ARF. From this point of view, Ottomanism can be
169 Azadamard 700, October 6, 1911.
170 Ter Minassian, Ermeni Devrimci Hareketi’nde, 38.
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considered an important umbrella for the ARF. They also criticize those who act against this idea, which is the least common denominator. Criticisms can also be seen in the examples from Azadamard in this section.
In the article that is the continuation of this series of articles, “We wonder what is the reason?” Underlining that the solution for the problems is the assembly formed by the elected, the ARF questions and criticizes what those in the council of ministers want the task to serve.
Yeah! The point is that; is the reason that describes the formation of the cabinet, is it a conflict of profession and nationality, or is it just a kind of calculation that takes place due to personal interests?
At least in our current state, we would be extremely pleased if the theories on the homeland and profession were preferred to the considerations and concerns related to the individual. However, we are afraid that the event will prove the opposite. In the first case, the dignity of the country and the creed of its people will be immune from harm; In the second case, it will come to the conclusion that outside and within the country, the ministry authorities in Turkey do not decently serve the country’s interests. (p.s.) After our article was written, it was heard that a new cabinet was formed, and it was natural that this news would positively affect public opinion.171
The ARF’s article, which criticizes the current cabinet for not being able to defend the country's interests, instead of succumbing to its personal interests, shows the dreams of ‘Ottoman together or Ottoman umbrella,’ just like the other articles. In this respect, they also show in their articles that they attach great importance to the parliament, being a parliamentarian, and ministry.
Looking at the articles in Azadamard newspaper, you get the impression of the ARF trying to deal with the nation's problems under all circumstances. It can be thought that by emphasizing the importance of the people, the importance of the deputation and the function of the parliament are also emphasized. In these articles, the focus has always been on the people and their problems, and other issues have also been discussed for the public's benefit. In the situation where the Catholic
171 Azadamard 700, October 6, 1911.
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Armenian community and the Patriarch Terziyan Efendi were confronted,172 the ARF, which took a stand on the side of the people, underlined that the issue was dragged on by the government and asked why the gendarme, who used violence against the people, was not punished.
Doesn’t the government even accept the authority of the community council and allow the agreement to be held? If that is the case, why does it not take the necessary measures to immediately open the parliamentary chamber for the congregation? At this time, the Patriarchate should have also been considered the private residence of Terziyan Efendi!
When the congregation demanded that the ‘Patriarchate’ sign be taken down from this ‘private’ residence, the gendarmes, who beat the people in the middle of the street than the interior minister, could not be assigned (line folded). Could it not be assigned to the supply and preservation of Terziyan Efendi?173
Tanin newspaper also published on the problems between Armenian Catholic Patriarch Terziyan Efendi and the Armenian Catholic community.174 Tanin shared Terziyan Efendi’s thoughts that Azadamard and Jamanag newspapers stirred up the Armenians. The quote above shows that Azadamard newspaper sided with the Armenian people, not the Patriarch. Here, the Patriarch interpreted this attitude of Azadamard as provoking the people against the Patriarchate.175
The ARF, which is seen to have the potential to criticize every position when they do not take a stand on the side of the oppressed, makes these criticisms both in the parliament and in front of the public as seen. In order to continue to be in the parliament, it might have formed compulsory cooperation with the CUP,176 a structure that the ARF criticizes so much, in the new elections. Thus, the ARF made
172 The Catholic Patriarch Terziyan Efendi’s personal rudeness and the fact that he spends the aid coming from Rome not for the Catholic Armenian people but for himself and the clergy around him brought the community and Terziyan Efendi against each other. The community also complained about Terziyan, but the government took things slow and told the community to be patient. See Azadamard 784, January 12, 1912.
173 Azadamard 784, January 12, 1912.
174 See Tanin January 6, 1912; January 7, 1912; January 10, 1912; January 13, 1912; February 7, 1912; February 12, 1912.
175 Tanin January 13, 1912.
176 See Tanin February 10, 1912.
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efforts to establish cooperation with the CUP for the 1912 elections against the Party of Freedom and Understanding (PFU) and signed an agreement in this direction at the beginning of 1912.177
In this agreement, the ARF demanded a total of 23 seats in the parliament. In this direction, they were negotiating a candidate nomination. Attaching great importance to the quota issue, the ARF wanted independent Armenians to sign a commitment text so that they could receive the support of the ARF in the election. However, the CUP accepted 13 Armenian candidates as the election approached. The Eastern Office of the ARF wanted the CUP to cancel the agreement for 13 Armenian deputies and allocate 15 quotas to the ARF and 5 quotas for other Armenians. The CUP did not comply with the agreement signed in February 1912, and as a result of the election, only 10 Armenian deputies were able to enter the parliament. The PFU won 20 seats, while the CUP won an overwhelming majority in the legislature.178 These quota struggles can also be interpreted as an effort to show that the ARF is on legitimate grounds and is engaged in politics on legitimate grounds.
With this approach, the importance that ARF attaches to the people's will can perhaps be understood. This attitude of the CUP in the elections caused discontent in the ARF public opinion. Although these criticisms were made public, the ARF describes the continuation of their cooperation with the CUP as their obligatory choice in an article.
As the election process progresses, it becomes clear that the balance of success is strongly indicated towards the Committee of Union and Progress. According to the result obtained so far, the number of deputies who will raise their hands in favor of the Committee of Union and Progress, at least in the first period of the new parliament, will constitute a majority.
However, the concerns about the elections' execution, the measures taken and the like, and the general form of the activity are starting to rise.
177 Suny, They Can Live, 181-182.
178 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 177-183.
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Especially when we consider our country's current and future status and position, we insist again, with necessity, that a society like the Committee of Union and Progress should appreciate and prefer the spiritual rather than its numerical superiority today.
Political life, especially in a country like Turkey, is like a rough sea. If each sect wants to consider the narrow days beforehand and pass the crises that have occurred without danger, their spiritual benevolence should not be overlooked.
A party that desires to establish a foundation in the country and life should be cautious about sowing seeds of happiness and security on all sides to gain a majority in any way by giving paramount importance to temporary victories. Above all, more than anything else, they should be concerned about themself and its affliction. They should bestow his own spiritual power even on his opponents and opponents by spiritually denouncing the general public.179
In this article, written on cooperation and winning elections, it is emphasized that winning the people and appealing to the people should be the main goal, and it is said that the crucial political situation can shape politics in countries like Turkey, where the political field is difficult. It seems that the ARF, which believed in constitutionalism and the promises made in 1908, took a stand for reforms, and in 1912, even though they criticized the CUP a lot, strategically continued with the CUP as the most important logical cooperation in the current situation.
The ARF, which was criticized by the Turkish nationalists for being a separatist and by some Armenians for its cooperation with the CUP, was described as a party with no response in public, on the verge of extinction by the catholicos, who gave an interview to the Russian newspaper Novoye Vremya [the New Times],180 which is against communism. The same catholicos also advocated Russian intervention in the Ottoman Empire. However, the ARF, who stated that they did not want to believe in this interview, once again described the place where they were standing.
The catholicos said: “The Tashnagtsʻutyun society no longer has a body; nothing is heard of it anymore.” In this issue, we ask the following question:
179 Azadamard 858, April 12, 1912.
180 Novoye Vremya was a daily newspaper which was published in Russian in St. Petersburg, advocated liberalism against communism. It closed after the October Revolution.
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Would the Kevork V dare to claim such a great mistake as a fact? Because he knows very well that “Novoye Vremya” does not need to get information from him about whether there is a Tashnagtsʻutyun society or not. Fortunately, the Tashnagtsʻutyun society is not a needle, so why is it said that it fell and then disappeared, and the aforementioned newspaper believes this word naively.
The belief followed by the leading thinkers and politicians in the Armenian nation is clear and unalterable: Armenian communities in Russia, Turkey, and Iran, influenced by the purpose of all kinds of slander, depend on the values of those who are subordinate to the state in their home country to make their own political destiny. should strive for the evolution, freedom, and progress of that country. Just as the geographical conditions and history of the Armenian nation suggest this, even the national interests of the Armenians require it.181
The ARF, which is skeptical of the accuracy of the interview with the Armenian catholicos of the Novoye Vremya newspaper published in Russia, has once again clearly underlined that the leading intellectuals of the Armenians, especially the Tashnagts, are not separatist but are pursuing libertarian politics in favor of the people.
Exactly in this direction, the article they published in Azadamard on the budget issue, one of the parliamentary works, can be given as an example. In the article, the ARF mentioned that the following year’s budget was not still submitted to the parliament and not approved. With this example, it can be seen once again the value that the ARF gave to the parliament and how seriously they took the job. Maybe there was a compulsory valuation for the most positive and beneficial outcome of the compulsory union that I have mentioned before.
Therefore, it is necessary to conclude that the government has carried out collection and deposit transactions even though there is no approved budget. Neither of these two things happened.
The reason why we are talking about the state of mind with this event is that the basis of the constitutional administration consists of the most powerful weapon that determines and limits the actions and transactions of governments; collection and payment are based on the decision of the parliament.182
181 Azadamard 924, June, 29, 1912.
182 Azadamard 936, July 13, 1912.
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The ARF, stating that the government has made unapproved budget expenditures, opened up to discussion on why the budget plan was delayed so much and how the government could spend without the deputies' approval, namely the parliament. The ARF underlined that this government's behavior is incompatible with the Constitution.
In 1912, the articles were frequently encountered, emphasizing the importance of the parliament and the promises that they did not live up to the government’s actions that did not comply with the current laws. Beyond that, there were also articles underlining the significance of the parliament for the functioning of the cabinet. At this point, I would like to present the article titled “Parliament and Cabinet Against Each Other” as an example because I think that the importance of the function of the parliament is directly pointed out as early as in the title.
After the formation of the new cabinet, one of the issues that will be examined is the position and position that the parliament will settle against the cabinet. In countries governed by a constitutional monarchy and parliament, the cabinet cannot be in power without the consent of the parliament. Turkey cannot be an exception to this general rule. In fact, its own constitutional monarchy is quite clear in this regard.183
As can be seen in the passage, the controlling feature of the parliament in constitutional governments is underlined. Moreover, it has been emphasized that a government that the parliament does not want or approves cannot run the country on the grounds that the parliament represents the will of the people in ideal constitutional governments, as well.
As seen both in this passage and in other passages, the ARF tried to explain the necessity of implementing reforms as soon as possible while emphasizing the importance of doing politics on the side of the people. While doing this, they
183 Azadamard 948, July 27, 1912.
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emphasized that the parliament and deputies are important for reforms on the grounds that they represent the will of the people.
2.5 Conclusion
After presenting a historical background on the socialist organizations in the Ottoman Empire, this chapter opened a window to the changing politics of the ARF, one of these socialist organizations, before and after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. The chapter aimed to examine the historical background of socialism in the Ottoman Empire, the ARF’s comments on parliament and reforms through articles in Azadamard newspaper in 1911.
Azadamard newspaper also reflects the ARF’s party strategy of making politics through the parliament, which is in favor of the people and reform. Especially in the issues, they published in Ottoman Turkish after 1911, the effort to increase their legitimacy by declaring their parties’ politics on legal grounds to the public who does not speak Armenian stands out. In other words, the ARF believed in the ideas, Ottomanization and Socialist Ottomanism, enough to publish in Ottoman Turkish before the Balkan Wars began. The next chapter will analyze the ARF’s articles criticizing the non-implementation of promised reforms as reflected in Azadamard.
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CHAPTER 3
REFLECTIONS OF THE UNSOLVED PROBLEMS ON THE AZADAMARD
The previous chapter examined the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire and drew attention to the evolution of socialism in the Ottoman Empire. It also evaluated the socialism of the ARF within this framework. Then it explained that the ARF’s understanding of socialism merged with the idea of Ottomanism after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and that it had moved from radical socialism to reformist socialism. Chapter 2 also examined the importance the ARF gave to the parliament with the reformist approach through the articles in the Azadamard newspaper. This chapter will present the articles in the Azadamard newspaper criticizing the government, highlighting the reformist socialism adopted by the ARF. This chapter will analyze the reflection of the promised but unresolved problems of the ARF. The language used by The ARF in addressing the main unresolved issues in these articles will be examined. Because in the language used in Azadamard’s articles, the traces of the ARF’s understanding of socialism through the defense of the oppressed combined with the idea that wants ‘Ottomanization,’ namely the Socialist Ottomanism, can be seen.
Although it had been three years since the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, the CUP had not taken a step toward fulfilling the promises for the security, land issues, equal citizenship made to the ARF. After the Adana massacres, which was one of the turning points in the relationship between the CUP and the ARF, when we examine the Azadamard newspaper, it is possible to see that 1911 and 1912 also contained other turning points. After the decision to continue the cooperation after the Adana massacres, while the CUP was expected to take concrete steps toward the
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promises, the situation has not been like this at all, the impacts of problems from the past has continued to increase. This situation is reflected in the articles of Azadamard. Of course, even though they expressed their opposition, their hopes for reforms were also reflected in the articles. The fact that they put hope in reforms and Ottomanization is parallel with Socialist Ottomanism approach. This chapter will present the articles that the ARF now openly considers itself to be in opposition and shares its criticisms of the CUP with the public.
3.1 Security
The security issue was one of the five key issues identified to be resolved in the agreement between the ARF and the CUP in Thessaloniki in March 1910.184 Kaligian states that in the early years of the CUP, there were reports that it took action to resolve this issue.185 Although there was considerable progress in preventing looting and insecurity, the CUP did not disband the Hamidiye Regiments. Ohannes Kılıçdağı also cites the 1910 opinion of the Putanya newspaper, “Anatolia was sick of injustice.” According to this newspaper, crime and murder news came every day.186 It was under these conditions that the agreement negotiations in Thessaloniki were held.187
By 1911 the CUP still had not resolved the security issue. The ARF continued to pressure the government on this issue, and in April 1911, they made an agreement again. According to this agreement, Armenian and Kurdish peasants
184 See C/78a-1/Western Bureau, Turkish Section, the report on relations with the CUP between November 1909 and August 1911 cited by Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 81.
185 See Sir Gerard Lowther’s letter, FO424/222/28, February 7, 1910 cited by Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 113.
186 Kılıçdağı cited “Sick Anatolia”, Putanya, June 11, 1911, No: 15, p. 441, 442, in Ohannes Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations of the Ottoman Armenians after the 1908 Revolution/ between Hope and Despair,” (unpublished PhD dissertation, Boğaziçi University, 2014), 148.
187 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 114.
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would be armed to defend themselves against Kurdish landlords.188 Kaligian cites that the East Office of the ARF considered the promises, made by the CUP, were mere illusoriness. So, the relations between the CUP and the ARF were hanging by a thread in 1911.189
Kılıçdağı states that in addition to the land seizures, other attacks such as theft of movable and livestock, kidnapping, rape and murder, which increase the tension between communities, found wide coverage in the Armenian press of the province.190 The Azadamard newspaper, published in Istanbul, also shared the news of the attacks on Armenian peasants in Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan under the title of Provincial Reports. It is seen that the skeptical attitude of the ARF about the CUP’s promises on the security issue is also reflected in Azadamard, the publication organ of the Western Office. This section will examine the reflection of the Armenian peasants’ security problems and the ARF’s attitude in the Azadamard newspaper.
