The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities: Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918

204 Pages·2014·1.28 MB·English

by  Feroz Ahmad

Feroz Ahmad
The
You ng Tu r k s
and the
Ottoman Nationalities
Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918
The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities

The Young Turks and the
Ottoman Nationalities
Armenians, Greeks, Albanians,
Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918
Feroz Ahmad
The University of Utah Press
Salt Lake City
Copyright © 2014 by The University of Utah Press. All rights reserved.
The Defiance House Man colophon is a registered trademark
of the University of Utah Press. It is based on a four- foot- tall
Ancient Puebloan pictograph (late PIII) near Glen Canyon, Utah.
18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ahmad, Feroz.
  The Young Turks and the Ottoman nationalities : Armenians, Greeks, Albanians,
Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918 / Feroz Ahmad.
       p. cm.
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-1-60781-339-2 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-1-60781-338-5
1.  Turkey—Politics and government—1909-1918. 2.  Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti.
3.  Turkey—History—Autonomy and independence movements. 4.  Turkey—Ethnic
relations—History—20th century. 5.  Nationalism—Turkey—History—20th
century.  I. Title.
  DR584.5.A56 2014
  956.02—dc23
                                                 2013043811
Cover Photo: A scene from the election of 1908 in front of the election box in the
Aya Triyada Church in Taksim. At the table sit the Greek Orthodox and Armenian
Orthodox Patriarchs, alongside a Muslim Imam. Courtesy of Dr. Sacit Kutlu,
collector and author.
Printed and bound by Sheridan Books, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan.
To the memory of friends who helped me to begin understanding Turkey:
Özcan Başkan, Sami Ferliel, Ali Alparslan, Ergun Balcı,
İzzet Ersöz, and Naim Turfan

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Sources xi
1. Introduction: The Nineteenth- Century Background 1
2. The Armenian Community, 1908–1914 10
3. The Ottoman Greeks, 1908–1914 42
4. The Albanians 56
5. The Greeks and Armenians, 1914–1918 66
6. The Ottoman Jews 100
7. The Arabs 112
8. Postscript: Ottoman Defeat and the Aftermath 140
Notes 151
Bibliography 173
Index 185

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank a number of friends who read the entire manuscript
or parts of it while it was in the process of being written, including Yaşar
Geyikdağı, Emre Kayhan, David Waines, Leila Fawaz, and the two anon-
ymous readers for the University of Utah Press. I apologize if I did not
incorporate all the suggestions of my readers. Kathy Burford Lewis, my
copyeditor, read the manuscript with diligence and improved the quality
of the book. For that I am most grateful. I am responsible for any short-
comings that remain.
I also want thank Professor Haluk Kabaalioğlu, who has encouraged
and supported my research while I have been at Yeditepe University.