This thesis argues that the age of steam and print—more specifically, increased access to the steamship, railway, printing press, and telegraph—played a crucial role in the extended dynamic... Show moreThis thesis argues that the age of steam and print—more specifically, increased access to the steamship, railway, printing press, and telegraph—played a crucial role in the extended dynamic challenges of the ideas of the Caliphate, Wahhabism and Mahdism vis-à-vis each other. It aims to illustrate how these three concepts took on global dimensions by spilling over Ottoman borders and how they affected the Ottoman centre’s reactions to these developments after the revolution in communications and transportation in the second half of the nineteenth century. Ideas about the Caliphate, Wahhabism and Mahdism had already existed for a long time. However, their spheres of influence had remained limited to a certain area and timeframe, not attaining a global scope until the advent of the new age. The centuries-old Islamic concept of the Caliphate assumed a new global dimension under the banner of Pan-Islamism, and the Ottoman Caliphate claimed spiritual sovereignty over all of the multinational Muslim communities that lived under the control of various authorities, including the British, Dutch, Russian, and French empires. Wahhabism, as the ideology of a doctrine-oriented movement that came into being in the previous century but had remained local, spread all around the world in this new era and thus became a global concern for state rulers. Likewise, the Mahdi creed had existed throughout Islamic history but it became a widespread ideology in the case of the Sudanese Mahdi movement, garnering attention in distant lands and drawing in many Muslims in a short period of time. Show less
This study aims to examine the political, economic, cultural and social events that occurred in Trabzon, an important provincial city that had a uniquely multicultural population consisting of... Show moreThis study aims to examine the political, economic, cultural and social events that occurred in Trabzon, an important provincial city that had a uniquely multicultural population consisting of Turks, Greeks, Armenians and a smaller number of Iranians. The timeframe of the study is the first six years (1908-1914) of the Second Constitutional Period, a time when changes and transformations were occurring at an unprecedented rate in Ottoman lands. This study takes as its subject the developments that occurred in Trabzon. Within the scope of this study, a wide range of issues are discussed in light of the changes that were occurring under the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress, including the activities of the Unionists, the relationship between the center and the periphery, how local nobles perceived the Committee of Union and Progress and its politics as well as vice versa, and the extent to which the Committee’s political, cultural, economic and social policies had an impact on local life. In short, the main aim of this study is to bring to light the political, economic, cultural and social changes and transformations that occurred in Trabzon under the Committee’s leadership between 1908 and 1914. Show less
The emergence of Ottoman Turkish popular erotic narratives coincided with the proclamation of the Second Constitution in 1908. Thereafter, the publication of these narratives continued for... Show moreThe emergence of Ottoman Turkish popular erotic narratives coincided with the proclamation of the Second Constitution in 1908. Thereafter, the publication of these narratives continued for around two decades until they were prohibited in the early years of the Turkish Republic on the grounds that they would damage public morality. This dissertation comprehensively reads examples of Ottoman Turkish popular erotic narratives. It provides insight into newly emerging discourses on gender and sexuality in the twentieth-century Ottoman Empire. In addition to investigating the emergence of new discourses on gender and sexuality through which the transition from sexual practices to construction of sexual identities unfolded, this dissertation is intended to demonstrate the Ottoman Empire’s political transition to modernity as well as to the nation state in relation to those newly emerged discourses. Show less
The process of transition from the Ottoman Empire to nation states witnessed dramatic changes in the demographic and socio-economic structures of the once imperial lands. The history of the Ottoman... Show moreThe process of transition from the Ottoman Empire to nation states witnessed dramatic changes in the demographic and socio-economic structures of the once imperial lands. The history of the Ottoman county of Foçateyn, and its boomtown Eski Foça, in Western Anatolia, represents a microcosm of this larger transition. Foçateyn initially expanded and transformed as a result of the incorporation into world capitalist markets and the Ottoman reform movement. Eski Foça became a cosmopolitan boomtown. However, after the end of the Balkan Wars in 1913, Foçateyn became one of the contested zones of Greek and Ottoman Muslim nationalisms. In 1914, Young Turk clandestine operations ousted the Greek majority of Foçateyn right before to outbreak of the World War I. This marked the beginning of the local transition from empire to nation-state. In the end, in 1922, the economy and the demography of Foçateyn were 'nationalised'. The history of Foçateyn is thus an important contribution to understanding non-Western modernisation and nation-state building Show less
This work aimed at providing a better understanding of the involvement of Ottoman (Muslim) women, both as object and as subject, in the regeneration of nationalism through their activities as... Show moreThis work aimed at providing a better understanding of the involvement of Ottoman (Muslim) women, both as object and as subject, in the regeneration of nationalism through their activities as individuals and in female associational life. By describing and analyzing the feminist, philanthropic/charitable, and patriotic/nationalist activities of Ottoman Muslim women during the period 1908-1918, the study sought to get a better understanding of the identity claims which are part of the particular form of discourse which nationalism is and to show how the processes of community and/or nation building and the creation of state indentity/identities in the late Ottoman Empire were gendered. It shows that Ottoman Muslim women with their organizations and activities not only reflected the multi-tier identities prevailing in late Ottoman society, but actively took part in shaping, shifting and reshuffling them and that knowledge of the activities of Ottoman (Muslim) women in the many feminist, philanthropic and patriotic organizations which existed during the last decades of the Ottoman Empire is indispensible for a better understanding of the development of nationalism(s) in the late Ottoman era and the identity claims involved in it. Show less
