41) The Ottoman Empire in the Stormy Weather

Europe is unstable. Asia and Africa are not peaceful either!

First, in the Jordanian region, the Gulf of Aqaba, there was unrest; then there were riots in Syria; then there was a rebellion in Malatya!

In short, 1896 was a stormy year for the Ottoman Empire! This oldest empire, entering the 19th century, becomes powerless!

The successive uprisings exhausted the Sultan's government, and it was difficult to suppress them, but the Ottoman Empire also paid a heavy price!

In order to suppress the uprising, the Ottoman Empire lost more than forty-three thousand soldiers in 1896, and the pensions alone were a considerable sum of money!

The most critical is the damage to the locals, basically the outbreak of the uprising in the region. The Ottoman Empire struggled to gain revenue in the next few years but needed financial allocations to fill the hole!

And the uprising also destroyed the Ottoman Empire's ruling base. Many basic officials have swept away, and to stabilize the locals, the Sultan's government had to station heavy troops in the locals!

This series of expenses made the Ottoman Empire's already fragile finances even worse!

In 1896, the Ottoman Empire had a deficit of more than 16.5 million Lira (about £15 million, 1 Lira = 6.651519 grams of gold) and could be said to be on the verge of bankruptcy.

Fortunately, with its large family and heritage intact, the Ottoman Empire finally emerged and stepped forward in 1897.

The Ottoman government may have sensed that a crisis was closing in on them, and the reformists began to grow. In fact, the Ottoman Empire has a long history of reform, which began a century ago, specifically in the military, with the building of an always modern army!

Even the best system needs people to implement it to produce enough new types of talents. They initiated secularized educational reforms during the Tanzimat era. Real educational reforms began under Abdülhamid II (1876 to 1909) when the Sultan government made a major effort to develop higher education and increase the size of colleges and universities.

Istanbul University was reorganized in 1900 and was the first modern university in the Middle East. The higher school adopted a Western-style education, and the curriculum included history, mathematics, and foreign languages.

Secularization was the main focus of higher education in this period. A whole modern education system was established during this period, including secular primary and secondary schools, teacher training, and specialized schools.

The establishment of new types of schools positively impacted education and updated the traditional contents of teaching. In addition to the traditional contents, they introduced history and geography. They added general health in these schools at the primary level and mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, civics, Turkish, French, and Persian at the secondary level.

The modernization of schooling greatly contributed to the development of secularized education. The European Great Powers of this period opened businesses in Ottoman Turkey and schools, and the establishment of European-style schooling promoted the spread of Western culture.

The educational reform pushed forward the secularization of justice and education by removing from the cabinet the Islamic Supreme Code Clerk from the Cabinet, initiating secular control of the Shari'a courts by the Ministry of Justice, bringing religious schools under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, and creating a new Ministry of Religious.

The number of secular, educated intellectuals increased greatly, and the officers and military students were, to a large extent, people from the petty capitalist and lower class officials in urban and rural areas.

They trained numerous civil and military officials from their midst, and it bred a new generation of nationally democratic revolutionaries. The emerging secular elite challenged the traditional power structure of the Ulema and weakened the traditional religious forces.

The secularization reforms from Tanzimat to the Young Turks are also only one step away from the ultimate goal of this process, the separation of religion and state and the establishment of a secular state.

Ferdinand did not concern with Ottoman reform, an empire from top to bottom was rotten to the roots, and blind reform was certainly a catalyst to accelerate its demise!

Obviously, the Ottoman Empire now lacks not only reform. The most critical is the lack of ability to implement! If the government implementation is not enough, the best policy fails to implement and may achieve the opposite result!

The Ottoman Empire was no exception, and the educational reforms did not achieve what the Sultan wanted but instead gave rise to the 'Young Turks' or the 'Union and Progress Party.

It was founded in Istanbul in 1894. In May 1889, four medical school students in the capital founded an anti-dictatorship group called the Committee of Ottoman Union, later renamed the Committee of Union and Progress, known in Europe as the Young Turks.

Soon, many young students, military officers, intellectuals, and exiles from abroad joined the party. It represented the interests of the capitalist and liberal landowners, advocated the preservation of the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, opposed autocracy, and demanded the restoration of the 1876 Constitution.

At the beginning of 1897, the Young Turks plotted a military coup, which failed due to a leak. They destroyed the organization of the Young Turks in the capital. Many people were arrested, 13 were sentenced to death, and 68 were exiled. This incident was a setback to the strategy of relying on coups from above to achieve its political ideas.

The emergence of the Young Turks certainly shook the foundations of the Sultan's rule, and a national anti-government group was established with a clear political platform!

Ferdinand was slightly surprised by the emergence of the Young Turks and then relaxed again. The Young Turks were still just a handful of hooligans, unable to dominate the huge Ottoman empire!

Ferdinand is still happy to see the Sultan's government joke as long as it does not affect Bulgaria's next strategy!

As for the reforms of the Sultan's government that got catalyzed, whether they would succeed or not, Ferdinand was not optimistic about them. Once any reform touches the ruling class's interests, it becomes complicated!

Even if the Sultan is able to turn it on, there is nothing it can do! First of all, the military reform has been resisted by the military, and the Sultan's government does not have the strong ability to implement it.

'There are policies at the top, but there are countermeasures at the bottom!'1)

At the very moment when the Sultan's government was making reforms, another historical event occurred - another uprising of the Greeks in Crete!

This uprising was different from the previous one, which erupted in Crete in February 1897 with the financial support of the Greek government. And once the uprising was successful, the insurgents declared their secession from the Ottoman Empire and joined Greece!

Well, any fool knows this is a Greek government scheme, an 'uprising army'? If you investigate carefully, you will find out: how come so many retired Greek soldiers are involved?

Well, no! They are all in active service, mainly because, even undercover, the Greek government is too lazy to bother! As soon as the insurgents announced their secession from the Ottoman Empire and joined Greece, the Greek government instantly welcomed them. From then on, Crete was part of the inviolable Greek territory!

After the Greek government had sworn sovereignty over Crete, the navy landed directly on Crete and two regiments of Greek land forces to purge Ottoman remnants from the island!

Translator:

1) It is a widespread phenomenon in the process of policy implementation at the present stage in every nation. Its root cause is the conflict of interests between the central government and local governments, and its implementation condition is the limited decision-making system of integrated democracy. It happens in a specific social context. At this stage, no laws or policies can foresee all kinds of problems encountered after implementing the policies or laws. Therefore, in some specific and unique situations, the policies or laws cannot provide an excellent solution to the situation.