Among the Ottoman articles published in 1911, I think the most striking one is the one titled “Our patience is wearing thin.” There is a clear message in the article’s title, and it discusses the persecutions of Armenians in Bitlis by Kurds. Writers say that Kurdish landlords carry out these persecutions since the Armenians demand land restitution. However, I think the language of criticism is still naïve. I can say that we see an example of the language of the moderate opposition:
Either the government continues to regard the Armenians as a politically unreliable element so it does not fulfill its promises, or it sees itself as incapable of protecting the life and law of the nation against the murderers. Suppose the first idea is not correct, and we do not believe that they have made such a political mistake, the consequences of which can be severe. In that case, the government should act instead of promising, and keep the promises made in the provinces. (…) Our patience is wearing thin; the destruction attempts against the Armenian nation must come to an end. (…)
188 Kaligian quoted from the ARF archives, C/108-42/ from Western Office Turkish Section to Eastern Office Turkish Section, April 2/15 1911 in Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 122.
189 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 123.
190 Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 145.
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Otherwise, we will not waver to accuse Hakkı Pasha and his cabinet that they are directly responsible for the political disorder that the Armenian nation is exposed to.191
It is emphasized in the passage that patience is wearing thin now. The reason why the criticism is naive may be strategic because although they implied that the government is responsible for the disasters that befell the Armenians in the countryside, they still say that they trust the government for a solution. And they persistently continue to guide the government. Although most of the articles published in 1911 seem like an address to the government, the patience in this title continues in the following issues, and Azadamard invites the government to keep their promises.192 This approach was in parallel with the decision of the ARF West Office at that time.193
One of the primary purposes of the Azadamard newspaper is the effort to present the problems from the provinces to the public. Among the problems they reported, the highest number of complaints was about the security issue, which was not resolved even though it was promised. In other words, while the ARF is waiting for the government to keep its word with a warning language, on the other hand, it seems like they were trying to press the government on this issue by collecting news from the provinces. According to a reporter from Siirt, they were subjected to violence on the grounds that they did not pay the hafirlik (rangership) tax:
The people of Mudgan have been without punishment even though they have been performing all kinds of brutality for many years. Although the Armenians complained to the Malakan directorate, the Zavak district governorship, the Siirt governorship, and the Bitlis province by presenting cases and enduring many costs, they could not see any results.
The Kurds, spoiled by this, set the night school on fire together with its annexes and robbed the church. The chaplain, school teacher, and headman of the village went to Malakan and consulted the principal on the way, Hayman
191 Azadamard, 595, June 6, 1911.
192 Azadamard, 596, June 7, 1911; Azadamard 597, June 8, 1911.
193 See C/115-14/Western Bureau, 24 April 1911 in Kaligian, Armenian Organization and Ideology, 85.
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Karyeli Küt Hacı Mehmet Said, meeting them with some of his companions: ‘Why haven't you been paying the hafir tax, which has been established for centuries, for three years?’ They threatened him with their rifles and daggers. The aforenamed Armenians were able to save their lives with difficulty. On the night of April 31, the Kurds of Silanit went out of the village and set fire to a derelict building, and they slandered by saying that the Armenians burned it.194
The Siirt Silanit report, which is one of the reports revealing that the issue of public order, which is one of the most fundamental problems that Armenians are exposed to, has not been resolved even after years after the declaration of the 1908 Constitution, shows that the ARF still has not reached a conclusion regarding the security of life, property, and honor, which has been on the agenda since 1839. Another striking issue here is that the title of this news is “Spoiled Bandits.” Emphasis on the word “spoiled” may be due to the fact that the ARF thinks that the reflections of actions and reforms in the provinces may develop differently. Namely, while the central government was talking about the reforms, bureaucrats and the people in the provinces may have not internalized these ideas of change.
At this point, the newspaper reflects that security and stability will not be possible without all reforms reaching the whole society in its next issue. The article draws attention to the importance of the courts in the success of the reforms and states that the unfair court system has driven non-Muslims to the point of eruption like a volcano:
The result of this was that the complaints that took place increased until they were heard, gradually expanded, and finally, one day, an incompetent government was found in front of an inflamed volcano. (...)
As it is known to everyone, the people of our country do not adequately comply with each other's law and civil liberties due to the difference in their own morals, and even some people of influence, inherited from the past, have their own prejudices and problems. If it is taken into account that they are trying to get away with the claw of the laws of the law as well as carrying out the impropriety, it will be seen how valuable and vital justice is for our country.
194 Azadamard, 604, June 16, 1911.
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The whole security and stability of the country will never be possible unless the idea of justice is determined and carried out in all directions, leading to all reforms and organizations.
Implementation of reform should start first and foremost with the judge. This is the best way. Wherever there is justice, even the consummation of life and the corresponding trust, which are the proof of the order of the political order, will be achieved.195
As it can be understood from the language of the article, the ARF is trying to explain the situation of the country not only to the CUP officials as the audience but also to anyone who can read Ottoman Turkish and follow politics. Once again, this can be an indication that they still give the Ottomanist idea a chance.
In one of the following issues of the newspaper, the ARF criticizes the injustice through the attempt to confiscate the Pangaltı Church and its cemetery, this time emphasizing that the problems should be resolved rather than creating new problems by making a stronger opposition.
We ask again: Did the mayoralty attempt to seize a building or seize a plot of land without obtaining the consent of a foreigner beforehand? It is beyond doubt that such a move did not take place. Anyone who dared to do so would have to sign his resignation within twenty-four hours.
This means that in our country, justice and the treatment it entails are always for non-Ottomans. When the issue belongs to one of the Ottoman subjects, justice will no longer be immune from its own judgment and influence.
Let’s admit that our officials misconstrue and interpret the civil law of the Ottoman Empire.
However, as long as the issue belongs to the rights of a whole nation, its degree of importance will, of course, be even more severe. We repeat that if a mayor, a nation that constitutes one of the parts of the Ottoman Empire, is to strengthen in this way and cause violence, he will have made the biggest mistake. In the era of the Meşrutiyet, which we consider to be a source of pride, our officers must adopt such actions and actions that will result in mistakes whose treatment is the same.
What would happen in the insecure areas in the interior of Anatolia if there were to dare to openly attack the rights of the Armenian nation in this sultanate? In fact, would not all the attacks that have taken place up to now on those sides be excused? I wonder if he is thinking about this place?
In the context of the atrocities and atrocities that the Armenian nation has been subjected to, this issue of saving is the one that I am most concerned
195 Azadamard, 605, June 17, 1911.
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about. Therefore, he should seriously consider the negative of his own threat. We consider it our duty to recommend this to them, impotently.196
As seen in the passage, it is clearly stated that the Armenians in Anatolia are not safe. Beyond this, another essential point is the emphasis on the behavior toward non-Ottomans at the beginning of the passage. It is obvious that the ARF sees Armenians as Ottomans and objects to the fact that a practice that cannot be applied to non-Ottoman citizens is applied to Armenians. They seem to know the reason for this as the fact that both those who have power in the administration and the civil servants cannot fully grasp the logic of constitutionalism. In fact, they are not wrong in their determinations since it was one of the crucial findings of the period when there were problems in the implementation of new laws, especially in the provinces.
It is possible to interpret the way the ARF interprets the issues in the provinces as the constitutional monarchy's inability to reach the provinces. As a basis for this, they show the news of violence from the provinces and the indifference of the governors to these events. In other words, they underline that there is still a security problem and that in order to solve this problem, the central government should focus on relations with the provinces. For example, in an article in 1912, they publicly share the issue of the governor and the gendarmerie:
The people are not obliged to know the extent of the power of the governor; the people have the right to demand the body of this power. And if the government does not have this power, it may be due to either the government’s inability or its unwillingness to act. In this prominent issue, the first of these two reasons is true. We are not making any baseless claims. On the contrary, our claim is both fundamental and non-disclaimed.
The Unionist government, which has been in power for four years, can very well know that there is no regular gendarmerie regiment in Van and other provinces populated by Armenians. Likewise, no participation of the Armenians in the fragmented gendarmerie delegation is not a coincidence. Even if the gendarmerie committee, which is composed of local Islamic elements, is in a degree of perfection, it still cannot serve the situation. Due to an undefinable mood, a committee formed in this way does not apply the violence imposed by the law against the bandits or criminals who are
196 Azadamard, 622, July 7, 1911.
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members of its coreligionists. They do not follow and arrest bandits like Mirmihi and Sait. This is not only because his religious feelings are more of a text than his duty of conscience. There are some nexuses between the gendarmerie and the bandits, such as propinquity, relative-in-law, and fellow country.197
No matter how much the ARF criticizes the CUP, as can be seen in the first paragraph of the passage, they accuse the CUP of incompetence rather than unwillingness to solve the security problem. It seems that they criticize the central government for not being able to change the old power relations in the provinces by holding the central government directly responsible for the solution of the problems in the provinces. The second paragraph of the passage gives examples of the power relations established by people with the gendarmerie and gangs. I think we can call the power communication network that the ARF describes here as the crony-order because, both here and in other examples, we see that the relations established before constitutionalism have not changed for the sake of specific interests or for particular motivations. The ARF also emphasizes that this chain of ties must be broken so that constitutionalism can be digested and the problems of the disadvantaged, including Armenians, can be resolved:
What has the Committee of Union done to improve and cure this situation? They promised to the Tashnagtsʻutyun society that the new gendarmerie regiments would be formed, that even Armenians would be included in these regiments to a certain extent, and that they would even be sent to follow the detachment. However, none of these have been given to the executive until now, but the matter has reached such levels that the Armenians in the villages of Van are in the same horror today as they were in the time of Hamid.198
Expressing their constant surprise that the promises made to them were not fulfilled, the ARF reminds the CUP of the period of Abdulhamid II. I think this reminder is significant because the relations between the ARF and the CUP developed over the
197 Azadamard, 896, May 28, 1912.
198 Azadamard, 896, May 28, 1912.
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opposition to the Abdulhamid regime. When it came to 1912, they could not have explained more strikingly that the Armenians’ life was not getting any better, even though years had passed since the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy. The reason why this is a striking connotation is that it refers to the Abdulhamid regime, which implemented pan-Islamic policies with regard to the issue of security, namely the right to life.
Again, regarding the behaviors of the provincial authorities that are not in favor of solving the problems, we read about the child kidnapping and the governor’s failure to take any steps regarding the issue:
During this month, four girls were abducted. One of them is a ten-year-old girl from Karakilise, two from Tutak, and the other from Toprakkale. As it is understood from a telegram drawn up by the murahhasa vekili -deputy of the spiritual leader- of Eleşkirt and the people, it is no longer possible to make a living in Eleşkirt. The people had to apply to foreigners and leave their homeland. The telegram was presented to the governor: ‘A girl who is ten years old cannot be kidnapped. Return it to its owner immediately.’ Although he promised that he would draw up a telegram in the translation, no result could be reached yet.199
The fact that they were waiting for a solution from the regional administrators but could not get any results caused the Armenians to apply to the representatives of foreign countries, and more importantly, it was underlined that they had to leave the places where they lived once again. The latter is a vital issue because while the Armenians, who were expelled from their lands during the reign of Abdulhamid II, had hopes of returning to their homes in the new era, we see once again that old problems such as child abduction and displacement continue, although almost four years have passed since the proclamation of the constitutional monarchy. The injustice of the authorities in the region has reached such a point that another report
199 Azadamard, 913, June 16, 1912.
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states that although he killed an Armenian woman, the Pütürge government did not catch Kör Ali from Ağvan.200
Another security problem inherited from the Abdulhamid II period is the issue of relations between the emigrants (muhajirs) and Armenians. While it is possible to see examples of this emigrant issue in the regions of Armenia and Lazistan, I would like to share the example of Yeniköy in Bursa region from the Azadamard newspaper. Because the article shares the issue with the public by questioning how such misery is experienced in a place the next to Istanbul:
Four hours from Istanbul, two hours above Yalova, Yeniköy, Cengiz, and Ortaköy Armenian villages, which can see Istanbul from afar, were the target of the emigrants’ treacherous actions yesterday.
After the emigrants, who were encouraged and protected until now, dispossessed the land they had seized from the Armenians forcibly as their own property, they feared the three villages that had lived there for centuries with the sweat of their own brow, filled the treasury and fulfilled their civilization duties properly.
On the other hand, these cases started after a man named Mustafa Kemal Bey was appointed on Sunday.
Who is this man? Where does he come from? What are the states of the past? These places are unknown to us, but according to the rumors among the people of the aforementioned villagers, this man was on that side as a civil servant during the Adana events.
We wonder again, ‘it is not something that happens; it is just a bad misunderstanding’ will the official statement be taken?
We hope that the government will determine the stages of consultation and punish those who committed the attack and the district governor, who is as guilty as them or more.201
Thinking that those responsible did not receive the punishment they deserved after the Adana massacres, the ARF emphasizes in this passage that after a person associated with the Adana massacres came to Yeniköy as the district governor, violent incidents against Armenians began to take place here as well. I chose this passage as an example of violence by immigrants, as I think it is an essential indicator that there are such security problems in villages so close to Istanbul. The
200 Azadamard, 913, June 16, 1912.
201 Azadamard, 921, June 26, 1912.
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ARF also says that this can no longer be considered a misunderstanding and asks the government to punish those responsible people. I find this request interesting because although the article implies that they do not trust the government, the ARF concludes by stating that they continue to hope.
We see that this hope of the ARF still exists in the future. Although they criticize the policies of the CUP in parallel with the ARF party programs, it is possible to understand their hopes about the Constitutional Monarchy, that is, the revolution, and therefore their relations with the CUP, from the fact that they expect a solution from the government in their articles:
The reason for the anger and complaint of the Armenians is that the government keeps the provinces inhabited by Armenians in a politically secure and public order.
The grievance and complaint of the Armenians are that, although forty-eight months have passed since the establishment of the constitutional monarchy, the government has not implemented any reforms that can be sufficient to ensure the peace for the Armenians and the guarantee for tomorrow.
Successive cabinets gave Armenia nothing but empty promises. That is to say, the situation deteriorated more and more, and warfare and fighting were allowed.
That is the main issue.
This is the reason why the Armenians are demanding guarantees of action and urgency.202
Expressing its due diligence in the passage of this article, which was written about two months after the previous passage, the ARF accuses the CUP of not implementing any reforms so far. They also underline that this is the main issue for the country. Again, in this article, the ARF reports that Mir Maha in Van committed banditry and used violence before these determinations. But despite all this, they report that he was not caught on the grounds that he fled to Iran. Therefore, an environment of trust could not be established. They attribute this situation to the failure of the will and the chain of command to function properly.
