ESTUDIAN TES DEL PR IMER G RADO DE EDUCA CIO N SECUNDAR IA – I E.B VISTA ALEGRE IPARIA

Following the pre-modern heritage (of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), centralizing and modernizing efforts had been initiated by Selim III in the late eighteenth century.4 The Ottoman Empire in the next century became increasingly preoccupied with modern reforms, namely Tanzimat, ushered by the Young Turks, who usually came from middle class backgrounds with a European style education and who later on became a threat to the Monarchy. The era of

4_{E. Cyril Black and Carl Brown, Modernization in the Middle East: the Ottoman Empire and its Afro-}

Tanzimat (between 1839 and 1876) is considered to be the period of secularization of education and bureaucracy. Moreover, the issues of human rights and equality between religions and ethnic groups were secured within the official agenda of the State. Technical academies to train officers, administrators, engineers, doctors and other professionals had already been developed in the Empire; but a lack of students trained in the essential elements of mathematics, science, and foreign languages had remained.5 Accordingly, in the age of Tanzimat, a secular elementary school system was established and a new intelligentsia familiar with Western culture was created. The first Ottoman language theater called Tiyatro-i Osmani (Ottoman Theater) was founded by a group of actors and the development of a popular Turkish folk theater was encouraged by the State in the same period (1867). By the accession of Abdulhamid II in August 1876, urban life had changed markedly and Istanbul became perhaps the most cosmopolitan city in the world. Many libraries were built and ‘the Ottoman Press flourished with thousands of books, journals and newspapers [placed] into the hands of an eager public.’6

It is worth pointing out that the first half of the nineteenth century was momentous for both State recentralization and administrative modernization. However, as indicated before, due to the large territorial losses in the Balkans and the economic dependence on the Great Powers, expectations for a (Euro-centric) modernization remained largely unfulfilled. Çağlar Keyder claims that, if successful, this modernization would have brought the Ottoman entity closer to the centralized, territorial state model of Europe.7 Yet, as argued by Donald Quataert, the central

5 _{Stanford J. Shaw and Ezel Kural Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume}

II: The Rise of Modern Turkey 1808-1975 (Cambridge, London, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 251.

6_Ibid.

7 _{Çağlar Keyder, ‘The Ottoman Empire’, in After Empire: Multiethnic Societies and Nation Building,}

State was more dominant in everyday lives than ever before in Ottoman history.8 The resurgence of the building of modern schools, the considerable advances in medicine, the import of Western technologies, and the increasing role of women in public life seemed to be the mechanisms which added a new dimension to the evolution of the State from pre-modern to modern.

1876 was a key year as it witnessed both the composition of the first Ottoman Parliament and the promulgation of the first Constitution. The value of the Parliament can be comprehended in its diversity: out of 125 deputies 77 were Muslim, 44 Christian, and four Jewish.9 Çağlar Keyder argues its uniqueness in the history of multi-ethnic empires. Yet, it is also tempting to pose the distinction of the first Constitution as further evidence of progress of a state in rapid transformation. The most innovative aspect of this Constitution appears to be its role as initiator. Niyazi Berkes underlines this significance not only by indicating that it was the first Constitution in the Muslim world, but also by stressing that constitutions were still novelties in Europe.10

However, the abolition of Parliament and the Constitution in 1878, was followed by the absolute monarchy of Abdulhamid for 30 years. In 1889, the Young Turks, frustrated by this situation, founded the Committee of Union and Progress in order to lead a movement to restore the constitution and carry out the ‘Revolution of Freedom’ in 1908. A more secular educational background and prevailing ideas related to it, such as liberalism, materialism and social Darwinism, had shaped the Young Turks’ perception of the state and their main aim was to struggle against the Sultan’s autocracy for the restoration of the parliament.

8_{Donald Quataert. The Ottoman Empire 1700-1922 (New York: Cambridge University Press, second}

edition, 2005), p. 54.

9 _{Keyder, p. 35.}

10 _{Niyazi Berkes, The Development of Secularism in Turkey (London: Hurst & Company, 1998),}

It would not be inappropriate to argue that rapid pace, speed and anxiety are the key concepts to describe the spirit of the Hamidian and Young Turks eras. The expansion of the means of communication made a significant contribution to these rapid transformations. The telegraph network broadened swiftly, railway constructions extended, and steamships became the norm for overseas travel.11 Yet, the transformation was also disastrous, since during this period the Ottomans suffered from significant territorial losses due to nationalization movements in the Balkans. By 1906, the territorial loss of the majority of the Ottman lands in the Balkans demonstrates that the European provinces held only 20 percent of the total.12 The cession of Romania in 1822, Bulgaria in 1876, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1878, Thessalia in 1881 and Serbia and Macedonia in 1912 brought about great financial and political devastation.

Istanbul, in the nineteenth century also witnessed the emergence of new public spaces and the proliferation of existing ones that were endowed with some new functions. Coffee houses and bath houses along with seyir yerleri (literally meaning places for ‘public display’) were the public arenas for those wishing ‘to see’ and ‘to be seen’. Located around a river in the old town, seyir yerleri functioned as spaces for leisure time activity of Muslims mainly on Fridays and for Christians mainly on Sundays. However in Pera, which would later become a center for cinema shows and which was already the main hub of entertainment, the Grand and Petit

Champs des Morts increasingly surfaced as a fashionable open area and a cemetery

to be visited by trendsetters.13 Other areas for socialization were offered by the Sufi lodges, market places, shadow theaters, public storytelling, religious carnivals, festivals, music halls and restaurants.

11 _{Berkes, p. 78.}

12 _{Quataert, p. 54.} 13 _{Quataert, p. 157.}