202 Azadamard, 988, September 13, 1912.
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I have mentioned that The ARF consistently criticized the CUP in parallel with their party program. I tried to present examples from 1911 and 1912 in order to reflect various topics related to public order and security. Here, going back to 1911, I would like to refer to an article in which a multi-layered analysis of the security problem was made. In the previous passages, I have also mentioned that the ARF was hopeful even in 1912, but I think this article shows that this hope is a strategic hope:
Sait roams freely with his 50-60 cavalry. They collect massive money, ruin the maintenance of the peasants, terrify the whole province and occupy the position. (...) However, Sait went to the neighborhood called Ostan during the daytime, conducted target practice in front of the government office, slaughtered sheep and invited the district governor to the feast. It should not be assumed that local administrators in the provinces are in close contact with the bandits in secret from the central government. According to the military officers’ testimony in Van, even the governor himself issued an ‘exemption order’ for the deceased bandit sergeant.203
Is it possible to see this as a reflection of the CUP’s stance is a difficult question, but as can be seen from the following sentence, the ARF article argues that this network of power relations cannot be seen apart from the center. This is an important point because we see that the ARF, which produces ideas for the welfare and unity of the country in its articles, did not surrender unconditionally to the new regime. At the same time, such anecdotes are the clues that the ARF maintains a policy that is consistent with its socialist, that is, in favor of the oppressed and disadvantaged policy. In the continuation of the text, another official who was not punished for his actions is mentioned:
Let’s not go too far back: None of those convicted because they were the perpetrators and perpetrators of the Adana bloody disaster saw their punishment. If Kör Hüseyin Pasha had been in another country or in another situation after he had escaped abruptly, he would have been considered a
203 Azadamard, 725, November 4, 1911.
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traitor to the state, and perhaps he would have been executed, but our government reinstated him, and he was accepted as a glorious ‘majesty.’204
Although the ARF decided to continue with the CUP against the reactionary elements after the Adana massacres, they show that they are following this situation even though it has been two years. In my opinion, this is one of the typical situations to be encountered in what is called strategic politics. Because it is not possible for the parties to reach a hundred percent consensus, at this point, allies and blocs emerge over how much interests and programs are put into action as a result of negotiations. Here, I believe that the ARF took note of the Adana massacres and obviously learned a lesson from it since they observed what happened, analyzed, and followed the results. Also, while making all these criticisms, the fact that they emphasized that they were hopeful made me think that their hope was a strategic hope.
As a final example of the security problem, I would like to give the article in which the list of violent incidents that happened to peasants in Bitlis and Van provinces in the first four months of 1912 was published:
In Kanun-i Sanî [January]:
1- During a fight in the Kurdish village of Çırnak, 3 Kurds were killed.
2- Said extorted 12 liras from a Kurdish peasant in Azgara.
3- Behram Bey, son of Gavli Khan, one of the sons of Khan Muhamed, killed his uncle Halil in Gavan.
4- Saray villagers killed 2 gendarmes while several Kurds pursued them for their convictions.
in February:
5- In Van, an Armenian killed another Armenian because of a love affair.
6- The Kurds massacred chief Tomas of Pergari village in Gargar.
7- One of them was killed by the other in a conflict whose Anavanik village was from the Armenian people [this line is not read].
8- In Namziran, 7 gendarmes and an officer named Sami Bey were killed.
in March:
9- The Kurds killed an Armenian named Misak from Hunsurbey village in Garcagan.
10- A gendarme was killed in Nefs-i Van while he was following Serkiz from Bulgaria.
11- Sheikh Ahmet massacred an Armenian from Urdab village in Garcagan from Gurtanagn and Saldo.
204 Azadamard, 725, November 4, 1911.
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12- Again, murdered murderers murdered another Armenian from Ardap.
13- Chugu villager, Mih in Upper Gargar, murdered two Armenians from Simpon together with his seven armed friends. One of them is Manas Avadisyan, and the other is Simon Khachaturian.
14- Bandits from Sarkiz, the village of Bagakis in Gargar, stole and usurped 45 liras.
15- The same thugs cut off one of the ears of Tomas the Great.
In April:
16- Several Kurds usurped the revolver of an Armenian from Harurend village.
17- Another savior from the Şakrans village in Garcagan was murdered.
18- When some Armenians from Bagakis village in Garcagan took 45 liras by mail and took it from Karasu, they were seized on the way.
19- Hasan Ağa from the village of Salhahana deported the Armenians from their own lands.
20- Bandits attacked at night on the Bağ village of Dado plain and killed seven Armenians.
21- Two Kurds, one male and the other female, were killed, and a woman was murdered in a conflict that broke out between the people of the Shukanis Kurdish village in Şitak and the gendarmes due to the issue of soldiers.
(there is more).”205
“(Continuation of our Wednesday edition)
22- On April 5, Mardik, Armenian, from the village of Kağıgülü in Şatak, was killed by 17 wedge blows.
23- In Pergari, a mullah was murdered by his own brother.
24- On the 23rd of April, Manok Agobyan leylen from Bagakis village in Garcagan was murdered.
25- With the encouragement of the Tagur Kurdish Hüseyin Pasha, two girls from the Patnos village in Erciş were robbed.
26- Mirmihnik gulams crossed both ears of a Kurd from Kidkan village in Nordoz.
27- In a confrontation that took place between Sheikh Khalid and Mirmihi from the Qur'an plain in the vicinity of Moskav in Şatak, five rifles of Mirmihi and one of his horses were usurped.
28- Ahmet, son of Mihi, from Dere village, who joined Timar, was transferred.
29- Osman Ağa, the headman of the Kurkuban village who joined Nordoz, and his wife were killed by Mirmihi.
30- They were fortified by Nirta and Avan, son of Arif Şavil, from Hernik village in Garcagan.
31- Hayus Surlu Mahmut Nemo aka Kurd was massacred by unknown Kurds.
32- Teksan Agobyan, 18 years old, from the Yukarısapan district in El-Cevâz, in the neighborhood called Taravanik, was killed by Abdurrahman and his rüfeka, and passed away within a few days. During the investigation, 37 pellets were removed from the deceased’s body.206
205 Azadamard, 915, June 19, 1912.
206 Azadamard, 918, June 22, 1912.
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As the atmosphere of violence and unrest has increased, Azadamard published the list of murders from the article titled “Sleeping Lion” of Ashkhadank published in Van. They also talk about the reaction of the district police chief who read the translation of this article. The chief of police accuses the newspaper of inciting discord among fraternal nations with such articles. In fact, the accusation of the police chief is a manifestation of the point of view of the officers at the time towards the representatives of the Armenian nation. As can be seen in the examples of security issues that I presented in different themes from 1911 and 1912, it is obvious that the new regime had serious problems in the digestion process, especially in the minds of Muslim state officials. In a nutshell, when we look at the security issue, we see the CUP government that has failed to break the power relations from the past, the ARF that criticizes it for being incompetent, and even cooperation that is now at odds.
In addition, even though the landlords were Kurdish and Turkish, it is seen that the articles in the Azadamard newspaper did not conduct the discussion on an ethnic basis, but instead, they criticized the landlords’ relations with the center. This is a significant point because, as Chapter 2 underlines, the ARF adopted the socialism approach through the defense of the oppressed, and this language Azadamard used while criticizing the issue is a sign that the ARF's socialist policy continued.
3.2 Military service
Another ongoing issue between the ARF and the CUP is military service. It can be said that after the decisions taken on this issue, there was an atmosphere of concern among the Armenian people. In July 1909, the exemption tax was abolished, and
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military service became compulsory for every Ottoman man, including non-Muslims, as a requirement of the constitutional regime. Kılıçdağı states that as of 1909, the attitude of Ottoman Armenians towards military service was complex.207
Suny states that Greeks, Armenians, and Arabs resisted some of the CUP’s modernization programs that imposed general rules and obligations for all the empire’s peoples, threatening to undermine their autonomy. He points out, for example, that powerful Greek and Armenian clergy opposed laws that would abolish autonomous educational institutions and the principle of exempting non-Muslims from conscription.208 Kılıçdağı also states that the Armenian religious authorities were concerned that Christian soldiers might have been pressured to convert to Islam. He adds that hiring Christian officers would help alleviate this concern.209 He gives examples from Yomra (Trebizond), Adapazarı, and Sivas about the concerns among the Armenians.210
On the other hand, both secular and some spiritual intellectuals and opinion leaders stated that this law gave the ‘right to fight’ and that it had meaning and value. They thought that this right would contribute to the citizenship status of Armenians. Furthermore, they believed that military service should be a prerequisite for ‘equal’ citizenship. Kılıçdağı gives examples from the articles in which opinions on this issue were published in the Armenian press in Anatolia. It can be seen in these writings that Armenians were encouraged to do their military service. In addition to this, he also quoted on the news that Armenian people in some cities of Anatolia also support the military law within the scope of the principle of equal citizenship.211
207 Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 252-253.
208 Suny, They Can Live, 163-164.
209 Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 271.
210 Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 264-266.
211 Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 253-259.
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Kılıçdağı, who stated that it caused mixed feelings among Armenians, is right in this regard. This is also seen in Azadamard’s articles. For instance, they published two consecutive articles. In the first of these articles, the non-Muslim people, who had the right to exemption from military service before, were worried about the current system:
The 76th article of the law of the army in the Ottoman Empire caused general anxiety and excitement among non-Muslims, who were exempt from military service until the 1908 Constitution Revolution.212
Although Azadamard begins the article by openly saying that non-Muslims have concerns and discomfort with the current military law, it states that more efforts should be made to establish a modern military system instead of criticizing it.
In the following article, it is seen that they published an article trying to persuade Armenian youth to do their military service. Even the young Armenian population, who migrated from the country to avoid military service, draws attention. I would like to share an article in which the ARF explains its direct view on this issue.
A Pointless Panic
The Armenian youth of some provinces leave their homeland with extraordinary enthusiasm and go to the foreign realm. Since it is reliable intelligence, the reason for this is to avoid military service. (...) A young man who deserted to foreign countries with the intention of getting rid of his military service must take the risk that he will not be able to return to his homeland. (...) Which young person can take into account all kinds of hardships and troubles that occur in the homeland with the utmost seriousness? (...) No, you young people, no! In order to get rid of a three-year hardship, you are giving yourself a hard time that will last for twenty or thirty years in your entire life. You are killing yourselves alive for your country and for your future. Or even without thinking it out, you are attaching a light load to a double heavy load.213
As can be seen in the passage, the ARF wrote an article in the tone of “You are still naive, you cannot fully evaluate what is happening, do not leave your hometown,
212 Azadamard, 906, June 8, 1912.
213 Azadamard, 920, June 25, 1912.
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young people.” It seems that there is an ARF that does not see the military issue as insoluble. They must have chosen the title of the article with this in mind. In other words, if they thought they could achieve their goals, they described the Ottoman Empire as a “homeland” and advised young people to stay in this homeland.
In short, as Kılıçdağı pointed out, the compulsory military service for non-Muslims with the change in the military law in 1909 caused different reactions among the Armenians. As Suny stated, some Armenian intellectuals opposed this law. And, as stated in Azadamard, some Armenian youth started to migrate from the country to escape from military service. In addition to all these concerns, Azadamard, the publication organ of the ARF, published articles stating that military service should be evaluated within the framework of the principle of equal citizenship. At this point, it can be thought that the ARF still had hopes for Ottomanism.214
3.3 Decentralization
The 1908 Constitutional Revolution was the beginning of a period in which the aim was to move toward European-style modernity through the program of Ottomanism. The program understood by Turks and non-Muslim populations from the politics of ‘Ottomanism’ was not the same. As Suny underlined, Turks interpreted the Ottomanism program as an empire in which Ottoman Turkish was the mother tongue, the central government was strengthened, and ethnic differences were abolished. The non-Muslim population, on the other hand, saw the Ottomanism program as an empire in which their language was recognized, their ethnic identity
214 For the hope and optimism among Armenians after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution see Kılıçdağı, “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 29-49.
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protected, and a decentralized government system was established.215 Thus, according to the ARF, one of the critical issues of the period was related to the administrative structure of the state.
The ARF, which officially recognized the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire in 1908, announced in its party program that it wanted decentralized administration for Ottoman Armenia. Of course, they also emphasized that Ottoman Armenia was an inseparable part of the Ottoman Empire.216 Although traces of nationalism can be seen, the ARF’s commitment to decentralization can also be interpreted as an indication that the lines of socialism continue because they adopted the autonomous region as a significant step toward establishing socialism in their party programs.
Furthermore, Kılıçdağı states that most of the Armenian press in Anatolia agreed with the ARF. These newspapers underlined that the existing central system in the Ottoman Empire was insufficient to find solutions to the people’s problems, and they cited countries in the world with a decentralized system as an example.217
The ARF also reveals that they closely follow the subject with their articles in Azadamard. In the ARF members’ articles, they try to support the idea of regional autonomy with examples and data. But in this regard, as in the issue of security, they show different tendencies from the CUP. Though they have different views from the CUP, of course, they do not stop explaining how essential regional autonomy is in the frame of “strategic hope” I have mentioned before.
Islahat-ı Mahalliye [Local Reforms] on Various Continents of the Country:
Meanwhile, the issue of reform of the locality, which needs to be carried out in Albania and Arabia, is a matter of negotiation between the government. There are severe anxieties and, of course, intense desires on this topic.
215 Suny, They Can Live, 158.
216 Suny, They Can Live, 159.
217 Kılıçdağı cited from Putanya, December. 17, 1911, No: 31, p. 529 and Haraç, November. 3, 1909, No: 45, p. 2, 3, in “Socio-Political Reflections and Expectations”, 218-219.
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However, we are afraid that when the influence of the present state is lost, even good intentions are lost to that extent. The reason for this fear and suspicion is that in the high administration of our country, the emergence of steadfast anxiety is always striking, and this defect continues and recurs instead of being corrected and improved. (...)
It is almost impossible to object to the fact that the Ottoman state was not made up of disparate and distant colonies like England but was a unity, a mass of coherent continents. Yes, Arabia with Albania, Macedonia with Havran, Anatolia with Istanbul, Algeria with Iraq; They are not as far apart as the distance between London and Kolkata and Manchester and New Zealand. But is there any doubt that Albania is far from Arabia, Havran from Macedonia, Istanbul from Anatolia, Iraq from Algeria, from the point of view of morals and customs, climate, economy, and spirituality? Is it possible to sit in Istanbul and manage and satisfy all the various continents and all the main sources of the country? Is there an idea that is free from vices in politics and that contemplates and with the rule of law so that it can claim that this can be applied? (...)
We hope that all the money that was spent in vain with so much blood flowing in Albania and Arabia will be our last disaster and that the period of reform of fundamentalism and reasoning will be made separately for each continent in our constitutional monarchy. Our state’s ability to progress and spread through peace and righteousness, through strength and steadfastness, is essentially dependent on this condition.218
The two distant borders of the state, from Albania to Arabia, are mentioned, and decentralization is depicted and presented as a solution. Of course, instead of presenting this proposal casually, they make a detailed analysis of the experiences of the British Empire, give the example of the United States and India, and finally give a warning. While analyzing Britain, they emphasize that they are aware of the differences, but that autonomy is the only way to stop the bloodshed in regions with such different flow of life. In the same article, they remind the effect of the nationalist movement in the Balkans and state that the only way to become an Ottoman is through decentralization.
Since no steps have been taken for decentralization, the issue continues to be discussed in Azadamard. Towards the end of 1911, a detailed article was written that
218 Azadamard, 609, June 22, 1911.
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examined the British model once again and how it could be applied in the Ottoman Empire. Britain’s survival despite nationalism is described as a success story.
The connoisseurs of England’s politics know very well that as the people of India progress more and more politically in their civilization, even this autonomy will inevitably form a form; on the contrary, it will gradually expand unless it is modified and limited. As a matter of fact, this is what happened in Katada, Australia, and South Africa, and these countries have total freedom with their own parliament. (...)
The English government has come to the conclusion that the maintenance of the state of affairs is not through centralization and the pressure exerted by the government, but with the heartfelt contentment of the nations under the sovereignty of the hidden pen, with the favor and affection of those nations towards them. (...)
While the population of England, which is 44 million, has 400 million assailants belonging to all tribes and sects, the Turkish state is constantly in dispute and conflict with the dissident population, which is less than 200 million.
The reason for this is apparent. Our people do not give up on the old-fashioned administration, which has already been eliminated in the countries in civil affairs and experience and has accrued inconveniences and harms. While the method and motto of muhtariyet-i milliye [ethnicity-based autonomy] should be considered the sole basis and strength of the Ottoman Empire, all of these are viewed as blasphemy. If there is a method of administration that will never benefit Turkey and will result in nothing but harm, it is centralization. I wonder if it is time to take lessons from the methods that are currently in many more intelligent nations than we are in the experience? England is one of these nations and even the first.219
I found what was written in this passage exciting because even though the ARF is consistent with party policies by emphasizing that they are in favor of decentralization, the way they defend this policy, I think, is not consistent with what they advocate. Because although they do not have a socialist understanding without nationalism, I believe it is necessary to ask how compatible Britain’s imperialist approaches are as an example and the view of Britain as a “high civilization” with their way of doing politics. Two possibilities come to mind here. Firstly, the possibility that the language of the article was not accepted in the ARF as well, but that I could not see a disclaimer afterward prompted me to consider the second
219 Azadamard, 769, December 26, 1911. This article does not explain how it determines the numbers of populations in the sphere of influence of the mentioned countries.
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possibility. That is the strategic preparation of this article, published in both Armenian and Ottoman, for its readers. In other words, they may have wanted to respond to the CUP’s staff and community, which made politics by taking the West as an example with the successful practices of the West.
It is possible to understand from the articles in the Azadamard newspaper that the ARF is quite insistent on decentralization. They try to explain that it will benefit the country at every opportunity, especially like in the previous two articles that I have presented as an example; they try to provide world news and analyses. In doing so, they cited even non-socialist imperial and colonial systems as an example, which once again may have shown how much they care about decentralization. In the third example that I would like to give on this subject, they refer to the talks of European states on the Balkans and make an inference:
Although this form of intervention by the European states in the internal affairs of our country is seen in a way that will undermine the dignity and expertise of our state, we must admit that the application of the decentralization method will be the most beneficial for Turkey. By ascribing the national relations of the Turkish nationals, they will gain strength, including themselves, and in this way, they will consider the existence of a general state as a matter of life for them.
Let’s see how quickly and successfully the Turkish state will resolve the equality of law of various nations, the grounds of appeal, and their enforcement. In our opinion, Turkey’s salvation depends on this aspect more than anything else. Execution of the decentralization method in accordance with reason is undoubtedly one of the measures to be taken in accordance with the desired in this way today.
The sooner our government recognizes the inevitability of this need, which cannot be delayed, the less likely it will be for European intervention.220
As seen in the previous passages and this passage, the ARF insisted on decentralization by establishing a strategy between 1911 and 1912, especially through the Balkans and the Arabian Peninsula. They also present to the public that autonomy is the way to operate the Ottoman identity against the separatist movement
220 Azadamard, 967-975, August 29, 1912.
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in these regions. Although they state that the European intervention that he mentioned in this passage will be a bad situation, the message is given to the government that this possibility of intervention can also be considered as an opportunity to take a step towards decentralization.
3.4 Elimination of ‘others’
It may have been thought that the problem of elimination of the dissidents during the reign of Abdulhamid II would be resolved with the proclamation of constitution. In the 2nd congress of the CUP in 1910, Ahmet Rıza, who was considered the representative of the liberal wing, was excluded. Nationalist and Turkist wings gained weight in the party. The Italian War, which started in 1911, was also influential in strengthening the nationalists within the party. The ARF, on the other hand, still insisted on the idea of Ottomanism and reforms. In this environment, Prince Sabahaddin founded the Freedom and Entente Party in November 1911, together with those who opposed the current regime.221
Moreover, it is known that the CUP put various pressures on other opposition parties, made arrests, and beyond that, the faction that gained strength within itself adopted an assimilation policy on other factions.222 At this point, this elimination movement can be seen as the elimination of not only the opponents but also everyone who is not from the CUP, namely ‘others.’ As Chapter 2 examines, the CUP dissolved the assembly and decided to hold elections in 1912. the ARF chose to agree with the CUP to set more Armenian quotas in the parliament.
221 Gaidz F. Minassian, “Birinci Dünya Savaşı Öncesinde İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Devrimci Federasyonu Arasındaki İlişkiler,” in Ermeniler ve İttihat ve Terakki: İşbirliğinden Çatışmaya, ed. Robert Koptaş, (İstanbul: Aras Yayınları, 2013), 184-185.
222 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 169-183; Minassian, “Birinci Dünya Savaşı Öncesinde”, 185.
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Even though the ARF cooperated with the CUP during and after this election atmosphere, they continued to warn the CUP via their press because of its repressive policies. It is possible to see articles on the subject in Azadamard, although less so than other problems. Since it is a different theme, I wanted to present an example from the period and the newspaper on this subject. In this article, published in 1912, the period of terror during the French Revolution is discussed as an example:
Even France’s great revolution, during the ‘Terror’ had committed the same mistake as destroying political factions. The army of revolution would have destroyed itself and deserved its own death and life. Freedom, unity, and equality had allowed the Neapolitan sword to come and stand on the head of their motto.
When that great mistake in the French Revolution, which was incapable of repair, was preserved in the memory of nations as an example of inspiration, the same mistake did not repeat itself in any nation after that.
As a matter of fact, although Turkey was not condemned to the pit of political sects during the constitutional monarchy, in all European nations governed by the constitutional monarchy today, the nature and duty of the political factions were not appreciated in the same way, in our case.
In Turkey’s current constitutional monarchy, the sects did not surrender each other’s rights and bodies. And with the motive of this development, they went to the square, and they insulted the application of every kind of instrument and insulted one another. They used all sorts of weapons, both legitimate and illegitimate, in order to destroy the bodies of the party’s opponents.
The Committee of Union, by denying the existence of other legitimate constitutionalists and preventing the emergence of opposition parties, almost put the safety and security of the Constitution in jeopardy and even harmed the orderliness of the parliamentary machine. The Committee of Union did not want to take this epigram into consideration.
The current state and its position are sufficient evidence to prove this truth.
One pan of the scale of the Constitutional Monarchy has now become extraordinarily heavy and has fallen extremely low. The other pan that the scales needed in order to rise up and find its balance disappeared.223
The question of whether revolutions devour their own children is discussed in the article. The ARF cites the French revolution as an example since the concept emerged during the terror period of the French Revolution. The CUP, which was the most powerful revolutionary component after Abdulhamid II, is also criticized for disposing of other parties and organizations that fought against the Abdulhamid
223 Azadamard, 943, July 21, 1912.
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regime. With the example of the French revolution, it is emphasized that this way is the wrong choice. It is pointed out that the CUP has damaged the understanding of justice with this resolution movement, and beyond that, it has upset the balance of powers. This balance of power discussion also shows that we are dealing with an emerging democracy story. In this story, they show that the ARF continues to follow a policy that favors the oppressed and equality. Accordingly, the ARF also gave advice beyond criticizing the CUP, which was gaining strength and began to adopt policies that excluded and even oppressed or tried to destroy the other:
However, skepticism about the execution of the election, the measures taken and the others, and the general form of action are starting to rise. We do not want to go into the depths of these complaints for the time being, but rather appeal to the evidence and cases to be complete in order to be able to speak to us in a concise manner and more with conviction. (...)
Especially when we consider our country’s current and future status and position, we insist again and again that a society like the Committee of Union and Progress should appreciate and prefer the spiritual expectation rather than the numerical superiority today. (...)
A party that desires to establish a value in the country and to live should be cautious about sowing seeds of happiness and security on all sides in order to gain a majority in any way by giving paramount importance to temporary victories, and above all, it should focus on itself and its affliction. It should bestow his spiritual power even on his opponents by spiritually understanding the general will.224
As can be seen in the passage, the ARF warns that it will not be possible for parties that implement policies that do not understand and embrace the entire population to live deep in the heart of society. They emphasize that the best thing for the Ottomans is the policy of embracing and collective struggle, not dividing. At this point, the ARF warns the CUP about the failure at the end of the day even though the CUP is numerically robust. Thus, they refer to the promises made before the proclamation of constitution and the fact that these promises have not yet been fulfilled.
224 Azadamard, 858, April 12, 1912.
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In conclusion, three and a half years after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, the nationalist wing got more decisive in the CUP; the CUP began to pressure the dissidents; it even had a dubious election. While all this was going on, the ARF continued its cooperation with the CUP with its belief in reforms.225 Although the CUP is warned about its oppressive policies in the articles published by the ARF in Azadamard, the language of the articles is highly strategic, emphasizing “Ottomanism.” The ARF may have chosen a strategic language to show that the Armenians, who were accused of being separatists, were engaged in politics on legal grounds.
3.5 Conclusion
Chapter 2 tried to discuss how socialist the ARF was after 1908. It stated that the ARF approached the reformist socialism wing of Europe after the revolution but instead of making a theoretical discussion of socialism and establishing politics over the working class and Marxism, the party determined a socialism policy based on the defense of the oppressed with populist discourses. Therefore, it analyzed the ARF’s views on the parliament with its reformist line. This chapter also analyzed sample articles from the Azadamard newspaper in 1911 and 1912, in which the ARF followed up on the promises given to it before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution.
One of the most fundamental issues that the CUP promised the ARF to resolve was the ‘security issue.’ The ARF frequently brought up this issue in its newspaper Azadamard. Although they criticized the government, they also stated that they were hopeful for reforms. Underlining that the security problem has become chronic, Azadamard articles used a language that blamed the landlords instead of
225 Minassian, “Birinci Dünya Savaşı Öncesinde”, 187.
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blaming the Kurds in a wholesale way. At the root of the problem, they drew attention to the relationship of the landlords in the region with the center and officials. It is possible to define this problem as crony-order. It is possible to explain the politics in Azadamard’s articles, which criticize the security problem through the landlords and the order they established, instead of looking for criminals with a wholesale approach, with the understanding of the Socialist Ottomanism underlined in the 2nd chapter.
In the Azadamard newspaper, on ‘Military service,’ the ARF’s belief in the 1908 Constitutional Revolution is clearly seen. Although it is reported that the Armenian people have concerns about compulsory military service, it was reflected in the Azadamard newspaper that the ARF held the view that this practice should be considered within the scope of equal Ottoman citizenship.
On the issue of decentralization, it was seen that Azadamard made recommendations to the CUP by analyzing other countries. It is an essential point for this thesis that the ARF’s publication organ discussed decentralization and continued to defend the autonomous socialist states they have adopted for their socialist party program. Because although they are voicing these demands on a populist basis, decentralization contributes to how socialist the ARF was after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution.
Finally, chapter 3 analyzed articles from Azadamard as examples of the ARF’s response to the oppression of the dissidents by the CUP. Even though the articles published on this subject repeat each other, they contain a discourse that includes the principle of ‘defense of the oppressed.’ This principle can also be seen as a reflection of socialism by the defense of the oppressed adopted by the ARF.
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In short, chapter 3, while emphasizing the ARF’s belief in reforms after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, tried to follow the traces of the understanding of socialism through the defense of the oppressed in the criticism it brought to unsolved problems. In addition, the Azadamard articles in this section also show the influence of the ‘Ottomanization’ policy that Chapter 2 mentions in the socialism policy of the ARF because the language of criticism was strategic in a moderate opposition line.
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CHAPTER 4
LAND REFORM DEMAND AND SOCIALISM THROUGH THE DEFENSE OF THE OPPRESSED
The ARF, which tries to keep the problems in the country on the agenda because they have not been resolved. In this thesis, I try to address these topics by clustering them thematically. The previous chapter examined the various unresolved problems of the Armenians, of which the ARF is also a follower, and this chapter will analyze specifically the land reform226 demand of the ARF, which can also be considered as a part of the unsolved problems. The reason why the separate chapter on this subject is because, as seen in the chapter title, I think that the ARF has established their perspective on the land issue with a socialist understanding based on the relations between landlords and peasants in a populist way.
The socialist understanding of the ARF, which is also underlined in the 2nd chapter, was influenced by the Russian populist movement and began to develop
226 There are many studies on land after the Tanzimat period in the Ottoman Empire. For the primary studies on the agriculture and land, see Donald Quataert, Workers, Peasants and Economic Change in the Ottoman Empire, 1730-1914 (Istanbul: the ISIS Press, 1993), 17-49; Ömer Lütfü Barkan, Türkiye’de Toprak Meselesi: Toplu Eserler 1 (İstanbul: Gözlem Yayınları, 1980); Çağlar Keyder, “Introduction: Large-Scale Commercial Agriculture in the Ottoman Empire,” in Landholding and Commercial Agriculture in the Middle East, ed. Çağlar Keyder and Faruk Tabak (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 1-13; Martha Mundy, “Village Authority and the Legal Order of Property (The Southern Hawran 1876-1922),” in New Perspectives on Property and Land in the Middle East, ed. Roger Owen (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 63-92; Yücel Terzibaşoğlu, “Land Disputes and Ethno-Politics: Northwestern Anatolia, 1877-1912,” in Land Rights, Ethno-Nationality, and Sovereignty in History, ed. Stanley L. Metzer and Jacob Engerman (London: Routledge, 2004), 153-180; Astourian, “The Silence of the Land”, 55-81. For micro narration examples that discuss reforms’ practical extent and mention reforms’ social impact: property and justice see Cengiz Kırlı, “Tanzimat: Düzen ve Kaos”, Toplumsal Tarih, no: 311, (November 2019): 80-85; you can access the reflections of the reforms on the Armenian community with examples that include practices of reform in the provinces in Masayuki Ueno’s article Ueno, “For the Fatherland and the state”, 93-109; you can access the practices of reforms in everyday life in the Balkans with Bulgarian example in Milen V. Petrov’s article Milen V. Petrov, “Everyday Forms of Compliance: Subaltern Commentaries on Ottoman Reform, 1864-1868”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 46, No. 4 (2004): 730-759; and you can read Yücel Terzibaşoğlu’s article which is about the property reforms’ reflection on the practice with Eleni Hatun example Yücel Terzibaşoğlu, “Eleni Hatun’un Zeytin Bahçeleri: 19. Yüzyılda Anadolu’da Mülkiyet Hakları Nasıl İnşa Edildi?”, Tarih ve Toplum Yeni Yaklaşımlar, no: 4, (2006): 121-147.
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advocacy for the peasants. As a result, they started to do politics over all the oppressed and built their socialist understanding on defending the rights of the oppressed. So, they did not theorize feudalism; while developing a discourse on the brotherhood of peoples, its class and revolutionary dimensions were not discussed; theoretically, it remained a populist discourse. Their approaches were also influenced by the reformism of Jaurès socialism after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and evolved from a revolutionary method to a reformist point.
As chapter 2 underlines, these reformist approaches combined the ARF’s understanding of socialism with Ottomanism, and a way of doing politics that can be called the Socialist Ottomanism emerged. The same chapter deals with the land issue and the Socialist Ottomanism because the way the ARF handled the land issue227 after 1908 can be explained politically with the Socialist Ottomanism. In parallel with these views, it can be said that they discussed the Kurdish landlords’ land grabs and feudal orders in the region not on an ethnic basis, but on the defense of the peasants against the landlords. Therefore, in the first section of this chapter, the ARF’s perspective on the Kurds will be discussed through the Socialist Ottomanism policy.
The ARF, which tried to find a revolutionary solution to the land issue with armed struggle before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, attempted to use the parliament and reforms for an answer after 1908. In this direction, instead of using concepts such as the concept of class and worker issues, which are also discussed in the second chapter, they made politics on a populist plane, on a platform such as the ‘brotherhood’ of the oppressed and the peoples, without theoretical discussion. Especially in order to add a new perspective to the narrative of the Kurds-Armenians
227 For a detailed analysis of the Armenians’ experiences regarding the land dispute, see Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”.
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hostility established over the land issue, the ARF’s view of the Kurds, which I claim is a Socialist Ottomanism policy, and their thoughts on the land issue will be examined in this context. The second section of this chapter will focus on the discourse on the land issue between 1911 and 1912 through Azamardard. And finally, other articles in the Azadamard newspaper, which are examples of Socialist Ottomanism, will be examined.
4.1 The ARF’s view of the Kurds via Azadamard
The dream of socialism that the ARF built on peasants and all the oppressed, which I have mentioned in the previous chapters, has been an essential factor in determining its view of the Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan region and non-Armenians. Some approaches put Armenians, Kurds, and others as “them and us situation” while interpreting the period, only constructing narratives based on violence and ethnicity. On the other hand, in those days, the ARF expressed their opinions about the region with an attitude that analyzed the situation and tried to find a solution for the issues instead of making an accusatory or exculpatory narrative. The ARF explained this problem in an article in Azadamard in 1911:
One of the greatest misfortunes of the communities settled in Turkey is that they do not identify with each other, are not aware of each other's ideas and practices, and do not share each other's pain and sorrow.228
It is precisely with this understanding that instead of accusing with a generalizability understanding to the Kurds because of the security problem, one of the hottest issues of the period and one of the most frequently encountered issues in the Azadamard newspaper, they chose to bring their findings about the region and the problems of the peoples in the region to their newspapers.
228 Azadamard, 525, March 12, 1911.
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Of course, the majority of the reports and complaints from the region were about Kurdish bandits and their robberies and atrocities. But while describing these reports, they also chose to defend the rights of Kurdish peasants and the persecuted Kurds. As can be seen in the articles they published, the ARF never equated Kurdish landlords with Kurdish peasants. In the “Which is the State within the State?” article that determines the problems, the ARF directly criticizes the Kurdish aghas and the feudal system in which aghas were the ‘masters’:
In Van, Bitlis, Muş, and other eastern provinces, Kasım and Musa Bey(s), Sheikh Seyyid Ali(s), Kör Hüseyin Pasha(s), and all the landlords, who are still accused of all kinds of murders and atrocities, are always armed; and each of them has ten, twenty or more gulams; and they march around armed, fearless and reckless, in front of everyone—even the government. Those who constitute a ‘state within a state’ are these banditry and murder experts. They collect taxes under the name of hafir [protection tax]229 , and they actually rule. As they have their own gulam, police, swords and rifles, those who are in captivity and persecuted are Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish peasants. Even though the government wants to restore the political order in Anatolia, we do not believe that the wars will end as long as the old influence continues and is prosperous. It will not be possible to eliminate the murders by catching and arresting a few of the murderers.230
As you can see, the ARF blames the Kurdish landlords for the state of war in Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan and accuses the government of not seeking a solution sincerely. The fact that the issue of security, that is, the security of life, property and honor, which the ARF adopted as one of the three main issues to be resolved when it allied with the CUP and entered the parliament. These problems were still continuing in 1911 which would negatively affect the relationship of the ARF with the CUP, not their relationship with the Kurdish peasants. In another article, they reveal the taxes Nadir Agha collected from 11 villages and the labor he exploited, according to the report of the correspondent of Sason from the region:
229 For its relation to feudal production, see Yaşar Tolga Cora, “The Deficiency of Class Analysis in Historiography on Armenians in the Ottoman Province”, Praksis 39, (2015/3): 28.
230 Azadamard 603, June 15, 1911.
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The annual tax collected by Nadir Agha from 11 villages amounts to a total of 200250 kurus. This amount should not be taken as an exaggeration. On the contrary, if it were to be calculated with the curriculum, this amount would be equal to two times. For example, each village has to give 10 pairs of rawhide sandals, 5 pairs of mizaretli, and many other things for the gulams of the landlords. In addition, the boys and girls who are going to get married owe a tip each to obtain the consent and permission of the agha. The people of Pürnaşin [Bedirli] sub-district are in such a state….231
The ARF, which puts the title of this news “Where are ‘Which is the State within the State’?”, seems to define those who oppress the peasants as “the State within the State” in the system, which is the landlords leech off of the peasants, is that the peasants pay taxes to both the state and the landlords.
With a sentence in an article published in the later, “State does not mean Istanbul. Leaving the Sublime Porte, one should go to distant provinces and to the people there.”,232 the government continued to be criticized for not being able to understand the demands of the provinces. In the provincial news section of the same article, some Kurdish networks were exposed together with their names, and it was underlined that the district governor did not apply the necessary punishments and precautions because the aghas had power:
Even though Hasan Agha, the son of Hacı Musa, who was a member of the notables of our neighborhood and was sentenced to death for certain crimes, was walking freely thanks to the tolerance of our district governor and was threatening the poor Armenians and Kurds, went to the warden of the prison and demanded that his bridegroom be released, but the warden did not implement this offer. Thereupon, Hasan Agha angrily left. While the warden was transferring the prisoner to Kaplıceviz with 7-8 gendarmes that day, when they approached the village of Daragozin, Hasan Agha, who was in ambush with 50-60 people, wanted to kidnap the prisoner. The prisoner was abducted due to the clash that lasted for more than an hour by firing from both sides.
Two important points stand out in this section, the first of which is that even though the Kurdish Agha Hasan Agha was sentenced to death, he could still walk freely due
231 Azadamard 610, June 23, 1911.
232 Azadamard 607, June 20, 1911.
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to the power relations in the region. He continued to oppress Armenian and Kurdish peasants within the ongoing feudal order regarding land relations. The second is the language used. When reporting Hasan Agha, who had an armed force of 50-60 people, the generalization of ‘Kurds’ is not made; on the contrary, it is added to the article that this Kurdish landlord also persecutes the Kurds. This passage actually sets a great example of the ARF’s view of the Kurds.
I would like to underline that similar examples of crime based on power relations and the non-implementation of punishment as a result of the crime, which we have seen in this passage, can be seen later and even today. This may be related to the concepts of citizen and persona grata citizen that emerged with modernism. In other words, it is possible to see that the defined “persona grata” citizen can be protected by the powerful when he commits a crime against those outside this definition, and either they are not punished at all, or they are not punished by a reduction of sentence and then by amnesty. Hasan Agha here is not punished for the crimes he committed against the peasants who were not accepted as persona grata citizens during his time, with the power he gained from his position.
Another article reports that a village where Kör Hüseyin Pasha, another Kurdish Hamidiye landlord, attacked in order to usurp the lands of the Armenians, the danger of death of two Armenians as a result of the attack, a Turkish peasant sent by Hüseyin Pasha as a false witness for the investigation but said that the Armenians were right; and then the body of this Turkish peasant was found a few days later.233 With the sentence in the same article that “due to the land issue, such conflicts and usurpations occur not only between Kurds and Armenians but also between Kurds
233 Azadamard 599, June 10, 1911.
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themselves,” it seems once again that the priority of the ARF about the perspective of the Kurds is to defend all the peasants against the landlords.
While analyzing the ARF’s perspective on Kurds, I tried to underline that they are on the side of the oppressed and avoid generalizing accusations. Some of the articles they wrote explain they are on the side of the oppressed with concrete examples. For example, in an article they wrote in 1911, they list the tax and other issues:
The influence of the feudal lordship period was not limited to the collection of the tax, which is called hafirlik by the tribes. Apart from forcibly taking all kinds of taxes and gifts from the unarmed Armenian people, those Kurdish armed forces always oppressed the Armenians. They usurped and appropriated everything they wanted, sometimes willingly and often by denunciation. According to them, Armenians are reaya and Kurds are ahra. Therefore, they never allow the people to appear equal to the ahra, neither with a trick, with sustenance, nor with wealth and fortune. Things such as grazing their own animals in the fields and pastures of the Armenians, cutting down the trees of the Armenians, and stealing the prominent horses of the Armenians are not limited to the borders. In all Karabakh, Cilicia, and Bursa, in short, the same actions and treatments are always carried out against all Armenians in every neighborhood where there are Kurds who belong to a bad lot [armed Kurds] next to the Armenians who are engaged in agriculture.234
As seen in the passage, it is emphasized that the usurpation in daily life also lends support to the feudal system, although it seems like simple reasons beyond that the problem cannot be explained only by unfair tax collection. Another inference that can be drawn from this passage is that a party that has established its understanding of socialism on the basis of the defense of the oppressed cannot confirm this view completely detached from ethno-religious factors under the conditions of the period. The fact that they brought up the discussion of reaya and ahra (more favorite) and drew attention to the importance of ethnic background in the feudal system is an indicator of this. In other words, the fact that the ethno-religious influences were so evident in the period is another factor that helps to understand why the ARF, which
234 Azadamard 620, July 5, 1911.
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did not build its socialist policy on the workers’ revolution, built a policy on the oppressed and the peasants. On this occasion, it can be moved on to the land issue, which is one of the most fundamental issues on the ARF’s agenda.
4.2 The demand for land reform and defense of the peasants in the Socialist Ottomanism frame
After the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, one of the most fundamental issues between the ARF and the CUP was returning to the owners of the lands usurped by the Kurdish landlords and the lands where the Muslim immigrants were settled.235 Armenians in the provinces demanded land reform from the government, and because the ARF trusted the government, they did too.236 The Patriarchate, the Armenian National Assembly, and the ARF kept the land issue on the agenda after the proclamation of the Constitution and asked for a solution.237 It can be said that the alliance between the ARF and the CUP started to deteriorate after the Armenians’ land issue was added to the existing problems.238
The CUP also discussed land issues at the 1908 Thessaloniki Party Congress; although they had accepted the idea of asking the “government to prepare conditions” to distribute land to the peasants, they would not then put these lands into practice and distribute land formally,239 as we have seen in examples such as Çarsancak, mentioned in Azadamard.240 In other words, the CUP government had not taken actual steps to fulfill the promises.241
235 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 158.
236 Kaligian, “Agrarian Land Reform”, 25.
237 Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”, 261.
238 Suny, They Can Live, 177.
239 Kaligian, “Agrarian Land Reform”, 32.
240 Azadamard 619, July 4, 1911.
241 Avagyan, “İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ile Ermeni Siyasi Partileri”, 81.
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In the first months of 1909, the CUP attempted to establish an investigation commission into the confiscated Armenian properties in the cabinet.242 The attempt to establish such a committee received criticism in the parliament that it would both damage the treasury and lead people to rebel against each other.243 Pointing out that local meetings were also held to produce administrative solutions, Polatel states that as a result of these meetings, several properties were returned to Armenians between 1909-and 1910.244
However, with the cabinet decision of March 31, 1910, it was decided that only the disputes that arose in 1909 would be resolved by arbitration in commissions, and all other conflicts and usurpation issues before this date would be referred to the courts. At the same time, in 1910, the government began to resettle immigrants in Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan.245 The ARF continued to keep the land issue on its agenda, and in 1911, they presented their solution proposals to the CUP.
The CUP did not accept this offer, which included the offer to pay compensation to the beneficiaries, and negotiated with the ARF in Thessaloniki. As a result, the decisions to give land in the villages of their ancestors to the Armenians who were landless and refugees and to provide state support for them to do agriculture emerged. Meanwhile, not only Armenians but also Kurdish peasants were demanding the return of their seized lands. Nevertheless, the government did not keep its promises and did not solve the Armenian and Kurdish peasants’ problems;
242 Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”, 211.
243 Meclis-i Mebusan Zabıt Ceridesi, period 1, vol. 1, session 1 (26 Kânun-ı sâni 1324/ February 8, 1909), 494-518 cited by Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”, 211.
244 Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”, 213-214.
245 Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”, 220.
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on the contrary, in the spring of 1911, it allocated land to the refugees in Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan.246
In other words, the solutions to the distribution of lands are constantly changing after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution; while the ARF put pressure for getting the solution, the CUP made promises, then changed their promises. As a result, they did not keep their promises. In this political context, the ARF also published articles on the land issue in the Azadamard newspaper.
As examined in Chapter 1, in order to draw the attention of the CUP and the government, its cooperation, to the problems, it also started to print the main article of the newspaper in 1911 in Ottoman Turkish, which could be considered the common language of the empire. Namely, Azadamard is an essential source for examining the period in terms of publishing not only articles on Istanbul or only in Ottoman Armenia/Kurdistan but also about all regions of the empire and its problems and solutions to these problems. Emphasizing the importance of the press for the follow-up of the land reform and other reforms, the ARF thinks that the efforts of the Armenian press alone will not be enough for the solution of the land issue and that the Turkish press should also be in favor of the reforms.
For example, the ARF, which worked to implement reforms after the proclamation of the 1908 constitution, not only set a mission for the CUP but also emphasized the importance of public influence. They say that just like the Azadamard newspaper has a mission, the Turkish press also has an essential mission for the implementation of reforms. They expressed this situation in one of their articles as follows:
The duty of our Turkish friends towards the general public and the government in the general press of the Ottoman Empire is very great. For,
246 Kaligian, Taşnaklar ve İttihatçılar, 159-161; TNA, FO 424/228, Acting Vice-Consul Safrastian to Consul McGregor, Bitlis, June 18, 1911 quoted by Polatel, “Armenians and the land question”, 231.
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although the number of people who read their writings is incomparably more numerous, they are in direct contact with the minds and ears of the people in the sovereign state.247
As can be seen in the passage, the ARF attaches great importance to the mission of newspapers and journalists. I think this is precisely why they support the publication of the Azadamard newspaper. They seem to believe in the power of public opinion; they also see the Turkish press as an important tool for constitutionalism to be fully met by the people.
The ARF stated that they are colleagues of Turkish journalists whose opinions they value but that these colleagues do not put enough effort in their newspapers in order to be implemented the reforms. For example, in the following article, they first underlined the importance of the press, as seen in the passage above, and then criticized the Turkish press for not expressing until today the problems of the peasants whose lands were seized in Anatolia:
Our Turkish friends did not fulfill their duty. They did not say the words they were supposed to say. With this admonition, we do not want to challenge the attention of our friends, who are good-natured and dutiful in the Turkish press, towards the Armenian nation. We know well that every time the occasion fell, the most prominent part of the Turkish connoisseurs of thought never refrained from presenting their feelings of graciousness towards the Armenians and their political disposition. However, we would like to emphasize that the newspapers, which are the valuable ideas of the Turks, have neglected the fulfillment of their duty regarding the land usurpations in Anatolia and the public order.248
The ARF, which frequently writes articles on land usurpation, has raised its voice against the seizure of lands by the landlords and the expulsion of the peasants or being seen as servants. From this perspective, land reform for the ARF has been one of the red lines between it and the CUP. Despite the fact that 3 years have passed since the declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy, the fact that the CUP still has
247 Azadamard 613, June 27, 1911.
248 Azadamard 613, June 27, 1911.
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not taken concrete solution steps has been one of the most important stones laid on the separated roads of the ARF and the CUP.
The importance of the land issue for the ARF is related to the land grabs became widespread during the Abdulhamid period, as well as the implementation of socialist policies. Because in this process, the lands and properties of peasants, especially Armenians, in Anatolia were usurped by force of arms, and Armenians were forced to leave their homes. Therefore, I think that the ARF sees the land issue as both a class and ethno-religious problem:
During the entire period of the Hamidian Period, the most, starting from the historical formation of the Hamidiye regiments (the 1890s), in our sanjak, some of the people were exposed to the attack and results of the other part, and they were disenfranchised from the homeland. And as a result of these, thousands of people’s property and belongings were seized or destroyed, and thousands of people were killed, as well as some of them fled to the foreigners and the rest became poor and needy in the end.
As a result of the spirituality of the aforementioned period, the intruders who came from other places were forced into the ranks of the locals. Every day, by warning the wrongdoer in every pitch, they preach that constitutionalism is ridiculous and prevent the country from attaining security.249
Abdulhamid II had a population policy; he settled the emigrated Muslims into the Armenians’ lands, which were usurped by force of arms. It seems that the CUP may have not wanted to give up on this population policy either. According to the ARF, those settled there are the obstacles to the success of reforms. I also agree with this idea of the ARF because in the previous chapter, while analyzing the power relations in the provinces, I emphasized how important it is whether the Muslim power holders in the region want reforms or not.
Namely, another reason for not returning the seized lands of the Armenians might be the change in the population distribution in the region and the concern that this might cause foreign powers to intervene.250 This brings to mind the issue of
249 Azadamard 616, June 30, 1911.
250 Kaligian, “Agrarian Land Reform”, 31, 32, and 33.
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population and the nationalist approach to the land issue once again. I believe that this situation shows that the idea for the end of the 19th century that it is not possible to explain the condition of the Armenian peasants in the East only with class differences, and that the ethnoreligious dynamics between the Armenian population and the Muslim population are also determinative,251 is also valid for the 20th century. In fact, it can be said that one of the reasons why the socialist understanding of the ARF is unique is the multinational ethno-religious dynamics in the Ottoman Empire.
It would also be wrong to see the return of lands as a problem only for the Armenians. Janet Klein, who tells with examples that the order in which Kurdish landlords exploited not only Armenian peasants but also Kurdish peasants in the 1890s. She also mentions that based on a report in 1910 some Kurdish and Armenian peasants formed an alliance against this exploitation, .252 Even though land grabs were a method used especially by Kurdish landlords or Hamidiye Regiments to dispossess and forcefully replace Armenians, the injustice of tillage was also a matter of Kurdish and Turkish peasants living in the region.253 In an article in Azadamard, the government is criticized for failing to resolve the land issue, emphasizing that no justification can be given for not solving the problem and that the solution is possible and logical within the current justice and legal system:
We cannot figure out that wanting to take back what was calculated from the bandit’s hand could be what kind of obstacle to the delivery of justice. Is it possible to imagine a government that has honor, justice, and fairness but hesitates and has different ideas on this issue? (…) We do not ask for grants
251 Yaşar Tolga Cora, “Doğu’da Kürt-Ermeni Çatışmasının Sosyoekonomik Arkaplanı”, in 1915: Siyaset, Tehcir, Soykırım, ed. Fikret Adanır and Oktay Özel (İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2015), 126-139.
252 Janet Klein, “Conflict and Collaboration: Rethinking Kurdish-Armenian Relations in the Hamidian Period, 1876-1909,” in Identity and Identity Formation in the Ottoman World: A Volume of Essays in Honor of Norman Itzkowitz (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007), 165.
253 Kaligian, “Agrarian Land Reform”, 31, 32, and 33.
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or privileges; we insist on demanding that the law and its particulars be completely protected in the daire-i adalet principle.254
Deputies of the region and landlords were obstacles as they had more power over the central government. Namely, the ascendancy of the landlords who opposed the ARF, which advocated freeing the land from the landlords' monopoly and distributing it to the peasants, could have been one of the obstacles for the return of the usurped lands and the provision of land to the peasants.
Another article in Azadamard refers to the injustice of taxation under the title “Taxes and Responsibility” and says that the government and unfair taxation crushed ordinary people. It is possible to summarize the article's message as ‘no one is equal until all are equal.’ With this example, it can be said once again that the ARF saw the problem through the defense of the oppressed in terms of class:
The state, which receives eight percent of the crop under the name of tithe, in addition to the land tax, ağnam tax [tax on sheep and goats], and travel expenses, does not collect taxes at this rate from rich bankers, factories, railways, and high-paid civil servants.255
The second part of the article demands the abolition of the tithe and the valid taxation system and the introduction of a system where the rich pay more and the poor pay less. This newspaper, which is the publication organ of the ARF, sheds light on the socialist approach of the ARF at that time by expressing the problems of the people and listing possible solutions. It is possible to summarize this approach as “the welfare of the empire,” as Krikor Zohrab stated.256 Therefore, we see once again that the ARF movement was trying to defend and protect not only the Armenians but also all the disadvantaged groups in the Empire.
254 Azadamard 602, June 14, 1911; daire-i adalet means that there is no rayah without justice, no goods without rayah, no soldiers without goods, no state without soldiers, no justice without a state.
255 Azadamard 611, June 24, 1911.
256 Suny, They Can Live, 160.
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Continuing to defend the peasants, the ARF touches on the problems in the ağnam tax in another article titled as “New and Superfluous Obligations.” It is emphasized that the ex officio tax and the tax per animal are too much for the peasant. They explain that after so many taxes, only the milk of their sheep remained in the hands of the peasants. Moreover, it is a significant point that the injustice in tax collection is also mentioned again:
There is even greater injustice. Each household belonging to the agricultural society in Anatolia pays the tax of four or five small cattle that they are responsible for each year. Notables and people of substance, on the other hand, are often exempted from paying the ağnam tax even though they own thousands of small cattle. For example, Tribal chiefs such as Kör Hüseyin Pasha in Van and Sheik Said Ali in Bitlis-Hizan, while they have 20-30 thousand small cattle, never pay the ağnam tax.257
In the rest of the article, The ARF complains that in the system where the landlords are favored in this way, even veterinarians are not sent to the peasants. Emphasizing that some landlords do not pay taxes while taxes crush the peasants, the ARF also shares the information that the landlords on the Iranian border avoid paying taxes by passing their animals to Iran. They criticize the connivance of the border officers in this situation.
While the peasants are in such a difficult situation, the ARF states that they expect the government to at least make sure that its officers are doing their job. The article's end emphasized that agricultural taxes should be rearranged and justice should be ensured in tax collection.
The Azadamard, which has recently published articles on tax problems, presents an analysis of how taxes crush peasants. As seen in the previous passage and this passage, the ARF not only talked about the devastation of the peasants because of the taxes collected but also emphasized the injustice in tax collection. At this
257 Azadamard 621, July 6, 1911.
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point, they reminded us of the state’s administrative principle, the daire-i adalet.258 The inequality situation that can be defined as tax injustice or favoring ‘some,’ which the ARF underlines, is also possible to see the security issue that has been examined before.
The ARF continued to focus on the problems of the peasants in various articles in 1912 like before. The fact that the issues from the past were not resolved has also guided the subjects of Azadamard’s articles. For example, in one of its articles, the ARF criticized the land issue and the situation of the peasants in the context of Ziraat Bank with a petition from Muş:
The land of the poor peasants, who owe a debt to the Ziraat Bank, has been selling for a few weeks for their debts. As if the peasants' payments and misery in the previous period were not enough, even today, they are being deprived of the land that is their only source of livelihood. In this case, they will have to migrate with their families to other places and increase the number of beggars. Apart from this, due to the disregard of the government, thousands of animals are being destroyed these days as a result of the plague. In the name of justice, I would like to request the postponement of the exploitation of their lands for two years, taking into consideration the poverty of these loyal and hardworking peasants.259
Just like the helplessness of the peasants who the landlords persecute, the peasants who own their own land are also helpless in the current system. The ARF, which carries the problems of the peasants, who have difficulty in paying the debt they have taken from the bank because they are crushed under the taxes, to their newspapers, presents this dire situation and the debts of the peasants to the bank with a petition from the region. This attitude of the ARF, which is closely concerned with the peasants, seems to coincide with their understanding of socialism.
The ARF describes in detail the government’s approach to the land issue and its own perspectives in an article titled “Government Decisions on Land Issues,”
258 See Azadamard 602, June 14, 1911.
259 Azadamard 961, August 11, 1912.
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published in 1912. The ARF begins the article by stating that the government has made a plan to solve the problems of the peasants in the provinces where the land problem is experienced, and even allocates a budget for this plan, based on the news reported by the Ottoman Telegraph Agency. In the continuation, it was emphasized that this issue has been dragged on for a very long time and that it has now become an ambiguous situation.
In fact, the land debate is essentially a matter worthy of investigation from the point of view of the law, and if the government had asked for it, it could have carried out and completed this investigation even in the first year of the Constitutional Revolution.
Although this first year passed and the second, third, and fourth years followed each other, the conflict and the issue remained the same.
Because of this unacceptable indulgence of the government, the misery of the victim Armenian society’s agriculture was multiplied, and even new injustices took place. With the intention of strengthening the solution to forcibly taking someone else’s property, which had already happened, the usurpers have only recently attempted to find an answer in accordance with the Shari’a. This has not been enough.
Let’s be clear: we have no faith in the promises. What is of real value to us now is not the government's word, but its ‘action’ only its actions.260
However, it is seen that the ARF does not trust this decision. Evaluating this ‘new’ promise of the government, the ARF emphasizes in this article that they are full with promises. It is underlined that Armenians have paid a great price for this issue until today, and that the previous governors of Van, Bitlis, Erzurum, and Sivas have many reports on the subject. As can be seen in the passage, the ARF openly questions how important the government will take this decision, and they say that they no longer trust the government on the land issue and the return of the land.
In the same article, the ARF refutes the allegations that might make Armenians and Kurds hostile, emphasizing that the land issue is as much an issue for Kurdish peasants as it is for Armenian peasants. In this respect, they give an example of an event experienced by Kurdish peasants whose rights were usurped:
260 Azadamard 963, August 14, 1912.
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Moreover, even a painful consequence of the other harms of the same protracted policy should not be forgotten. In order to be able to fish in turbid waters, people of substance and tyrants have made their own usurpation a ‘national issue’ by abusing their influence by using means, deviating from devious ways and even using the press as a tool, and supposedly ‘Armenians want to treat Kurds as a kick in the teeth.’ They put forward some false rumors. However, the truth of the situation is that the tyrant, who usurped the lands of the Armenians with no right, usurped even the goods of the Kurdish farmers and the lands of the Kurdish peasants, and made their owners work like prisoners. The wretched Kurds, who walked barefoot and naked for weeks, came to Istanbul and begged for mercy and justice by being thrown in front of the carriages of the ministers and even the sultan, are the witnesses proving this truth. However, besides not receiving the mercy and justice they sought, they were forced to go back to their own quarters and again come under the yoke of the landlords.261
As can be seen in the passage, the ARF once again opposes statements that bring Kurds up against Armenians. Hereby, rather than accusing the Kurds of a wholesale understanding as the cause of the land issue, the ARF constructs its narrative from the conflict between influential tyrants with landlords and peasants. In other words, we see once again that the problem of Armenians in the region with the Kurds is not only handled with an ethnic dimension but also with the logic of oppressor landlord-oppressed peasants over land and power relations.
Furthermore, it is not difficult to find other articles and statements in the Azadamard newspaper that are examples of the defense of the oppressed. There are similar examples among the Ottoman articles published in the previous year, and I think it is the most striking one since the ARF explains their ideas about the Kurdish peasants clearly. As I have mentioned before, in my opinion, their socialism was based on being the voice of all the disadvantaged people in the society. For instance, Azadamard mentions the support of the deputy of the ARF to Kurdish victims:
We have always defended the cases of Turkish and Kurdish victims, too, like we defended the rights of the Armenian victims because the Kurds have no opportunities to express their victimization.
Complaints and objections made by the Armenian victim in the dispute regarding the seized lands were never made against the Kurdish element; We
261 Azadamard 963, August 14, 1912.
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repeat that the Kurdish people have never been blamed. Official and unofficial complaints made to the central government and statements made by political societies are sufficient evidence to prove this fact. There are some men who write in their favor and speak publicly or casually to defend the herd of the powerful/[victors]. Only these men have tried to give a general form to the situation and present the issue of usurped lands as if it were a conflict between the two elements. The reason for this is apparent: Only by misleading the public could the aghas be able to protect and heal their losses on their own initiative by getting rid of the clutches of justice. Of course, they followed this line to influence the government, the press, and the world’s people.
It is nice that Turkish press, taking into consideration a few oppressors’ trap, in order not to relate the issue to the elements [nations]. In other words, not to accept the issue as a disagreement between these two elements, they warn those who have the peace of ideas and the love of justice. Yeah! It should now be known that the land issue itself consists of a case between a minimal number of oppressors and oppressed and aggrieved peasants belonging to Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish elements.262
As can be seen clearly, the ARF did not blame the Kurdish people for the usurpation of the lands and the return problem. Instead, it has prioritized criticizing the Kurdish landlords and the system. It is possible to see this situation in the previous section of the chapter, “The ARF’s view of the Kurds via Azadamard,” and the quotations in this section.
Moreover, according to Libaridian, “they [Armenians] realized they would have to enlist the support of other ethnic and religious groups like the Kurds, normally considered an enemy”263 in previous years. In other words, it can be said that the ARF started to engage in politics over the common problems of the oppressed, but this policy was not built suddenly; it was made step by step over time to increase their legitimacy within the Empire. As chapter 2 analyzed, this approach of the ARF might smack of understanding that they want to replace the perception, which was formed with the understanding of including nationalism in its socialism practice in its early years, with the perception of an umbrella Ottoman party.
262 Azadamard 606, June 18, 1911.
263 Libaridian, “What Was Revolutionary”, 100.
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I have repeatedly emphasized that this approach of the ARF is not new. The ARF, as a party that did not only choose to defend the Armenians and did not aim at it, tried to express the problems of all citizens who were wronged and oppressed and tried to solve them if possible. So far, I have tried to present examples of the defense of Kurdish and Turkish peasants. Since the theme of this section is the land issue, I would like to show an example of a rural situation in which Assyrians in Silvan voiced their problems from an article they published in 1911:
Gunmen have been seen every night for some time around the village of Miralyan. It comes to mind that they are malicious.
A person named Kiryo from the Syriac community was attacked one night while he was leaving his house and was severely wounded with a sword.
The Armenian and Assyrian inhabitants of the village are all terrified and cannot leave their homes at night. Although the people who carried out these intimidating acts are known to the public, they do not dare to complain to the government.
During the reign of Abdulhamid II, Hadji Reşid Agha, who seized and invaded all the land of the village by force and used them at his own disposal until now, had the peasants perform the service of digging the waterway of his rice field, even this spring, and then deducted 380 kuruş from their wages.264
Obviously, all the peoples of the region have been affected by the network of relations established by the landlords and their persecution, land grabs, and violence. The nepotism or cronyism that these landlords have established with the representatives of the central government in the region seems to have caused crony-order, and this insecure environment seems to have led to the usurpation of lands and labor. In the passage above, we witness the labor exploitation that the Assyrians are subjected to.
In an article that I also quoted in the previous chapter, the ARF tries to explain this crony-order and the cruelty of the landlords with the examples of Sait and Kurdish Hüseyin Pashas. They define the government's attitude towards these
264 Azadamard 605, June 17, 1911.
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individuals not as a desire to provide justice but as a desire to attract landlords. The ARF warns the government that the current situation will result in bad results for Turkey and invites the government to change its stance on this issue. They emphasize that the solution to the land issue cannot be interpreted as taking revenge on the landlords, and that the issue should be evaluated within the scope of reforms. They underline that the government’s effort to look good to the landlords is a policy supporting feudalism:
This is a kind of feudalism policy. Although it causes some negativity in the first place, all the inconsistency of this is manifested in a short time, and subsequently, it causes the denial of the dignity and influence of the government.
Even though the government has so far made use of the relevance of leaving the bandits without punishment, at least from now on, in order to preserve their dignity and reputation, they should give a result to their crimes and crimes. Because no state can survive with the continuation of this state of affairs.265
As can be clearly seen in this passage, the ARF is in an effort to implement its socialist policies through the defense of the rights of the oppressed against the landlords. In their publications, they constantly emphasized that they wanted the solution to the problems of not only the Armenians but also the entire Ottomans, and that they were in favor of an order in which the defeated oppressors and the oppressed could not be crushed. In the land issue, which is directly related to this policy, they pressed the government, which took a stance on the landlords' side, for a solution on the side of the peasants.
The ARF deputies, who had increased the tone of criticism of the government's silence in an article they published in 1912, said that they did not accept the excuse for not being able to solve this problem. In the same article, they
265 Azadamard 725, November 4, 1911.
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also touch on the issue of ‘cooperation’ with the landlords, which they have highlighted with examples before:
As we previously declared, the Committee of Union and Progress gave importance to the quantity rather than the qualification in accepting membership. It was seen that the sheiks, overlords, and tribal chiefs reported that they were included in the Committee of Union together with their ten thousand or twenty thousand men, by sending telegrams to the center of Thessaloniki, while the Committee of Union and Progress was dominating the execution. The Committee of Union and Progress happily accepted these applications, with the spirit of undefinable happiness brought about by it.266
As can be seen once again, the government also resorted to cooperation with the landlords in order to increase their effectiveness across the country although they had opposed this during the Abdulhamid II era. These memberships could be one of the biggest obstacles for the CUP to fulfill its promises because a party that has allied with the landlords and incorporated them cannot fight against it. This situation can be compared to the fact that land reform could not be carried out in the period of the Turkish Republic due to similar alliances.
Because of the troubles brought by these memberships, the ARF also warns the CUP about the withdrawal of the membership of the landlords. However, while making this warning, they do not blame the whole party with a wholesale understanding:
The Committee of Union and Progress, not wanting to carry out a liquidation action against its members, did not take any action to propagate its own program to the army of its members, which consisted of one million members, and to assimilate them in order to turn them into a mass that had the same tendencies and ideals. In the Committee of Union and Progress, among the democratically inclined individuals, even the most despicable element belonging to the feudal lordship is present, as well as the supporters of bigotry and chauvinism, along with the broad-minded liberals. However, all of them are unionists in terms of their ‘thoughts’ and they want the union to have perfect power and position of ruler.
How could all these various elements have continued to stay there for years, congregating under the banner of the same sect?267
266 Azadamard 976, January 3, 1912.
267 Azadamard 976, January 3, 1912.
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The ARF states that they have doubts about how a party that brings together such different masses will succeed in its aims and even how it will determine its aims, and defines the landlords as “the most despicable element” in the alliance. The ARF had always used strategic language when criticizing the CUP. In my opinion, in this example, similar to the previous ones, the public opinion and politicians, bureaucrats in the CUP, who were close to them, were warned with a strategic language.
The ARF, which criticizes the government for not keeping its promises, demands the realization of the promised reforms instead of arbitrary political practices. As for arbitrary politics, they give the example of Albania in an article:
The country demands that ‘implementation policy,’ that is, fundamentalist reforms, be carried out in a sound and hasty manner.
People’s satisfaction did not arise by itself. At the beginning of the July Revolution, it is enough to scrutinize that first period for a moment in order to be convinced of how much the smell of brotherhood, which was a whirlwind from the mountains of Albania to the border of Van, from Izmir to the deserts of Arabia, healed the Ottomans’ hearts.
It was said that the nations are equal; but even the right of use of something that is the most innocent and the most objectionable thing, like the Latin alphabet, has been denied to the Albanians.268
In this article, published shortly before the landlords’ admission to the CUP, the ARF calls for the CUP’s rapid implementation of reforms. But beyond that, they emphasize that the Ottoman spirit during the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy should be rebuilt. I think it is inevitable that they emphasized this spirit because of their determination. I think they want to bring to the public's attention that the CUP does not approach nations equally when they say every nation is equal. Because, despite the Unionists’ rhetoric of freedom, equality, fraternity and justice, they are trying to explain that they are faced with a party that rejects even a request such as Albania’s desire to switch to the Latin alphabet.
268 Azadamard 961, August 11, 1912.
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It seems that the ARF is trying to explain to the public that the government does not want to solve the land issue in the same way as all other problems. At this point, it is seen that in 1912 the ARF started to criticize the CUP for their nationalist policies. When I examined the articles in Azadamard, I noticed that as the landlords and chauvinists started to have a say in the CUP, the ARF brought up the land issue and the problems of the peasants more frequently in order to raise a voice both in public and among the Ottomanist democrats in the CUP.
It would not be wrong to say that the ARF shows that it is on the side of the peasants, that is, the oppressed, at every opportunity, with the values it defends in its approach to the land issue. With its stance on land reform, in favor of all the oppressed, I believe that the ARF carries out politics along a socialist line, even though they contain elements of nationalism. I interpret the forms they want to see socialism in practice as Socialist Ottomanism.
4.3 The other examples for the Socialist Ottomanism of the ARF
As examined in chapter 2, the ARF, as a socialist party, tried to determine its policies within this framework. Of course, it is possible to see both the influence of the nationalist movement and the impact of empires in the politics of the ARF at that time. It is possible to see examples of socialist policies of ARF which wanted to implement them together with the Ottoman identity, where the Ottomanist understanding gained strength with the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy. It can be seen through the articles in the Azadamard that the ARF, which constructs socialism through the defense of the oppressed and determines its political program accordingly, criticizes and sometimes supports the government of the period. In the previous section, I tried to present examples of land reform. In this part, I will try to
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show exemplary articles on ethnicity and ‘class’ politics that the ARF is trying to do under the identity of Ottomanism.
The ARF, which had problems with the government due to the socialist policies it determined, criticized the government for its repressive policies against the opposition. In an article they published in the Azadamard in 1911, they criticized the government about the socialist journalists who were taken into custody, underlining that justice was not applied equally to everyone.
Against the injustice and oppression committed, the courts did not comply with the rules of law and did not obey and serve the provisions of justice. The result of this was that the petitions and complaints that took place intensified since they were not heard, spread more and more, and finally, one day, an incompetent government was found in front of an inflamed volcano.
The whole security and stability of the country will never be possible unless the idea of justice is determined and carried out in all directions, leading to all reforms and organizations.
[For example,] last Monday, our friends: Lui, Avram Bin Aruya, Simoil Yuna, and İhsan Efendi were detained for a reason. And one of them, Avram Bin Aruya Efendi, was sent to a border with an unknown district and possibly the Serbian border.
Therefore, we protest with all our might against this attack, which is against the freedom of the individual.
Is it because Avram Bin Aruya Efendi was a socialist? We believe this.
If they resort to such measures of oppression and arbitrariness in order not to allow the expansion of the idea of socialism in our country, they will be trying in vain. It is known that the more pressure is exerted against an idea, the more that idea develops.269
It is emphasized that the courts are not fair and that this injustice is about to cause the patience of those who are no longer in power, to overflow. The ARF says that reforms reach the whole society and suppression of reforms is the only solution for the peace and stability of the country. The ARF, which stands behind its socialist policy, states that it thinks that the socialists who were arrested because of an article they published in Thessaloniki were wronged. They state that the reason for this detention is that these people are socialists. I found this article, published in 1911,
269 Azadamard 605, June 17, 1911.
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interesting because although the ARF adopts socialist policies and professes to be socialist, it also maintains its alliance with the CUP. At this point, an example is seen that the socialist understanding of the ARF is in harmony with the empire conditions and is intertwined with Ottomanism.
Although the ARF supported the CUP, it would not be wrong to say that it has always maintained its stance on the side of the people. As can be seen in their articles in the Azadamard, they did not refrain from voicing the people's problems. When the articles they published are examined, it can be said that they tried to establish public pressure to solve the issues in favor of the people. In parallel with their socialist understanding, they brought up the troubles of every oppressed and problem within the empire's borders. For example, in their article “When Will They Take Action,” they addressed the government with a telegram complaining about the cholera epidemic in Tokat:
When will the government think about the people of Tokat, who have always paid all their taxes in an orderly manner? When we’re all devastated by cholera? All the telegrams we sent to the Supreme Court about cholera, the complaints we made, remain unanswered and unofficial.”
What do the people of Tokat say? – They say that the people of that place have paid all their taxes completely. In other words, they have fulfilled all their duties towards the state. Therefore, they demand that even the state perform its own proxy against the people. Because the state is not a purpose in itself, but consists of a means and an institution that serves the welfare and security of the people. When this idea is eliminated, that is, in response to the service and sacrifice demanded by the country's people, if the state itself does not perform its duty towards them, it no longer serves its own purpose and turns towards a dark purpose.270
The ARF questions why the state has not yet found a solution to the problem of citizens who have paid their taxes and fulfilled their responsibilities to the state. Hence it is seen one more time that they tried to defend and protect not only Armenians but also all disadvantaged groups in the Empire. Accusing the
270 Azadamard 614, June 28, 1911.
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government of not taking measures, the ARF emphasized that there can be no excuse for the government's failure to provide services to its people, in the continuation of the article. And as can be seen in the passage, it is underlined that the state is a dysfunctional or unnecessary structure after failing to provide welfare. As can be understood here, the ARF did not directly use the term with the definition of the state that should provide service and solution to the people’s distress but referred to the social-state understanding. In other words, they revealed an understanding of the socialist Ottoman path with a case example.
It is seen that the ARF’s support of the Ottomanism idea and support of those who believed in the Ottomanism within the CUP became stronger after the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy. Especially with the Ottoman-Italian War in 1912, it is possible to see articles that underline these ideas in the articles in the Azadamard. For example, while stressing the freedom in an article published in the days after the Dardanelles bombardment, they emphasized that their courage to defend their homeland increasingly continues:
What kind of result will this agreement between Russia and Italy lead to in favor of Russia? Of course, while it is evident that the siege of the Kale-i Sultaniye [Dardanelles] was of paramount importance to Russian politics and that it constituted a threat to the interests of Russia, we wonder with what ambitions and desires the Russian State allowed it. (…)
It seems that the Russian state, by taking advantage of the opportunity, has the desire to completely seize the Iranian country by withdrawing the Ottoman soldiers from [U]rumiye.
Our enemy has destroyed the most delicate moment of our spirit, in order to strike a blow to our national force and to make us proud. Our country actually proves by itself that the artillery fire in the Kale-i Sultaniye did not diminish the quality of the national truth in the heart of the entire Ottoman Empire; on the contrary, we are increasing our courage for the defense of the homeland.
The effort to protect the Ottoman nation will face all kinds of intrusions and external aggression with perfection. However, the basis of the violence and strength that we will present regarding self-defense and resilience must be composed of complete and perfect peace.271
271 Azadamard 865, April 20, 1912.
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As it can be seen, with this article the ARF has presented its support to the government to the public in order to defend the Ottoman Empire. In my opinion, besides the indication of the ARF’s commitment to Ottomanism and the integrity of the Ottoman State, the language of this article and the points it draws attention to are also important. At the same time, they underline that the countries they define as enemies are invaders. I find this important because the ARF, which says it supports socialist ideas, also opposes the occupation and the imperial order. In other words, as they underline, ultimately peace must be achieved; but for this, there is a need for self-defense in the current situation. By emphasizing that the Ottoman nation could overcome this aggressive expansionist attitude of Russia and Italy, they also state that they supported the government in the war, in this case, in self-defense, which is also in line with their socialist understanding, and because it is obligatory.
The ARF published an article in the Azadamard on the meeting of the Russian Tsar and the French Prime Minister in Petersburg when the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire continued, and the tension in the Balkans escalated rapidly. This article in the Azadamard after the revolution in Iran was a sign of the imperialist attitude of the European states toward the Ottoman Empire, highlighting the danger. In addition, they mentioned that the leader of the Socialist Party in France conveyed their ideas and support for the well-being of Turkey.
It is seen from the evidence that England, France, and Russia have their new politics to reality. Compared to known politics, the manifestation of their new policy will be the Near East, that is, Turkey in particular.
It is not in vain that sincere friends of Turkey, such as [Jean] Jaurès and other members of socialism, and connoisseurs of politics, who do not care for personal interests, recommend seriousness and peace of mind, alliance and internal unity. Even though the Committee of Union has implemented the policy of follow-up naively and unforgivably against both the oppressors of the Socialists in Turkey, those who sincerely desire the independence of the Ottoman Empire's constitutionality by acting free from the idea of the future today in order not to serve diplomatic intrigues. (this line is folded) Those who act against the political parties in Turkey are only these individuals. (...)
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Why should we not accept that this crisis, which caused the emergence of an abnormal situation by a discord in the country’s politics, will be beneficial for our external enemies and will be beneficial for them? (...)
Today, even our homeland is in such a crisis. For this very reason, we sincerely desire that the internal turmoil will come to a conclusion as soon as possible and that all the vital forces in the country will be spent for the sake of peace and a good homeland.272
I think there are two points in the passage that are significant. First, the ARF showed that it was constructing a policy of Ottomanism against anti-imperialism. Emphasizing that they were afraid that the British, French, and Russian States might intervene in the country, it was explained that imperialism could be resisted by embracing the Ottoman Constitutional Monarchy, that is, the “revolution.” Secondly, although the French prime minister was described as dangerous to the Ottoman Empire, Jean Jaurès, the leader of the French Socialist Party, was described as a friend of Turkey. On the basis of this narrative, the importance of the political understanding of the idea of socialism was emphasized. It seems that while the ARF wanted to show the public the benefits of socialism, it also underlined that the ARF and the socialists were on the side of the Ottomans against the states that carried out imperialist policies despite the bad treatment of the socialists by the CUP.
In one of the articles of the ARF, which expresses ideas about world politics with socialist thought, they refer to the troubles of Jews in Russia. The article touches upon the freedom of residence and travel restriction of Jews in Russia, and it is stated that this problem is now over, and calls on the government to learn a lesson since there are people living in the Ottoman Empire with similar issues.
As it is known, Jews in Russia are still addicted to some medieval methods and practices; that is, they do not have the right to live where they want. They resided in the places designated by the government and called ‘the border of the Jews.’ Even temporarily, they do not have the authority to go elsewhere.
This bad practice, which constitutes one of the misery of Jews, extends even to Jews living in other countries. (...)
272 Azadamard 962, August 13, 1912.
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America wishes to include in the new treaty with Russia the requirement that the Jews in their own country have the right to go and go wherever they want, just like the people of another country. (...)
The sending of American cotton to Russia will be prohibited, and hundreds of thousands of workers will be thrown into the streets because the drapery factories in Russia will reduce the number of their own products. In this way, Russia will consent to allow American Jews to go to their homeland. But this permission will not be exclusive to them. According to the latest news, England and Germany, and perhaps all other countries, will follow America in this regard.
This case is an example for our government in particular. Because, rather than in other places, there are some ‘neighborhood’ procedures in Turkey, which can cause foreign interference at every minute if they are not to be manifested in time and time.273
It is said that the pressure applied to Russia for the freedom of movement and residence of the Jews through the trade agreements with the US brought positive results for the Jews. I think it is interesting that the narrative of Russia, which cannot afford a scenario in which drapery production will not be possible and workers will be fired, is presented with the decrease in cotton supply. Because I find it essential that the emphasis on workers not being (or not being able to) thrown out into the streets reflects the policy of the ARF, which tries to tell the story of the oppressed regardless of nationality or country in world politics.
The ARF, which publishes articles on world politics, reflecting its socialist ideas against the aggressive occupying policies, has also published some articles on the working class, although not many in the country. With the Baghdad Railway article series, they shared the news about the railway project earnings and workers. In an article of this series published in 1911 and 1912, they share the news of a reporter in Konya about a wronged railway worker in 1912.
Agop Barsamyan, from Karaboğaz village in the Sivas province, worked as a sergeant on the Baghdad railway line for a year and was honored to perform his duty with excellent care. One day, while he was busy with his service, both of his hands were severely absolved from the dynamite that suddenly exploded.
273 Azadamard 773, December 30, 1911.
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Although the deceased had children and spouses, without any money in his pocket, he went to Ereğli, with the help and encouragement of some benefactors, and presented a petition to the government of Konya and requested that a suitable amount of compensation be given by the company. This issue was referred to the Ulukışla district governor by the government, and the applications that took place to get something from the company were thrown into fruitless labor, and the life of begging began for the person whose hands were injured and his family:
My reporter who protects the poors with the manager of the work mentioned, [this line is unreadable] the priest of Ereğli and the teachers never revived the material and the spiritual for the deceased.274
It seems that various attempts have been made to prevent workers from getting their rights. The ARF, which presented the fact that the state and the priest did not take the side of the workers on the issue in the Azadamard newspaper with the headline “Worker’s Life Doesn’t Matter,” shows that the ARF has hopes that the economic order and system will change because they do not cease to dwell on the subject and criticize it.
In the Azadamard newspaper, it is possible to see more articles about the problems of the oppressed Ottoman people in the provinces and even around Istanbul than the articles about the issues of the working class directly in the provincial conditions and articles. There may be many reasons for this. As can be seen from the articles in Azadamard, the ARF considered keeping the promises made before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution as the most critical issue on their party agenda. In this context, the fact that the same problems still persist despite the years since the proclamation of the 1908 Constitution determines the agenda of their publishing organs in Istanbul. In other words, it is seen that they convey their socialist understanding with the influence of still unresolved issues, and the peasants in particular, in general, through the defense of all the oppressed. It is underlined that even in August 1912, 4 years after the 1908 revolution, justice could not be provided
274 Azadamard 914, June 18, 1912.
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in the society, and the uneasiness of the non-Muslim population in particular continued:
We wonder if the planning machine in Turkey can carry out the execution with such a speed without worrying about the laws of the various people and groups that it will come across on its route?
In our opinion, neither this haste nor the literal execution of the constitutional law, which is about the parliament’s tenure at the time of the law, is of no importance. Undoubtedly, the main point of interest is that although the constitutional law is strictly enforced, without harming its spirit, its associated principles should be placed in practice in the daire-i adalet.
You have the parliament; let it be inaugurated in 15 days or a month later. However, the hearts of all nations, small and large, that constitute the power of the Ottoman geography, should not be filled with the poison of people’s satisfaction because they were subjected to ‘victimization and deprivation’ and their legal statements were usurped by the powerful.
Let freedom of speech be challenged in our country; let each faction open the eyes of the people and carry out propaganda by freely declaring their own principles, advertising and broadcasting their programs. In addition, let each nation be able to elect a deputy to the parliament in proportion to its own population.275
With this interpretation, it is clear that the ARF did not have dreams of governing a country with a class fiction over the working class. But instead, they had obviously built a political model, which can be called the Socialist Ottomanism; the excerpt from the above article is an example of this policy of the ARF. They underlined that laws should serve the principle of justice and that social justice should be for everyone regardless of nationality.
However, when we look at the articles published at the end of the summer of 1912, when the footsteps of the war were heard in the Balkans, where the Italian-Ottoman War continued, it was emphasized the idea of Turkism’s impact; and that bureaucrats, journalists, and politicians who had this idea damaged the idea of Ottomanism, thus the idea of the Ottoman Empire, where many nations lived.
We confess the violence and sincerity of their [Turkish chauvinists’] desire to make Turkey a constitutional and orderly state. However, to the extent that the fortitude and sincerity of their own desires and specializations are beneficial, even the principles that constitute the basis of their own political
275 Azadamard 965, August 16, 1912.
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opinions are deprived of the power. Because the purpose they follow about the destiny of this country is notable. This aim consists of establishing the Ottoman state as a state reserved exclusively for the Turkish nation. (...)
We warn you because otherwise, the safety and security of the country will constantly be exposed to bloody incidents. However, if the laws of non-Turkish elements in the internal country are violated for the sake of the dignity and integrity of the state, we will definitely reject such a policy. The people are not for the government; the government is for the people. (...)
If the Young Turks, instead of making statements against the reforms promised to the Albanians, will work hard to ensure that the reforms to be implemented in Albania are delivered to our other continents, so that new violence events such as the Albanian issue do not arise in other continents of our country, they will have performed a greater patriotic service.276
In the article titled “Blindly Defending the Strong Central Government Method,” the ARF criticizes the Young Turks who adhere to the idea of Turkism, who defend the Constitutional Revolution but also defend the idea of a country where the central government is strong and the Turks hold power. The ARF, who attributed the unresolved problems in previous articles to the relationship of mutual interest between powerful people in the provinces, bureaucrats and politicians in Istanbul, states that they now openly see Turkish nationalists within the CUP or who support the CUP as an obstacle to a free Ottoman Empire.
In fact, the ARF uses the articles written by Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın as an example, and accuses those who insist on the idea of Turkism of jeopardizing the future of the Ottoman Empire. They continue to defend an Ottoman State where local governments are strong and social justice is provided against the idea of nationalism.277 In another of the articles in which the ARF examined the idea of Turkism, which they published after the Albanian uprising in 1912, they focused on the Turkish Nationalist Party. They state that this party is a party founded on the ideas of Islam and Turkishness. They underline that the same party is a party that is
276 Azadamard 978, September 1, 1912.
277 Azadamard 981.September 5, 1912.
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far from the principles of democracy and does not recognize the fundamental rights of the Christian population with the following words:
If, in fact, a sect claims that the historically right element in this country consists only of the Turkish element, and that the accredited members of the state consist only of Islam and the main Muslim, it almost says: ‘O Ottomans, who are not members of the Turkishness! You should not demand equality of law in this country but rather ‘protection.’
You are not one of the offspring of this country; you are not one of the people who have the right to equality. Paddle your own canoe’ (...)
Here it is the essence of the newly formed Turkish party.278
The ARF has presented to the public that a party that does not see anyone outside of the Turkish-Islamic synthesis as a stakeholder of the Ottoman State cannot promise a future for this state. In this series of articles, they criticized chauvinism with the example of the Turkish Nationalist Party, underlined that this mentality is gaining strength, and it is emphasized that the country's future and peace are in danger unless the promises made before the Constitutional Monarchy are implemented throughout the country.
Just as wars and conflicts continue and Turkism is on the agenda, an article titled “Are We Stepchildren?” is published in the Azadamard. This article is also being published at the same time that the Turkism article series was published.
Anatolia has been the victim of the mistakes made by the government about the central administration until now. God willing, we hope that even this unfortunate continent will gain security and prosperity like the other continents of the country.
Secondly, we must consider that not only during these four years of the constitutional monarchy but also before and after the 1839 ‘Tanzimat’ and the 1853 war, some reform edicts were always included by the higher administration of our country. It has been promised that reforms will be carried out in the country and that the nation or provinces that are in distress will be prosperous, and the word ‘amen’ has always been given to these sweet promises. We are tired of hearing promises. These bright words no longer arouse any effort or hope in us. We want action. We want real, actual action. The steps taken are tiny.
Others rise to the obvious rebellion. They are declaring war against the noble state. They hijack the state's warehouses, but they are given weapons.
278 Azadamard 986, September 11, 1912.
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On the other hand, we want weapons to defend our property and honor against the common bandits who plunder our villages, usurp our property, attack our chastity, and do not leave our heads alone. No one is listening to us. In this case, why shouldn’t the bitter conviction that we are the stepchildren of this country have more steadfastness in our hearts?279
Just before the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, we are beginning to see in the articles in the Azadamard that the idea of Ottomanism, which the ARF held after the declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy, weakened in the country. The ARF, which had been advocating policies that can be called as Socialist Ottomanist, were social justice, land reform, equal representation, and strong local governments under the roof of the Ottoman Empire since the declaration of the Second Constitution, began publishing in Ottoman in 1911 in order to convey these ideas to bureaucrats and the public who do not speak Armenian. Although the ARF stated that it still stands behind the same principles at the current point, it could be said that the Turkism movement, which became widespread among the Young Turks, and the footsteps of the Balkan Wars were a turning point in the relations of the CUP and the ARF, just like the Adana Massacres, which was one of the turning points in this relationship.
4.4 Conclusion
Chapter 2 examined the socialist understanding of the ARF built after 1908 in its third section; this chapter tried to present examples of the reflection of the ARF's understanding of the Socialist Ottomanism after 1908 in the Azadamard newspaper.
Namely, basing the problems and grievances of Armenians at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries only on ethnic or class grounds would be an incomplete approach to explain the current situation. Therefore, in this chapter,
279 Azadamard 979, September 3, 1912.
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I tried to present an analysis of the region's problems from a socialist newspaper to set an example for the social and economic relations of disadvantaged people with other oppressed peoples trying to struggle with a unique understanding of their geography. First of all, I examined the articles that presented the ARF’s view of the Kurds and landlords, then the perspectives of the oppressed peasants on the land reform to end the ordeals, and finally, the political understandings that can be evaluated within the framework of the Socialist Ottomanism.
As can be seen in the articles examined as examples, instead of accusing the Kurds with a wholesale approach, the ARF saw the problem in the corruption of the bureaucratic and land system, took a side with the peasants, fought for the implementation of the reforms as soon as possible and ensured justice for all, and demanded land reform. Namely, as it can seem in the examples from Azadamard, the ARF has made analyses on the return of lands, land reform and economic conditions, and underlined at every opportunity that they try to be the voice of all the oppressed. I believe that their struggle can be called the Socialist Ottomanism since when they had sympathy for socialism, they also supplied Ottomanism in order to solve the problems.
However, just before the start of the Balkan Wars in 1912, with Turkism, which became widespread and dominant among the Young Turks, it is seen that the ARF also began to question the idea of Ottomanism, which it relied on for the implementation of reforms. In other words, their Socialist Ottomanism policy was going to be one of the crucial reasons why they would part ways with the CUP in the future.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
The ARF, born in 1890, discussed how to do politics in its early years and adopted a socialist program. While this thesis shed light on the policies of the ARF before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, it also discussed how socialist the ARF was after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution. This thesis examined the ARF’s policies through the articles in 1911 and 1912 in the Azadamard newspaper, which was the official press organ of the ARF between 1908-and 1914. Furthermore, it advocated that the ARF had the Socialist Ottomanism understanding after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution.
Chapter 1 first focused on the literature that discussed socialism in the Ottoman Empire. Then it gave Armenians' conditions in the Hamidian regime as a historical background. Finally, it explained why a review should be done on the Azadamard newspaper. Azadamard newspaper is an essential source as it reflects the ARF’s stance, which meets with the CUP when necessary and can be oppositional when necessary. In addition, the newspaper, which started to translate its main articles into Ottoman Turkish with its 525th issue in 1911, is a vital source for the ARF, which is accused of being a separatist, by making politics on legal grounds and stating that they want a policy of Ottomanization.
Chapter 2 focused on the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution in the first half. These sections aim to contribute to the alternative historiography against the historiography that started with the republic period or started with the 1908 Ottoman Socialist Party while the history of the left of Turkey was being
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written. This thesis accepted 1887 the Revolutionary Hınch‘ag Party’s foundation as the beginning of the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire, so it deals with the understanding of socialism of the ARF in this frame.
The second half of Chapter 2 examined the changing policies of the ARF after 1908 and discussed how socialist the party was. It argues that after 1908, the ARF, which blended the Ottomanist idea with the socialist idea within the logic of Ottomanization, engaged in politics at a point that relied on the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and reforms. In this direction, it took the articles of the ARF in the Azadamard newspaper on the function of the government and parliament as an example.
Chapter 3 examines the problems that were still unresolved even by 1911 and that permeated the Azadamard newspaper. The topics of the security problem, the military service problem, the decentralization problem, and the problem of creating the ‘other’ and eliminating these others by the CUP are based in this chapter. This chapter underlines that the ARF’s hope for reforms and the 1908 Constitutional Revolution is also reflected in the articles. In addition to this, traces of the ARF’s Socialist Ottomanism policy are also seen in the unresolved issues and the reflection of these problems in the language of the articles in the newspaper.
The last chapter emphasizes that the land issue, which is one of the biggest unresolved problems, was reflected in the Azadamard newspaper within the framework of the Socialist Ottomanism. This chapter first deals with the reflection of the ARF’s views on Kurds in the Azadamard newspaper. According to these articles, this section draws attention to the fact that the ARF adopts the understanding of socialism through the defense of the oppressed because the articles did not accuse the
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Kurds with a wholesale understanding, and a narrative was established based on the seizure of property and land by the landlords.
In Chapter 2, he analyzes the ARF's reflections on land reform, reflected in the Azadamard newspaper. According to these articles, it is seen that the ARF’s Socialist Ottomanism narrative continues on the land issue because instead of asking for an ethnic-based solution, they set up a narrative based on the defense of all peasants in their articles. The last section of this chapter provided examples of the ARF’s other Socialist Ottomanism policies reflected in the Azadamard newspaper.
Socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire and the understanding of socialism of the ARF, one of them, have been the subject of discussion. In addition to the narratives that ignore the socialist movements before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, there are also narratives that interpret these movements claiming to be socialist as a nationalist revolutionary party. However, I believe that the interaction of socialist movements in the multinational empires with nationalist revolutionary ideologies should be evaluated within the conditions of the period. From the 1890s, when the socialist movements first emerged in the Ottoman Empire, to 1908, it was a process in which nations' desire to live their own language and their own beliefs freely, demands for self-government, and therefore hot conflicts were experienced. Therefore, it could not be expected that the socialist movements in the Ottoman Empire before the 1908 Constitutional Revolution would not turn a deaf ear to these nationalist demands, which were the problems of the people.
The ARF also made an effort for a socialist federation in the long term, adopting the establishment of autonomous states as a short-term goal, which made politics on this plane. With the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, his belief in reforms increased, and it came to a close position to the reformist socialists of Europe. They
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were particularly close to Jaurès socialism. They started to publish the Azadamard newspaper under these conditions in Istanbul. Examining the 1911 and 1912 articles from the Azadamard newspaper, this thesis claims that the ARF was an understanding of the Socialist Ottomanism that focused on practical results without entering into theoretical discussions, mainly through a populist discourse. Therefore, the mentioned Socialist Ottomanism understanding was emphasized by the historical background in this thesis.
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